The History and Design of Sydney Opera House

The History and Design of the Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957.

According to legend the Utzon design was rescued from a final cut of 30 "rejects" by the noted Finnish architect Eero Saarinen. The prize was £5,000. Utzon visited Sydney in 1957 to help supervise the project. His office moved to Sydney in February 1963. Formal construction of the Opera House began in March 1959. The project was built in three stages [3; p. 38].

Utzon received the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honour, in 2003. The Pritzker Prize citation stated: “There is no doubt that the Sydney Opera House is his masterpiece. It is one of the great iconic buildings of 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.” [2; p. 271].

The Sydney Opera House is situated on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and neighboured by the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The Sydney Opera House is a modern expressionist design, with a series of large precast concrete “shells”, each composed of sections of a sphere of 75.2 metres radius, 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 as much as 25 m below sea level [3; p. 58].

Apart from the tile of the shells and the glass curtain walls of 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 [1; p. 103].

Planning for the Sydney Opera House began in the late 1940s, when Eugene Goossens, the Director of the NSW 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. By 1954, Goossens succeeded in gaining the support of NSW Premier Joseph Cahill, who called for designs for a dedicated opera house. It was also Goossens who insisted that Bennelong Point be the site for the Opera House [2; p. 92]. Its significance is based on its unparalleled design and construction; its exceptional engineering achievements and technological innovation and its position as a world-famous icon of architecture

To sum up, the history of the Sydney Opera House is rich. It started in 1957 when it was a project won by Jorn Utzon and in 1973 when the opening of the building took place. The Sydney Opera House is a modern expressionist design, with a series of large concrete “shells”. The building's unusual exterior and interior impress all visitors to Sydney. The Sydney Opera House constitutes a masterpiece of the 20^th century architecture.

Introduction

Introduction

Are you keen on travelling? Have you visited a lot of places yet? Have you ever been interested in the theatres, opera houses or concert halls in the world? Just imagine going to the Sydney Opera House, situated in Sydney Harbour at Bennelong Point. It is really worth visiting as it is considered by many to be one of the wonders of the modern world.

The iconic building of the Sydney Opera House has joined other famous world structures such as India's Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China when it was inscribed a World Heritage Building by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's World Heritage Committee on June 28, 2007.

The Sydney Opera House was described by the UNESCO committee as a "daring and visionary experiment that has had an enduring influence on the emergent architecture of the late 20th-century. The building is a great artistic monument and an icon." [13]. It has become identified very closely with Sydney. It is an undisputed symbol of the harbour city.

Estimated 4.5 million people visit the Sydney Opera House every year. Of these, 1.5 million attend a performance at the Sydney Opera House [12]. It seems no visitor to Sydney has failed to ride or walk to Bennelong Point where the Sydney Opera House gleams whitely against the Sydney sky, its feet washed by the waters of the harbour.

The main question of this report is: “Why was Sydney Opera House made a UNESCO world heritage site?”

The problem of the project was chosen to learn more information about the world famous sight and to share the most fascinating facts with many people who are interested in cultures of distant countries where it’s difficult to get to.

To answer the main question it is necessary to investigate the following issues:

1. the history and design of the Sydney Opera House;

2. the Sydney Opera House: its cultural significance;

3. the role of the Sydney Opera House during 2000 Olympic Games.

        The project will be interesting for people, who love travelling, who study culture of different countries, tracing the cities of Olympics throughout the world. The material of the research work can be used at the lessons of Cultural Studies, English and Geography.

Contents

Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………...………………....3

The history and design of the Sydney Opera House ..................................................4

The Sydney Opera House: its cultural significance……………………………...….…5

The role of the Sydney Opera House during 2000 Olympic Games………………..…6

Conclusion…………………………………………….…………………………...…7

Resources………………………………………………………….………………....8

Appendices…………………………………………………………………….…..…9

титульный лист

МБОУ СОШ №65 с углублённым изучением английского языка

Ворошиловского района г. Ростова-на-Дону

Наименование предмета: ИКТ

Реферат

Тема: «Why Was the Sydney Opera House Made a UNESCO World Heritage Site?»

                                                                            Автор работы:

                                                                            Решетникова Ксения Алексеевна,

                                                                            ученица 9 класс «Д»

                                                                            Руководитель:

                                                                            Ковалева Елена Николаевна,

                                                                            учитель английского языка

2012