Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House, 2004
The Sydney Opera House ( German Opera House of Sydney ) is one of the most distinctive and famous 20th century building and the landmark of Sydney. It goes back to the design of Danish architect and Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Jørn Utzon.
The Sydney Opera House was registered on 12 July 2005 in the Australian National Heritage List and on 28 June 2007 in the list of UNESCO World Heritage. Denmark sees the Opera House today as part of its cultural heritage and has included it in Denmark's cultural canon 2006.
The building is 184 meters long, 118 meters wide and covers an area of approximately 1.8 hectares. Its distinctive roof rises 67 meters high and is with 1,056,000 glazed, paneled white ceramic tiles, imported from Sweden. 580 piles which were anchored 25 meters deep in the ground, carrying the 160,000 -ton building.
Interior design
The Opera House contains five theaters with a total of 5532 seats: The Concert Hall (Concert Hall ) with 2679 seats, the Joan Sutherland Theatre ( opera theater) with 1547 seats, the Drama Theatre with 544 seats, the Playhouse with 398 seats and the Studio Theatre with 364 seats. Altogether there are about 100 rooms, including five sample studios, a cinema, 60 dressing rooms, four restaurants, six bars and numerous souvenir shops. The power supply would be sufficient for a city of 25,000 inhabitants and covers 645 kilometers of electric cables.
Formation
End of the 1940s matured in Sydney approach the idea that this city should have an opera house. Representative appearance of such a construction was also considered helpful.
As a building site had taken the Bennelong Point, one of the city upstream peninsula in the harbor on the other side of the harbor bridge in 1932 finished in the eye. Named after an Australian Aboriginal locality was last used as a tram repair center, but was after this form of public transport to car traffic drew the short straw, degenerated into an industrial wasteland.
The originally scheduled construction cost was covered by four ten times, the completion could only be realized with the help of a specially launched lottery.
The international tender to the 233 proposals were submitted, won the 1957 Danish architect Jørn even then renowned Utzon, who participated for the first time outside Denmark. An international jury led by Eero Saarinen chose for his design. Among other things, he was given an honorable mention also the modernist Australian architect Harry Seidler. Although Utzon's design violated the competition rules because he only filed a pretty rough sketch. Nevertheless, the choice of his design proved to be a stroke of luck, not only for Sydney, but also for the world architecture.
In 1957 started the engineer Ove Arup and its partners, the static calculations; Arup was also instrumental in the success of the project.
1959 construction began. However, the curved shells of the roof were preparing big problems because they were difficult to calculate. Often architectural new territory was to be entered, and problems are solved, as they stood. The design had to be adapted frequently to new realities. But the complex geometry of the roof was redesigned in six years over twelve times. With punch card controlled computer needed 18 months to calculate the curvatures and the statics of all roofs. There were 44 signatories busy to create more than 1700 plans of the roof structure.
Utzon should begin construction before all cost analysis and all technical problems were solved. Therefore, no precise cost calculation nor planning the construction period was possible. This contributed to the fact that the originally forecast construction costs of £ 3.5 million at the end of over £ 50 million, so then were 100 million Australian dollars, and the completion date of January 26, so the Australia Day national holiday in 1965, on 1973 had to be postponed.
The rising cost of construction, but also artistic differences led to a rift between the lead government of the Australian state of New South Wales under the conservative Prime Minister Robert Askin and the architect. Finally Utzon were the funds locked, and he could not pay its employees. While waiting to be asked back again, Utzon left his construction site in February 1966. The completely surprising departure from Australia Utzon was the highlight of the discharged in full public debate. Utzon never set foot on Australian soil.
Instead, a group of young Australian architect was commissioned to complete the interiors. Utzon was convinced that the compromises made would ruin the work, and at the opening of critics and artists gave him partly right. In particular, the cost-effective design biggest parts of the interior and the acoustics were often criticized. Two-thirds of the orchestra pit in the Opera House ( Joan Sutherland Theatre ) now lie beneath the stage, as this was moved from the large building in the smaller ones.
On 20 October 1973, the opera house was officially handed over by Queen Elizabeth II, the formal head of state of Australia, its determination. At the opening of Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Ode to Joy was performed.
As a sign of late Jørn Utzon reparation was invited in 2004 to participate as a consultant in the renovation and refurbishment of the interiors. In his Danish studio he created a tapestry for the Opera House, which he dedicated to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
Opera House today
Today, the Sydney Opera House is one of the most popular tourist attractions and adjacent to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and along with the Uluru (Ayers Rock) the emblem of Australia. The Sydney Opera House is one of the largest cultural centers in the world. It held annually about 2500 performances and events with approximately four million visitors.
As part of the Sydney Festival free concerts and other events are held occasionally. The opera house is regularly involved since 1978 as an exhibition space in the two -yearly Biennale of Sydney, a three- month international exhibition festival.