Sydney Opera House Jorn Utzon

CONCEPT
 The extraordinary structure of

the shells themselves
represented a puzzle for the
engineers. This was not
resolved until 1961, when
Utzon himself finally came up
with the solution. He replaced
the original elliptical shells with
a design based on complex
sections of a sphere. Utzon
says his design was inspired
by the simple act of peeling an
orange: the 14 shells of the
building, if combined, would
form a perfect
sphere. Although Utzon had
spectacular, innovative plans
for the interior of these halls
DeSCrIPtiON…..
 he 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 metre (246 ft 8½ in) radius ,
forming the roofs of the structure, set on a monumental podium. The building covers 1.8 hectares
(4.5 acres) of land and is 183 metres (605 ft) long and 120 metres (388 ft) wide at its widest
point. It is supported on 588 concrete piers sunk as much as 25 metres below sea level.
 Although the roof structures of the Sydney Opera House are commonly referred to as "shells" (as
they are in this article), they are in fact not shells in a strictly structural sense, but are instead
precast concrete panels supported by precast concrete ribs.The shells are covered in a subtle
chevron pattern with 1,056,006 glossy white- and matte-cream-coloured Swedish-made tiles
from Höganäs AB,though, from a distance, the shells appear a uniform white.
 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 in 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
 Of the two larger spaces, the Concert Hall is located within the western group of shells, and the
Opera Theatre within the eastern group. The scale of the shells was chosen to reflect the internal
height requirements, with low entrance spaces, rising over the seating areas and up to the high
stage towers. The smaller venues (the Drama Theatre, the Playhouse, and The Studio) are
located within the podium, beneath the Concert Hall. A smaller group of shells set to the western
side of the Monumental Steps houses the Bennelong Restaurant. The podium is surrounded by
substantial open public spaces, of which the large stone-paved forecourt area with the adjacent
monumental steps is also regularly used as a performance space.
 The Sydney Opera House was
made a UNESCO
World Heritage Site on 28 June
2007. It is one of the 20th century's
most distinctive buildings and one
of the most famous
performing arts centres in the
world.
 The Sydney Opera House is
situated on Bennelong Point in
Sydney Harbour, close to the
Sydney Harbour Bridge. It sits at
the northeastern tip of the
Sydney central business district
(the CBD), surrounded on three
sides by the harbour (Sydney Cove
and Farm Cove) and neighboured
by the Royal Botanic Gardens.
3-D viEw…
Performance venues and facilities
inside the opera house…
 The Opera House houses the following performance venues:
 The Concert Hall, with 2,678 seats, is the home of the Sydney Symphony and used by a large number of other
concert presenters. It contains the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ, the largest mechanical tracker action organ
in the world, with over 10,000 pipes.
 The Opera Theatre, a proscenium theatre with 1,507 seats, is the Sydney home of Opera Australia and The
Australian Ballet.
 The Drama Theatre, a proscenium theatre with 544 seats, is used by the Sydney Theatre Company and other
dance and theatrical presenters.
 The Playhouse, an end-stage theatre with 398 seats.
 The Studio, a flexible space with a maximum capacity of 400 people, depending on configuration.
 The Utzon Room, a small multi-purpose venue, seating up to 210.
 The Forecourt, a flexible open-air venue with a wide range of configuration options, including the possibility of
utilising the Monumental Steps as audience seating, used for a range of community events and major outdoor
performances.
 Other areas (for example the northern and western foyers) are also used for performances on an occasional basis.
Venues at the Sydney Opera House are also used for conferences, ceremonies, and social functions.
Few pictures of the opera house….

Sydney Opera House Jorn Utzon

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CONCEPT

 The extraordinary structure of

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