Sydney Opera House

Bennelong Point, Sydney

1957-63 Joern Utzon (Stage 1)

1963-73 (NSWGA), Hall Todd & Littlemore

(Stage 2) - interiors and glass walls)

Engineers: Ove Arup & Partners

Sydney, located at the east coast of Australia, is a lively city and it calls to everyone's imagination. It's famous for its Opera house and the Sydney harbor Bridge. The climate is mild and varies from about 12 degrees in winter to about 35 degrees in the summer. All people have heard about the big fireworks during the millennium change but there is much more to Sydney. It has rich beaches and many parks that are really worthwhile seeing. For seeing the city you will need quite some time. It's a town with great views due to the location. It has a hilly structure meaning that from almost each top you will have some marvelous views. Many of the views are ocean views and the more you enter the coastal area the more you will see of them. There is no road along the coast but if you are driving around you will find that it is possible to stay along the coast side for quite some time. Some areas are a bit difficult to find but once there you will have great views.

The Sydney Opera House in Sydney, New South Wales , Australia, is one of the most distinctive and famous 20th-century buildings, and one of the most famous performing arts venues in the world.

It is generally agreed that Sydney, Australia is located around one of the world’s most beautiful natural harbors. It is also acknowledged that the harbor itself is aptly complemented by one of the world’s most eye-catching1 buildings. Indeed, the distinctive, concrete, shell-like structure of the Sydney Opera House has made it the internationally recognized symbol of Australia’s largest city.

The gleaming white sails of the Sydney opera house grace port Jackson, the city's superb natural harbor. The impressive cultural center was designed by a Danish architect and is recognized worldwide as a symbol of this thriving Australian City. Sydney Harbor Bridge, another of Sydney's landmarks, connects the north shore of the bay with the downtown area.

The Opera House triumphantly embodies the notion that a building is a work of art. Situated on a small strip of land that juts outsintosthe harbor, and soaring to a height of about 67 meters, the shells give substance to Danish architect Jorn Utzon’s vision of a ship’s sails.

In 1957, Utzon won an international competition organized by the state government of New South Wales to design a performing-arts complex.2 Entrants were told that the structure had to contain two theaters seating approximately 3,000 and 1,200 people respectively. Other than that, architects were free to use any approach3 they liked. Utzon’s innovative design was selected from among 233 entries from around the world.

Construction of the building took considerably longer than planned. Utzon dropped out of the project in 1966 after a series of disputes4 with the government. After many delays, the Sydney Opera House was finally opened in 1973. Now containing five theaters, it has evolvedsintosthe busiest performing arts center in the world.

Sydney Opera House must be one of the most recognizable images of the modern world - up there with the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building - and one of the most photographed.

Not only is it recognizable, it has come to represent 'Australia'.

Although only having been open since 1973, it is as representative of Australia as the pyramids are of Egypt and the Colosseum of Rome.

An extraordinary site on Sydney Harbor at Bennelong Point, an ambitious state Premier (Joseph J Cahill), a visiting American architect (Eero Saarinen) and a young Dane’s billowy sketches (Joern Utzon) were the key factors which generated one of the world’s most important modern buildings. Designed at the vast scale of the harbor itself, its low edges contain enough visual appeal for human interest. More remarkable is that the scheme makes no reference to history or to classical architectural forms. The roof is more important than the walls, consequently the language of walls - columns, divisions, windows and pediments - has been effectively dispensed with. As a public building, it conceals its usage in its lack of historical associations, and restores the concept of the ‘monument’ as being acceptable in social terms.

The Sydney Opera House also embodies timeless popular metaphors. The building’s organic shape and lack of surface decoration have made it both timeless and ageless. Moreover, it demonstrates how buildings can add to environmental experience rather than detract from it - something of spiritual value independent of function. The building and the setting look orchestrated, and the synergy between the setting and the building make it appear that the scheme actually involved flooding the harbor valley to set the building off to best advantage.

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