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Great Buildings by Jackie Craven
The Sydney Opera HouseBegun in 1957 The Sydney Opera House broke all the rules when it won an international competition in 1957. Today, this Modern Expressionist building is one of the most famous, and most photographed, structures of the 20th century.
Take a Photo Tour of the Sydney Opera House -> Overlooking the harbor, the Sydney Opera House is a freestanding sculpture of spherical roofs and sail-like shells sheathed in white ceramic tiles. Stabilizing this unconventional structure required innovations in construction techniques. Like many of Utzon's designs, the Sydney Opera House makes ingenious use of platforms. Utzon explained his design as follows: "...the idea has been to let the platform cut through like a knife and separate primary and secondary functions completely. On top of the platform the spectators receive the completed work of art and beneath the platform every preparation for it takes place." Utzon continued, "To express the platform and avoid destroying it is a very important thing, when you start building on top of it. A flat roof does not express the flatness of the platform...in the schemes for the Sydney Opera House...you can see the roofs, curved forms, hanging higher or lower over the plateau. The contrast of forms and the constantly changing heights between these two elements result in spaces of great architectural force made possible by the modern structural approach to concrete construction, which has given so many beautiful tools into the hands of the architect." The saga of the opera house actually began in 1957, when, at the age of 38, Jørn Utzon was still a relatively unknown architect with a practice in Denmark near where Shakespeare had located Hamlet's castle. He was living in a small seaside town with his wife and three children - one son, Kim, born that year; another son Jan, born in 1944, and a daughter, Lin, born in 1946 - all three would follow in their father's footsteps and become architects. Their home was a house in Hellebæk that he had built just five years before, one of the few designs that he had actually realized since opening his studio in 1945. Jørn Utzon had just entered an anonymous competition for an opera house to be built in Australia on a point of land jutting into Sydney harbor. Out of some 230 entries from over thirty countries, his concept was selected - described by the media at the time as "three shell-like concrete vaults covered with white tiles." The Sydney Opera House is actually a complex of theatres and halls all linked together beneath its famous shells. Since its opening in 1973, it has become the busiest performing arts centre in the world, averaging some 3000 events a year with audiences totaling some two million, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week closing only on Christmas and Good Friday. Books have been written, and films made chronicling the sixteen years it took to complete the Sydney Opera House. Utzon, who is described as being an intensely private person was unwittingly entangled in political intrigues and besieged by a hostile press, which eventually forced him out of the project before it was completed. The Opera house was completed by other designers under the direction of Peter Hall. Utzon refused to return to Australia and has never laid eyes on his masterpiece. But he was able to accomplish the basic structure, leaving just the interiors to be finished by others. As Pritzker Laureate and Juror Frank Gehry puts it, "Utzon made a building well ahead of its time, far ahead of available technology, and he persevered through extraordinary malicious publicity and negative criticism to build a building that changed the image of an entire country. It is the first time in our lifetime that an epic piece of architecture has gained such universal presence." Recently plans were announced to refurbish the interiors, and Utzon, now in his eighties, has high hopes that the interior will be full of color rather than a black hole. His son Jan is part of the new design team as Jørn Utzon's representative. Their firm, Utzon Architects, has an agreement with the Sydney Opera House Trust and indirectly with the Australian government to work toward future development and renovation of the building. One aspect of the development is to develop a Design Principles document, which will take a reader through the building explaining the underlying principles for the design decisions that produced the end results. The document will serve as a manual or guideline for future generations when alterations or modifications to the building are contemplated. Another aspect is to provide actual designs for a number of changes and modifications which are presently needed if the building is to comply to today's expectations. Currently, work is concentrating on some of the interior spaces and access to the western foyer from the western boardwalk. Jørn Utzon has stated, "It is my hope that the building shall be a lively and ever-changing venue for the arts. Future generations should have the freedom to develop the building to contemporary use." Take a Photo Tour of the Sydney Opera House -> ~Commentary by the Pritzker Prize Committee Learn More: Architecture Atlas : Australia 20th Century Trends in Architecture |
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