Sydney Opera House

 “In the hot sun of the day it will be a beautiful white shimmering thing.”

Sydney Opera House is Australia’s most famous landmark around the world. It houses many touring theatre, ballet, and musical productions, and most notable the home of Opera Australia, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony.

I recently watched an interview on the subject of the architect of this masterpiece, Jørn Utzon. The story behind this masterpiece is touching. Although Jørn Utzon knows the Sydney Opera House like no one else, he has never seen it completed. During the building phase a series costs disputes and political pressure compelled the Danish architect to resign in disgust in 1966, and ever since he has only seen it on postcards like we do. There is another twist to this story; the Sydney Opera House completed after he left is not truly what he had envisioned. Inside it hides an ugly fact that it is somewhat less spacious than one would imagine. For example, the orchestra is under the stage due to space issues. Jørn Utzon’s son is working to mend the history, and there a plans for his father to see the building and for his design to be finally completed as he wanted. Jørn Utzon believes that the Opera House will be even better than before.

Further reading 

http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/

http://www.sydneyarchitecture.org/

http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/ebindshow.pl?doc=on122/a270

http://www.chiefengineer.org/content/content_display.cfm/seqnumber_content/1823.htm

~ by juric on October 25, 2007.