61-448: The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 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. Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon and completed by an Australian architectural team headed by Peter Hall ,
122-452: A cost of £ 3,500,000 ($ 7 million) and completion date of 26 January 1963 ( Australia Day ). In reality, the project was completed ten years late and 1,357% over budget in real terms. In 1972, a construction worker was fired, leading the BLF -affiliated workers to demand his rehiring and a 25% wage increase. In response to this, all the workers were fired, and in revenge the workers broke into
183-544: A final cut of 30 rejects. The runner-up was a Philadelphia -based team assembled by Robert Geddes and George Qualls, both teaching at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design . They brought together a band of Penn faculty and friends from Philadelphia architectural offices, including Melvin Brecher, Warren Cunningham, Joseph Marzella, Walter Wiseman, and Leon Loschetter. Geddes, Brecher, Qualls, and Cunningham went on to found
244-464: A large payment for their troubles. Before the Sydney Opera House competition, Jørn Utzon had won seven of the 18 competitions he had entered but had never seen any of his designs built. Utzon's submitted concept for the Sydney Opera House was almost universally admired and considered groundbreaking. The Assessors Report of January 1957 stated: The drawings submitted for this scheme are simple to
305-474: A means of generating new investment and increased economic activity and thus, a means for revitalizing neighborhoods as patrons are drawn to local restaurants and other businesses. PACs became a draw for touring shows and eventually included visual art in their facilities. Today, these centers are valuable civic resources that provide education, access, exchange of creative discourse, opportunities for cultural expression and awareness. A multi-use performance space
366-637: A member of the Sydney Opera House Executive Committee, states: "Utzon came up with an idea of making all the shells of uniform curvature throughout in both directions." Peter Jones, the author of Ove Arup's biography, states that "the architect and his supporters alike claimed to recall the precise eureka moment ...; the engineers and some of their associates, with equal conviction, recall discussion in both central London and at Ove's house." He goes on to claim that "the existing evidence shows that Arup's canvassed several possibilities for
427-539: A performing arts college. The origin of the world's oldest performing art, Noh , dates back to the 6th and 7th centuries when performing arts came to Japan from mainland China. Starting in the 6th century BC, the Classical period of performing art began in Greece, ushered in by the tragic poets such as Sophocles . These poets wrote plays which, in some cases, incorporated dance (see Euripides ). The Hellenistic period began
488-416: A philistine, he had been exposed before Parliament and dumped as Country Party leader for 19 years of falsely claiming a university degree. The Opera House gave Hughes a second chance. For him, as for Utzon, it was all about control; about the triumph of homegrown mediocrity over foreign genius. Differences ensued. One of the first was that Utzon believed the clients should receive information on all aspects of
549-627: A recording studio, retail shops, cafes, restaurants, bars including the Opera Bar and Opera Kitchen. 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. Planning began in the late 1940s when Eugene Goossens , the Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music , lobbied for
610-458: A strictly structural sense. 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 and matte cream. The tiles were manufactured by the Swedish company Höganäs AB which generally produced stoneware tiles for the paper-mill industry. Apart from the tile of the shells and the glass curtain walls of
671-485: 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 New South Wales 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
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#1732837749976732-415: Is a single space intended for use by various types of performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. The intended multiple use of performing arts centers in this sense differentiates them from single-purpose concert halls , opera houses , or theatres , although the actual use of single-purpose spaces for other than their intended use is widespread. This sort of space has a long history, extending to
793-460: Is also one of the first in the world to use araldite to glue the precast structural elements together and proved the concept for future use. It was also a first in mechanical engineering. Another Danish firm, Steensen Varming , was responsible for designing the new air-conditioning plant, the largest in Australia at the time, supplying over 600,000 cubic feet (17,000 m) of air per minute, using
854-461: Is supported on 588 concrete piers sunk as much as 25 m (82 ft) below sea level. The highest roof point is 67 metres above sea-level which is the same height as that of a 22-storey building. The roof is made of 2,194 pre-cast concrete sections, which weigh up to 15 tonnes each. 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
915-445: 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. The Sydney Opera House includes a number of performance venues: Other areas (for example the northern and western foyers) are also used for performances on an occasional basis. Venues are also used for conferences, ceremonies and social functions. The building also houses
976-865: Is the Celebrity Series of Boston renting venues in Boston's Boch Center . Examples of performance arts complexes include the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Sydney Opera House , and the Lincoln Center in New York City . For a selection of venues with these terms in their titles, see: Tarana, New South Wales Tarana is a small town in the Central West of New South Wales , Australia in
1037-557: The New7Wonders of the World campaign list. The facility features a modern expressionist design , with a series of large precast concrete "shells", each composed of sections of a sphere of 75.2 metres (246 ft 8.6 in) radius, 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
1098-618: The City of Lithgow . It is the former junction of the Oberon Branch railway with the Main Western Line . This branch line was notable for its steep 1 in 30 gradients and sharp 100 metres (330 ft) curves. The name Tarana comes from an Aboriginal word meaning watering hole . Tarana railway station was opened on 22 April 1872. Tarana has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: This New South Wales geography article
1159-512: The Herald offered the view that: "It was not his [Utzon's] fault that a succession of Governments and the Opera House Trust should so signally have failed to impose any control or order on the project ... his concept was so daring that he himself could solve its problems only step by step ... his insistence on perfection led him to alter his design as he went along." The Sydney Opera House opened
1220-671: The Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra . As one of the most popular visitor attractions in Australia, the site is visited by more than eight million people annually, and approximately 350,000 visitors take a guided tour of the building each year. The building is managed by the Sydney Opera House Trust , an agency of the New South Wales State Government. On 28 June 1998
1281-477: 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. The Fort Macquarie Tram Depot , occupying the site at the time of these plans, was demolished in 1958 and construction began in March 1959. The Opera House was built in four stages: stage I (1957–1959) was planning out the building; stage II (1959–1963) consisted of building
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#17328377499761342-408: The 2400 precast ribs and 4000 roof panels in an on-site factory and also developed the construction processes. The achievement of this solution avoided the need for expensive formwork construction by allowing the use of precast units and it also allowed the roof tiles to be prefabricated in sheets on the ground, instead of being stuck on individually at height. The tiles themselves were manufactured by
1403-556: The Ministry's criticism of the project's costs and time, along with their impression of Utzon's designs being impractical, this ultimately led to his resignation in 1966 (see below). The cost of the project so far, even in October 1966, was still only A$ 22.9 million, less than a quarter of the final $ 102 million cost. However, the projected costs for the design were at this stage much more significant. The second stage of construction
1464-477: The New South Wales government insisting contracts be put out to tender . Utzon was highly reluctant to respond to questions or criticism from the client's Sydney Opera House Executive Committee (SOHEC). However, he was greatly supported throughout by a member of the committee and one of the original competition judges, Harry Ingham Ashworth . Utzon was unwilling to compromise on some aspects of his designs that
1525-510: The Opera House project) all played a very significant part in the design development. As Peter Murray states in The Saga of the Sydney Opera House : ... the two men—and their teams—enjoyed a collaboration that was remarkable in its fruitfulness and, despite many traumas, was seen by most of those involved in the project as a high point of architect/engineer collaboration. The design of the roof
1586-637: The Roman Colosseum and Greek amphitheatres. A cluster of performance spaces, either separate buildings or under one roof, each space designed for a specific purpose such as symphonic music or chamber music or theatre, but multipurpose as a whole, are also described as performing arts centers. The modern version of this came into being only in the 1960s. In Australia, the Centre for the Performing in Adelaide
1647-490: The Swedish company Höganäs Keramik . It took three years of development to produce the effect Utzon wanted in what became known as the Sydney Tile, 120mm square. It is made from clay with a small percentage of crushed stone. Ove Arup and Partners' site engineer supervised the construction of the shells, which used an innovative adjustable steel-trussed "erection arch" (developed by Hornibrook's engineer Joe Bertony ) to support
1708-679: The Sydney Opera House became a UNESCO World Heritage Site , having been listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate since 1980, the National Trust of Australia register since 1983, the City of Sydney Heritage Inventory since 2000, the New South Wales State Heritage Register since 2003, and the Australian National Heritage List since 2005. The Opera House was also a finalist in
1769-744: The architect's ultimate resignation. The building and its surrounds occupy the whole of Bennelong Point on Sydney Harbour , between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove , adjacent to the Sydney central business district and the Royal Botanic Gardens , and near to the Sydney Harbour Bridge . The building comprises multiple performance venues, which together host well over 1,500 performances annually, attended by more than 1.2 million people. Performances are presented by numerous performing artists, with many resident companies such as Opera Australia ,
1830-462: The building was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973, 16 years after Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The Government of New South Wales , led by the 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
1891-428: The clients wanted to change. Utzon's ability was never in doubt, despite questions raised by Davis Hughes, who attempted to portray Utzon as an impractical dreamer. Ove Arup actually stated that Utzon was "probably the best of any I have come across in my long experience of working with architects" and: "The Opera House could become the world's foremost contemporary masterpiece if Utzon is given his head." In 1965 Utzon
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1952-460: The competition were: Professor Henry Ashworth ( University of Sydney ), Cobden Parkes ( New South Wales Government Architect ); Professor Leslie Martin (Professor of Architecture of Cambridge University and architect of Royal Festival Hall 1951) and American architect Eero Saarinen . The winner, announced in Sydney on 29 January 1957, was Danish architect Jørn Utzon . Utzon's design was selected by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen from
2013-760: The completion of the final plans. After the 1965 election of the Liberal Party, with Robert Askin becoming Premier of New South Wales , the relationship of client, architect, engineers and contractors became increasingly tense. Askin had been a "vocal critic of the project prior to gaining office." His new Minister for Public Works, Davis Hughes , was even less sympathetic. Elizabeth Farrelly , an Australian architecture critic, wrote that: at an election night dinner party in Mosman, Hughes' daughter Sue Burgoyne boasted that her father would soon sack Utzon. Hughes had no interest in art, architecture or aesthetics. A fraud, as well as
2074-419: The construction site with a crowbar and brought their own toolboxes. Workers' control was applied to the site for five weeks as the construction workers worked 35 hours a week with improved morale, more efficient organization and fewer people skipping work. The workers agreed to end their work-in when management agreed to give them a 25% wage increase, the right to elect their foremen, four weeks annual leave and
2135-449: The costs or work involved in design and construction. Tensions between the client and the design team grew further when an early start to construction was demanded despite an incomplete design. This resulted in a continuing series of delays and setbacks while various technical engineering issues were being refined. The building was unique, and the problems with the design issues and cost increases were exacerbated by commencement of work before
2196-417: The design and construction through his practice, while the clients wanted a system (notably drawn in sketch form by Davis Hughes) where architect, contractors, and engineers each reported to the client directly and separately. This had great implications for procurement methods and cost control, with Utzon wishing to negotiate contracts with chosen suppliers (such as Ralph Symonds for the plywood interiors) and
2257-447: The design team found a solution to the problem: the shells all being 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. With whom exactly this solution originated has been the subject of some controversy. It was originally credited to Utzon. Ove Arup's letter to Ashworth,
2318-472: The different roofs before completion. On 6 April 1962, it was estimated that the Opera House would be completed between August 1964 and March 1965. Stage III, the interiors, started with Utzon moving his entire office to Sydney in February 1963. However, there was a change of government in 1965, and the new Robert Askin government declared the project under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Works. Due to
2379-753: 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
2440-484: The final designs. Major structural issues still remained unresolved. By 23 January 1961, work was running 47 weeks behind, mainly because of unexpected difficulties (inclement weather, unexpected difficulty diverting stormwater, construction beginning before proper construction drawings had been prepared, changes of original contract documents). Work on the podium was finally completed in February 1963. The forced early start led to significant later problems, not least of which
2501-497: The firm GBQC Architects. The grand prize was 5,000 Australian pounds . Utzon visited Sydney in 1957 to help supervise the project. His office moved to Palm Beach , Sydney in February 1963. Utzon received the Pritzker Architecture Prize , architecture's highest honour, in 2003. 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
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2562-490: 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 . Of the two larger spaces, the Concert Hall is in the western group of shells, the Joan Sutherland Theatre in
2623-449: The geometry of the shells, from parabolas to ellipsoids and spheres." Yuzo Mikami, a member of the design team, presents an opposite view in his book on the project, Utzon's Sphere . It is unlikely that the truth will ever be categorically known, but there is a clear consensus that the design team worked very well indeed for the first part of the project and that Utzon, Arup, and Ronald Jenkins (partner of Ove Arup and Partners responsible for
2684-442: The innovative idea of harnessing the harbour water to create a water-cooled heat pump system that is still in operation today. Performing arts center Performing arts center/centre (see spelling differences ), often abbreviated as PAC , is usually a complex housing performance spaces for various performing arts, including dance, music, and theatre. In some cases it refers to a single multi-use space, or alternatively, to
2745-520: The lack of collaboration caused his resignation and later described the situation as "Malice in Blunderland". In March 1966, Hughes offered him a subordinate role as "design architect" under a panel of executive architects, without any supervisory powers over the House's construction, but Utzon rejected this. Utzon left the country never to return. Following the resignation, there was great controversy about who
2806-470: The main hall and further stated that increasing the number of seats to 3,000 as specified in the brief would be disastrous for the acoustics. According to Peter Jones, the stage designer, Martin Carr, criticised the "shape, height and width of the stage, the physical facilities for artists, the location of the dressing rooms, the widths of doors and lifts, and the location of lighting switchboards." The Opera House
2867-474: The northwest of the central business district . An international 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. The jury for
2928-517: The point of being diagrammatic. Nevertheless, as we have returned again and again to the study of these drawings, we are convinced that they present a concept of an Opera House which is capable of becoming one of the great buildings of the world. For the first stage, Utzon worked successfully with the rest of the design team and the client, but, as the project progressed, the Cahill government insisted on progressive revisions. They also did not fully appreciate
2989-406: The shells involved one of the earliest uses of computers in structural analysis , to understand the complex forces to which the shells would be subjected. The computer system was also used in the assembly of the arches. The pins in the arches were surveyed at the end of each day, and the information was entered into the computer so the next arch could be properly placed the following day. In mid-1961,
3050-469: The upper podium; stage III (1963–1967) the construction of the outer shells, based upon the image of whales breaching the water; stage IV (1967–1973) interior design and construction. Stage I started on 2 March 1959 with the construction firm Civil & Civic , monitored by the engineers Ove Arup and Partners . The government had pushed for work to begin early, fearing that funding, or public opinion, might turn against them. But Utzon had still not completed
3111-422: The way for the immensely complex geometries of some modern architecture. The design was one of the first examples of the use of computer-aided design to design complex shapes. The design techniques developed by Utzon and Arup for the Sydney Opera House have been further developed and are now used for architecture, such as works of Gehry and blobitecture , as well as most reinforced concrete structures. The design
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#17328377499763172-503: The widespread use of comedy. Much of which was performed live in a center-point of the community. In 1576, Britain's first playhouse, "The Theatre", was built in Finsbury Fields , London. It was constructed by Leicester's Men – an acting company formed in 1559 from members of the Earl of Leicester's household. New performing arts centers emerged in the latter part of the 20th century as
3233-666: Was the predecessor college of the Adelaide College of the Arts . The Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts is a college for Indigenous Australians in Brisbane . Some performing arts center organizations act as sole presenters for events using the venues within the center, but most also frequently rent their performance spaces to other performing arts presenters or self-presenting performing arts groups. An example of this practice
3294-582: Was formally completed in 1973, having cost $ 102 million. 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
3355-481: Was in the right and who was in the wrong. The Sydney Morning Herald initially opined: "No architect in the world has enjoyed greater freedom than Mr Utzon. Few clients have been more patient or more generous than the people and the Government of NSW. One would not like history to record that this partnership was brought to an end by a fit of temper on the one side or by a fit of meanness on the other." On 17 March 1966,
3416-428: Was no repetition in any of the roof forms, the construction of precast concrete for each individual section would possibly have been even more expensive. From 1957 to 1963, the design team went through at least 12 iterations of the form of the shells trying to find an economically acceptable form (including schemes with parabolas, circular ribs and ellipsoids ) before a workable solution was completed. The design work on
3477-435: Was owed more than $ 100,000 in fees. Hughes then withheld funding so that Utzon could not even pay his own staff. The government minutes record that following several threats of resignation, Utzon finally stated to Davis Hughes: "If you don't do it, I resign." Hughes replied: "I accept your resignation. Thank you very much. Goodbye." Utzon left the project on 28 February 1966. He said that Hughes's refusal to pay him any fees and
3538-504: Was progressing toward completion when Utzon resigned. His position was principally taken over by Peter Hall , who became largely responsible for the interior design. Other persons appointed that same year to replace Utzon were E. H. Farmer as government architect, D. S. Littlemore and Lionel Todd. Following Utzon's resignation, the acoustic advisor, Lothar Cremer, confirmed to the Sydney Opera House Executive Committee (SOHEC) that Utzon's original acoustic design allowed for only 2,000 seats in
3599-482: Was tested on scale models in wind tunnels at University of Southampton and later NPL 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. The immensely complex design and construction of the shells was completed by Hornibrook Group Pty Ltd , who were also responsible for construction in Stage III. Hornibrook manufactured
3660-523: Was that the podium columns were not strong enough to support the roof structure, and had to be re-built. The shells of the competition entry were originally of undefined geometry, but, early in the design process, the "shells" were perceived as a series of parabolas supported by precast concrete ribs. However, engineers Ove Arup and Partners were unable to find an acceptable solution to constructing them. The formwork for using in-situ concrete would have been prohibitively expensive, and, because there
3721-500: Was working closely with Ralph Symonds , a manufacturer of plywood based in Sydney and highly regarded by many, despite an Arup engineer warning that Ralph Symonds's "knowledge of the design stresses of plywood was extremely sketchy" and that the technical advice was "elementary to say the least and completely useless for our purposes." Australian architecture critic Elizabeth Farrelly has referred to Ove Arup's project engineer Michael Lewis as having "other agendas". By February 1966, Utzon
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