Sydney Opera House- the tour

Sydney Opera House began with a contest in 1956… architects from all over the world submitted entries. Jorn Utzon’s design had been eliminated, until one of the judges arrived late! He refused to look at the finalists until he had a chance to look at all the entries. And so, from the discard pile Utzon’s graceful, unique design was rescued.  

 

The words ‘revolutionary’, ‘collaborative’, and ‘unique’ were used frequently enough that we came to understand that as they began laying the foundation for this masterpiece, no one had any idea how the construction would actually be accomplished. Three years of work went into the foundation and still they had no idea how to build the ‘innovative’ shells. Massive cost overruns and significant delays caused the public to stage protests and street demonstrations.

In 1966, while still far from completion a new government came to power and amid controversy Utzon resigned and returned home to Copenhagen.

The original hope for 2 performance halls, one for opera and one for symphony, was expanded and all hurdles were overcome. In 1973 the venue was finally opened, by none other than Queen Elizabeth herself.

Photo by http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2008/11/30/1227979823884.html

The project was 10 years behind schedule and approximately $93 million over budget. Orignal estimates were $7 million, but final costs exceeded $102 million.(and that was in 1973)

 The engineers finally overcame the many hurdles involved in such a radical design. They built 2 buildings.The Sydney Opera house is really 2 buildings, neither touching the other anywhere. The Sails or Shells are really like a large pavilion made mostly of concrete covered with self cleaning tile. I don't know if you can see it in this picture or not but this is looking right up the outer wall...

The slick white ceramic tile are aligned to make a chevron pattern, observed on a lady’s swimming suit at the time the design was being decided upon, or so the story goes. In the almost 40 years of the Opera House’s history the tile have only had to be cleaned manually twice, once during a severe drought and once when spray painted by some activist.

The rain washes the tile, drains onto the landing and falls through the slits in the decking into the harbor. It is truly a brilliant and beautiful design.

The Inside of the famous looking pavilion is a no less famous sounding concert hall, several halls actually. There are 1000 rooms, including 5 theaters, five rehearsal halls, the 2 main halls, multiple restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. The meticulous care implemented in designing the halls and theaters is extraordinary. For example, the wood in the opera theater is a South American beech, because it reflects the sound back to the stage in exactly 1.3 seconds (I think that is the right time), the exact perfect time for the human voice. Who knew? The seats are designed by a back surgeon, so they are very comfortable. But more importantly for the performance, they absorb and reflect the exact same amount of sound as a person would. So the sound of a performance is not affected should the random seat be left empty.

The symphony hall is designed to reflect the sound back to the stage in exactly 1.8 seconds (I believe) to facilitate the most perfect performance experience possible.

The venues can all be refitted with lighting, padding on the walls, sound systems or any variety of backdrops to facilitate everything from a rock concert by Janet Jackson to a production of a famous ballet, to the look of a night club for blues or jazz performances. It was incredible. Last year there were over 2000 performances in the Sydney Opera house!

The glass walls make the ‘green house’ wonderfully warm during the winter, but uncomfortably hot in the summer, sometimes reaching into the 90’s.

Our tour guide, Daniel, did a fabulous job! I have no idea how he remembered so many dates, numbers and bits of information. Hi Daniel! We got to wear these handy dandy headphones so we could hear clearly.

  Although, Utzon never saw his beloved Opera House completed, and never returned to Australia because of failing health, he was commissioned to design some updates and renovations in his late years- which his son, Jan, also an architect, completed. 

At lunch, while we waited for our food, we each drew our own version of the Opera house--- while we were sitting in it! I don't think any of us would have won a prize, but we had fun!

And then we walked around and looked at some of the beautiful views... like this one- the Harbor Bridge reflected in the glass window of the Sydney Opera House. It felt kinda surreal!