Does the National Center for the Performing Arts (previously known as the National Grand Theater) look like a "duck egg" or "jellyfish"? Its French architect lays down his idea. "As time passes by, I like people to refer it as an 'egg' more," says Paul Andreu in his newly-released Chinese language book The National Grand Theater.

"But I still couldn't figure out why it has to be a duck's egg."

He compared the dome's shape to an eggshell, which can endure enormous pressure. The dome weighs 6,475 tons and spans 212.2 m, creating the world's largest arch.

The theater has three main halls - a 2,416-seat opera house, a 2,017-seat concert hall with pipe organ and a 1,040-seat theater for plays.

The book features 150 pictures and more than 30 sketches and graphics from the designer, who reveals his journey from the successfully bidding process to the final completion.

Andreu's relationship with the theater started about a decade ago in Shanghai when he read an article in China Daily about the worldwide design contest.

"We should join the bid," he proposed to his partners then. "This will change our concepts and we will learn from it."

Ten years on, speaking at one of his favorite halls at the theater on Thursday in Beijing, Andreu said his book is not a journal or a memoir.

"I would rather consider it a literature about construction," he said through an interpreter. "I want readers to feel the emotions when the theater was being born."

Asked about what he expects of the theater when it opens, he said: "I hope it will become the best theater in the world."

(China Daily December 18, 2007)