Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre. Located on the foreshore of
Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings
and a masterpiece of 20th century architecture. In 2007, the Sydney Opera House became a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, but completed by an Australian architectural team
headed by Peter Hall..
It is one of the most popular attractions in Australia, the performances are presented by numerous
performing artists, including three resident companies: Opera Australia, the Sydney Theatre
Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The facility features a modern expressionist design, with a series of large precast concrete "shells",
each composed of sections of a sphere, forming the roofs of the structure, set on a monumental
podium.
The building covers 1.8 hectares of land and is 183 m long and 120 m wide at its widest point.
It is supported on 588 concrete piers sunk at 25 m below sea level.
Although the roof structures are commonly referred to as "shells" they are precast concrete panels
supported by precast concrete ribs.
Though the shells appear uniformly white from a distance they actually are composed by tiles of
two colours: glossy white and matte cream.
The building's exterior is largely clad with aggregate panels composed of pink granite.
Of the two larger spaces, the Concert Hall is in the western group of shells, the Joan Sutherland
Theatre in the eastern group. The smaller venues (the Drama Theatre, the Playhouse and the
Studio) are within the podium, beneath the Concert Hall. 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

Planning began in the late 1940s when Eugene Goossens, the Director of the New South Wales
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.
An international design competition was launched and the winner, was Danish architect Jørn Utzon.
Utzon received the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture's highest honour, in 2003.
The Fort Macquarie Tram Depot, occupying the site at the time of these plans, was demolished in
1958 and construction began in March 1959. It was built in four stages that went from 1957 to
1973.
The government had pushed for work to begin early, but Utzon had still not completed the final
designs. The forced early start led to significant later problems, not least of which was the fact that
the podium columns were not strong enough to support the roof structure, and had to be re-built.
Work on the podium was finally completed in February 1963
The shells of the competition entry were originally of undefined geometry, [34] but, early in the
design process, the "shells" were perceived as a series of parabolas supported by precast
concrete ribs. However, the engineers were unable to find an acceptable and economic solution to
constructing them.
the design team went through at least 12 iterations of the form of the shells trying to find an
economically acceptable form before a workable solution was completed.
The solution was that the shells should be created as sections from a sphere. This solution allows
arches of varying length to be cast in a common mould, and a number of arch segments of
common length to be placed adjacent to one another, to form a spherical section. 
The design of the roof was tested on scale models in wind tunnels at University of
Southampton and later NPL in order to establish the wind-pressure distribution around the roof
shape in very high winds, which helped in the design of the roof tiles and their fixtures.

STAGE 3: THE INTERIORS

The third stage of construction was progressing toward completion when Utzon resigned. His
position was principally taken over by Peter Hall, who became largely responsible for the interior
design.
The major hall, which was originally to be a multipurpose opera/concert hall, became solely a
concert hall, called the Concert Hall. The minor hall, originally for stage productions only,
incorporated opera and ballet functions and was called the Opera Theatre.
A theatre, a cinema and a library were also added. These were later changed to two live drama
theatres and a smaller theatre "in the round". These now comprise the Drama Theatre, the
Playhouse and the Studio respectively. The Opera House was formally completed in 1973, having
cost $102 million.
The Sydney Opera House was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II, 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.
In 1999, exactly twenty-six years after the inauguration, Utzon was called in to think about redesign
principles for the future of the interior to ensure the architectural integrity of the evolving building.
Along with these principles he created the Utzon Room, a room for small events such as concerts
and press conferences.
One of the many peculiarities of the Sydney Opera House is that, as it does not have a main side, it
can be appreciated from anywhere in the city as a structure of shells spontaneously emerging from
the seabed, and not as a building extraneous to the space it occupies.
The Sydney Opera House is considered not only a masterpiece of 20th century Australian
architecture, but a globally recognised and historic work of architectural innovation.