Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales,
Australia. Situated on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the
facility is adjacent to the Sydney central business district and the Royal Botanic Gardens, between
Sydney and Farm Coves.

Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the facility formally opened on 20 October 1973[3] after a
gestation beginning with Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition.
The NSW Government, led by Premier Joseph Cahill authorised work to begin in 1958, with Utzon
directing construction. The government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by
circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's
ultimate resignation.[4]

Though its name suggests a single venue, the project comprises multiple performance venues which
together are among the busiest performing arts centres in the world — hosting over 1,500
performances each year attended by some 1.2 million people. The venues produce and present a
wide range of in-house productions and accommodate numerous performing arts companies,
including four key resident companies: Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre
Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As one of the most popular visitor attractions in
Australia, more than seven million people visit the site each year, with 300,000 people participating
annually in a guided tour of the facility.[5][6]

Identified as one of the 20th century's most distinctive buildings and one of the most famous
performing arts centres in the world,[7][8][9] the facility is managed by the Sydney Opera House
Trust, under the auspices of the New South Wales Ministry of the Arts.

The Sydney Opera House became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007.

Description

The facility features a modern expressionist design, with a series of large precast concrete "shells",
[11] each composed of sections of a sphere of 75.2 metres (246 ft 8.6 in) radius,[12] forming the
roofs of the structure, set on a monumental podium. The building covers 1.8 hectares (4.4 acres) of
land and is 183 m (600 ft) long and 120 m (394 ft) wide at its widest point. It is supported on 588
concrete piers sunk as much as 25 m (82 ft) below sea level.

Although the roof structures are commonly referred to as "shells" (as in this article), they are
precast concrete panels supported by precast concrete ribs, not shells in a strictly structural sense.
[13] Though the shells appear uniformly white from a distance, they actually feature a subtle
chevron pattern composed of 1,056,006 tiles in two colours: glossy white as well as matte cream.
The tiles were manufactured by the Swedish company, Hoö ganaö s AB, which generally produced
stoneware tiles for the paper-mill industry.[14]

Apart from the tile of the shells and the glass curtain walls of the foyer spaces, the building's
exterior is largely clad with aggregate panels composed of pink granite quarried at Tarana.
Significant interior surface treatments also include off-form concrete, Australian white birch
plywood supplied from Wauchope in northern New South Wales, and brush box glulam.[15]
Of the two larger spaces, the Concert Hall is in the western group of shells, the Joan Sutherland
Theatre in the eastern group. The scale of the shells was chosen to reflect the internal height
requirements, with low entrance spaces, rising over the seating areas up to the high stage towers.
The smaller venues (the Drama Theatre, the Playhouse, and The Studio) are within the podium,
beneath the Concert Hall. A smaller group of shells set to the western side of the Monumental Steps
houses the Bennelong Restaurant. The podium is surrounded by substantial open public spaces,
and the large stone-paved forecourt area with the adjacent monumental steps is regularly used as a
performance space.

Other facilities

The building also houses a recording studio, cafes, restaurants and bars and retail outlets. Guided
tours are available, including a frequent tour of the front-of-house spaces, and a daily backstage
tour that takes visitors backstage to see areas normally reserved for performers and crew members.

Origins

Construction progress in 1966

Planning began in the late 1940s, when Eugene Goossens, the Director of the NSW State
Conservatorium of Music, lobbied for a suitable venue for large theatrical productions. The normal
venue for such productions, the Sydney Town Hall, was not considered large enough. By 1954,
Goossens succeeded in gaining the support of NSW Premier Joseph Cahill, who called for designs for
a dedicated opera house. It was also Goossens who insisted that Bennelong Point be the site: Cahill
had wanted it to be on or near Wynyard Railway Station in the northwest of the CBD.[18]

A design competition was launched by Cahill on 13 September 1955 and received 233 entries,
representing architects from 32 countries. The criteria specified a large hall seating 3,000 and a
small hall for 1,200 people, each to be designed for different uses, including full-scale operas,
orchestral and choral concerts, mass meetings, lectures, ballet performances and other
presentations.[19] The winner, announced in 1957, was Jørn Utzon, a Danish architect. According to
legend the Utzon design was rescued from a final cut of 30 "rejects" by the noted Finnish architect
Eero Saarinen. The prize was £5,000.[20] Utzon visited Sydney in 1957 to help supervise the
project.[21] His office moved to Sydney in February 1963.

Utzon received the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honour, in 2003.[22] The Pritzker Prize
citation read:

There is no doubt that the Sydney Opera House is his masterpiece. It is one of the great iconic
buildings of the 20th century, an image of great beauty that has become known throughout the
world – a symbol for not only a city, but a whole country and continent.

Completion and cost

View of the Opera House from the Harbour Bridge.

Tourists observing the Opera House.

The Opera House was formally completed in 1973, having cost $102 million.[35] H.R. "Sam" Hoare,
the Hornibrook director in charge of the project, provided the following approximations in 1973:
Stage I: podium Civil & Civic Pty Ltd approximately $5.5m. Stage II: roof shells M.R. Hornibrook
(NSW) Pty Ltd approximately $12.5m. Stage III: completion The Hornibrook Group $56.5m.
Separate contracts: stage equipment, stage lighting and organ $9.0m. Fees and other costs: $16.5m.

The original cost and scheduling estimates in 1957 projected a cost of £3,500,000 ($7 million) and
completion date of 26 January 1963 (Australia Day).[26] In actuality, the project was completed ten
years late and more than fourteen times over budget

Opening

The Sydney Opera House viewed next to the Harbour Bridge.

The Sydney Opera House during Vivid Sydney (2012).

The Opera House was formally opened by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on 20 October 1973. A
large crowd attended. Utzon was not invited to the ceremony, nor was his name mentioned. The
opening was televised and included fireworks and a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

Sport

For the 2000 Summer Olympics, the venue served as the focal point for the triathlon events. The
event had a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) swimming loop at Farm Cove, along with competitions in the
neighbouring Royal Botanical Gardens for the cycling and running portions of the event