Sydney Opera House

Introduction The Sydney Opera House is a symbol of Australia, one of the most recognisable buildings in the world and one that has come to define a nation.

Designating it a World Heritage Site in 2007, UNESCO described Sydney Opera House as ‘a masterpiece of 20th century architecture. 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.

It is a daring and visionary experiment that has had an enduring influence on the emergent architecture of the late 20th century’.

Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon and Australian architect Peter Hall, who completed the interiors of the building, the Sydney Opera House was opened in October 1973. Since that time it has been home to some of the world’s greatest artists and performances.

Located on a promontory in Sydney Harbour known today as Bennelong Point, the Opera House stands on the traditional lands of the Gadigal and continues a centuries-old tradition as a meeting place of cultural significance.

Today it is one of the busiest performing arts centres in the world. It invites guests to experience a diverse range of unique cultural experiences, from performances and events taking place in its theatres, functions centre, centre for creativity and forecourt, to guided tours, talks and ideas, children’s programming and world-class dining.

In 1958 New South Wales Premier Joseph Cahill, who was instrumental in the building’s creation, said his hope was that it would ‘help mold a better and more enlightened community’, an aspiration that Sydney Opera House continues to fulfil for over ten million visitors each year.

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The Wu-Tang Clan performing in the Concert Hall, 2018.

Aerial view showing the three sets of shells and ten sails that make up Sydney Opera House.

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Sydney Opera House during the Vivid Festival, June 2011.

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A site of Indigenous importance Thousands of years before the Sydney Opera House was built, the promontory on which it stands was the edge of a forested ridge named Tubowgule. The land was home to the Gadigal, one of many groups of First Nations peoples who are the traditional custodians and inhabitants of the Harbour area.

Like much of the land surrounding the harbour, Tubowgule offered a rich source of food for the Gadigal. These would have included kangaroo and wallaby, edible plants, as well as plentiful fish, oysters and mussels.

In 1788 the British, led by Governor Arthur Phillip, established a colony that would eventually grow into the city of Sydney. Their arrival was far from peaceful and violence was commonplace, resulting

Joseph Lycett was a former convict who became a renowned artist, painting many dramatic landscapes and scenes of the new colony. Sydney Cove from the North Shore of the Harbour, c.1817.

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L E F T Two Aboriginal Australian men fishing for Eels, New South Wales.

Painting by Joseph Lycett, c.1817.

R I G H T Bennelong with armorial bearings published in 1798.

R I G H T Captain Arthur Phillip by Francis Wheatley, 1786.

in the deaths of many First Nations men, women and children. In a problematic attempt to understand the Indigenous peoples, Governor Phillip ordered the kidnapping of two men: Colebee, a local Gadigal man, and a younger man from the nearby Wangal clan, Woollarawarre Bennelong.

Despite the forced nature of his relationship with the Governor, Bennelong went on to play a key role as mediator between the First Nations peoples and colonialists. In October 1790 a simple brick hut was built in response to Bennelong’s request for a residence. It was the first structure on the promontory that would thereafter bear his name, becoming known as Bennelong Point.

The promontory soon became a site of significance in the new colony, a meeting place for people of importance from both sides, as well as the location of ceremonies to which Governor Phillip was sometimes invited.

In the century following colonialisation, Bennelong Point changed rapidly as it became part of the expanding colonial landscape. Several years after Bennelong’s

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The impetus for an opera house Australia changed dramatically in the years that followed the Second World War. With an influx of European migrants, the country’s population swelled.

This rapid wave of growth brought an increase in demand for mass entertainment and cultural experiences, including symphonic music and opera.

In the post-war period the management of national orchestras, including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra,

was the responsibility of the national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Commission. In 1947 the ABC’s General Manager, Charles Moses, engaged world-renowned English conductor and composer Eugene Goossens to become the Sydney Symphony’s newest conductor. He brought with him international fame in the performing arts, especially opera, and he would nurture and develop local stars, including Joan Sutherland, who made her international debut in 1952 at London’s prestigious Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

Alongside other prominent figures on Sydney’s cultural scene, Goossens shared a determination

Premier Joseph Cahill, who gave a speech in which he announced that the ‘State cannot go on without proper facilities for the expression of talent and the staging of the highest forms of artistic entertainment which add grace and charm to living and which help to develop and mold a better, more enlightened community’.

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to ensure that the burgeoning city would become a vibrant and cosmopolitan place that would be recognised worldwide. He began to push for the construction of an opera house, seeing it not only as a catalyst to Sydney’s cultural transformation but also as a way of elevating the prestige of Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

In 1954 a pivotal meeting took place between New South Wales Premier Joseph Cahill and Goossens, which led to the formation of the Sydney Opera House Executive Committee, whose task it was to investigate ideas for a new cultural centre to be used primarily for symphonic and operatic performances. The committee resolved that the proposed centre should have two main halls: one reserved chiefly for opera, ballet and concerts and the other for drama and music,

Returned Services League sponsored migrants arriving in Sydney, 1947.

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Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens (1893–1962), the first conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

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and that the building should be located in a setting befitting the character of the project.

After considering several locations across the city, the committee agreed with the site Goossens had identified years before – Bennelong Point.

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In 2003 Frank Gehry wrote that Utzon had ‘persevered through extraordinary malicious publicity and negative criticism to build a building that changed the image of an entire country’.

This elegantly defines the spherical geometry of the roof and, alongside the uneven surface of each tile, accentuates detail and avoids the structure being blinding to look at.

In total, 996,112 tiles were delivered to the site by Höganäs, comprised of 17 different shapes of gloss and matt, white and off-white finishes. These were laid into a total of 4,228 tile lids, which were then lifted by crane and fixed into position.

It is testament to the durability of the tiles that regular maintenance is minimal. Every five years each tile is tapped and checked for altered sound and changes in visual appearance. In the early 1990s, 11,000 edge tiles were replaced after a number of them began cracking. Yet after half a century of exposure to the forces of nature, the vast majority of the tiles are original.

Controversy and resignation From winning the competition in 1957 to the early 1960s, Utzon had worked on the project from afar.

When he and his family finally arrived in Sydney in March 1963, discontent and resentments already existed between engineers, architects and the state government. Utzon had never before worked on a project of this scale, and in good faith Arup’s firm had

taken on much of the work that might typically have fallen to the architect’s office.

As the time and budget overruns continued to mount, the cost of the additional work performed by Arup had become unsustainable. The years of work devising solutions for different schemes to build the shells had taken its toll and Arup’s partners insisted that they formalise and decrease the firm’s extensive role on the project.

Arup’s request to the state government was quickly approved, but the relationship between engineers and architects was badly damaged as a result, and even

“So much happened, such a drama, such a human drama, that it’s really impossible to give it in a few words” Ove Arup interviewed, 1968

The steel erection arch (see p. 26) awaiting a final rib element, 1965.

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Lifting a rib segment,

1965.

The Concert Hall, which sat empty for nearly two years waiting for Stage 3 to commence, 1967.

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led to the doorway between their on-site offices being sealed up.

Utzon, now logistically responsible for the overall project management of Stages 2 and 3, was also receiving much more scrutiny over a budget that had almost tripled since the project’s inception.

The new Minister for Public Works, Norm Ryan, was caught between his admiration for Utzon, his hopes for completing Sydney Opera House to the highest standards and mounting pressure to restrict expenditure.

In September of 1963, with construction of the shells well under way, Charles Moses, General Manager of the ABC, raised questions over the seating capacity and planned acoustics for the Major Hall, known today as the Concert Hall. One of the limitations of the already finished geometry of the roof was a narrower width at ground level in which to fit the interior spaces. The requirement for adequate seating and the space in which to achieve it would become an

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Peter Hall Peter Brian Hall was born on the 16th May 1931 in Newcastle, just two hours’ drive north of Sydney. He grew up in rural New South Wales before winning a scholarship to attend the prestigious Cranbrook School.

Hall was an outstanding student and before long had secured another scholarship to study at the University of Sydney in 1952. He initially enrolled in an arts degree, but quickly transferred to architecture, and in the same year took up a traineeship in the Government Architect’s branch of the New South Wales Department of Public Works.

In 1957, the year Utzon won the Opera House competition, Hall graduated with a degree in design, art, town and country planning and became an associate member of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. He was awarded another scholarship, this time the Hezlet Bequest – highly sought-after funding to study architecture overseas for two years.

Hall postponed his remaining five-year contract with the Government Architects Office and in August 1958 departed for London.

In June 1959 Hall married fellow Australian Libby Bryant. The couple set off for an extensive tour to study European architecture before arriving in Denmark, where Hall hoped there would be an opportunity to gain work experience in an architectural office. Having seen Utzon’s Kingo Houses project in Helsingør, and knowing full well that the architect was working on the Opera House project, Hall met with

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Peter Hall at work on a model of the Opera House, Sydney, 5th June 1968.

“My overall design approach has been to treat the building as a ‘found object’ which dictates the character of what is built in it. I believe this promises to produce quite considerable design unity even though it is not the work of one architect” Peter Hall, 1972

Utzon, who along with his wife, Lis, welcomed the Halls into their office but had no short-term work to offer the young traveller.

Hall returned to Australia in 1960 and continued working for the Government Architects Office for the next six years before resigning in early 1966 to pursue his own practice. In that time he had developed a significant reputation for his work, notably additions to the Courthouse at Taylor Square and the Goldstein Hall at the University of New South Wales, for which he was awarded the Sulman Medal for Architectural Merit in 1965.

Utzon’s departure from the Opera House project required the government to form a new panel of architects for Stage 3, which included the massive task of constructing and designing the interior and foyer spaces. With initial candidates immediately withdrawing any interest, Peter Hall set aside his fledging business and bravely accepted the key role of design architect on the Sydney Opera House project. It would go on to consume his life for the next seven years.

Even after the opening of the Opera House in 1973, much commentary continued to downplay Hall and his partners’ achievements in bringing the building to completion. Despite this, in the 1980s, as part of a New South Wales Government bicentennial project,

Cladding assembly and final touches to Stage 3 of construction.

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Peter Hall inspecting the bronze mullions on the finished glass walls.

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The opening From the first announcement of an International Competition it would be another 17 years and 8 months before Sydney Opera House was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, on 20th October 1973.

15,000 Sydneysiders attended the opening on the forecourt, with thousands more around the harbour foreshore and aboard a flotilla of 2,000 yachts and small boats. 60,000 multi-coloured balloons, hundreds of white pigeons, streamers and fireworks made up a grand opening display that was watched by an estimated three million viewers worldwide.

The 1970s was a politically complex decade for Australian society, with issues of equality at the forefront of public debate. In acknowledging the importance of the site on behalf of First Nations people, the actor Ben Blakeney portrayed the spirit of Woollarawarre Bennelong from the apex of the first roof sail enclosing the Concert Hall. Committed to making the most of this significant moment to encourage a unified way forward for Australian society, a proud Blakeney played a didgeridoo and announced: ‘I am Bennelong, and my spirit and the spirit of my people lives; and they dance; their music and their drama and their laughter also remains’.

Initially estimated to cost the equivalent of 7 million Australian dollars, the project’s final cost was a staggering 102 million dollars. Funded entirely by public lottery and recognised for its extraordinary innovation, the high drama surrounding the design and construction of Sydney Opera House had formed a history befitting the operas it would go on to stage.

Prior to the official opening, several performances and events, along with the very first guided tours, had already taken place. On 15th July 1973 the International Dental Congress had the honour of being the first official function in the Concert Hall. Although it had on occasion played within the concrete form of the

L E F T Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Phillip and Premier Askin depart after the opening night’s performances, 1973.

Sydney Opera House on the day of the official opening by the Queen, 20 October 1973.

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Jørn Utzon returns There is no doubt that Utzon never wanted to leave the project. The truth is that privately he worried about it for the many years that followed his departure.

Implored by various parties to return and see the finished structure with his own eyes, Utzon replied that he did not need to, he could see it perfectly clearly in his mind.

Over the decades Sydney Opera House has grown in reputation and stature, becoming widely recognised as the most notable monument of the 20th century, a world-renowned performance centre and

icon of Australian identity, beloved by its citizens and international visitors alike.

In the late 1990s the Sydney Opera House Trust, headed at the time by Joe Skrzynski, identified the strategic importance of the ongoing preservation and continuity of the building for future generations.

With this in mind, Skrzynski met with Utzon’s daughter, Lin, in 1998 to gain an insight into how the New South Wales Government might reconnect with her father and invite him to engage directly with the building’s future.

The year was also the 25th anniversary of the completion of its construction and in October, New South Wales Premier Bob Carr wrote to Utzon to officially invite him to re-engage with the Sydney Opera House. The following year Skrzynski flew to Europe to meet Utzon personally, where the architect accepted his offer. Now in his 80s and in declining health, Utzon was unable to return in person but this did not stop him from eagerly accepting the new commission.

With his son Jan, an accomplished architect in his own right, and daughter, Lin, as his collaborators and emissaries, Utzon set about developing a set of design principles that could be used to continue his vision for the Opera House into the future. The document provides a detailed guide for architects and designers to maintain and renew the building in a manner befitting the original architect’s intentions.

The Utzon Design Principles were officially published

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Jørn Utzon, 2002.

Jørn Utzon and his son Jan discuss plans as part of the architect’s re-engagment.

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R I G H T The concourse beams that Jørn Utzon fondly referred to as ‘Ove’s beams’ reach up to form the south wall and ceiling of the Utzon Room.

“It gives me the greatest pleasure and satisfaction.

I don’t think you can give me more joy as the architect.

It supersedes any medal of any kind that I could get” Jørn Utzon’s broadcast message at the official opening of the Utzon Room, September 2004

in 2002, accompanied by a commitment of 69 million dollars from the New South Wales Government for the refurbishment of the Opera House. This included the creation of the first and only interior performance space designed entirely to the architect’s specifications and renamed in his honour: the Utzon Room.

Formerly a reception hall, the Utzon Room celebrates ideas that were fundamental to the architect’s vision for Sydney Opera House, including honesty of form and beauty of function. Jørn Utzon strove constantly to manifest these ideas in his work and made them implicit in the published design principles.

Ove Arup’s concourse beams, which so impressed Utzon early in their working relationship, are a dominant feature of the room, making up the south wall and the ceiling. A new floor of Southern Tasmanian Blue Gum was installed and left raw, with a traditional Scandinavian soap wash finish.

Utzon’s tapestry Homage to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach hangs along the western wall and lends the room a softer surface; this, both acoustically and

L E F T The magnificent view from the Utzon Room looking east down Sydney Harbour.

B E LO W The north-westerly aspect showing the Western Colonnade running along the podium.

The Western Colonnade, which today provides shelter for outdoor dining.

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accolade for architecture. Often referred to as ‘the Nobel Prize for architecture’, it honours architects ‘whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture’ (the Pritzker Architecture Prize).

In 2006 Utzon’s design for the Western Colonnade was added to the exterior of the Opera House. This addition creates a continuous foyer space, connecting the three smaller theatres with each other and, through six window settings and three sets of doors, to covered dining under the columns and the western aspect of the harbour.

The following year, eclipsing many highs and lows in the story of Sydney Opera House, the site was granted UNESCO World Heritage listing. It became the youngest building ever to be granted the honour, and one of only two sites to receive such recognition while its architect was still alive. Sadly, a little over a year later, on 29th November 2008, Jørn Utzon passed away at the age of 90, never having seen the finished building with his own eyes.

In remembering his father, Jan Utzon wrote: ‘Nothing escaped his keen eye. He observed the world around him with extraordinary clearness. From all these sources of inspiration, be it the temples of Mexico … the half-timbered farms of Denmark, the branch of a tree, the leaf of a flower … from music, sculpture … thinking by great philosophers, he created a world of his own, a legacy of great and modest buildings that are ours to enjoy, far beyond his lifetime’.

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The Sydney Opera House is one of the greatest buildings of the 20th century, one that transcends its time and transformed a nation. It is a meeting place of importance and a site of performance and shared stories. While its originality and unique identity will always be recognised as the marvellous genius of one man, Jørn Oberg Utzon, there were many people responsible for its creation and construction. From the vision of Eugene Goosens, the drive and ambition of Joseph Cahill, the ingenuity of Ove Arup, the brilliance and bravery of Peter Hall and the efforts of countless others, the Sydney Opera House stands as a testament to all who contributed to it.

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Picture credits AGNSW (Gift of the Corry Family 1946): p. 8; Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Collections: p. 13 below (photo Sam Lambert, 1957); Australian Ballet (photo Branco Gaica): p. 69 left; Australian Chamber Orchestra (photo Nic Walker): p. 67; Leo Davis Collection: pp. 54, 56, 56–7 above and below, 57; Sam Doust: pp. 34 below, 36 above and below, 52, 59 below, 60–1, 62; Fairfax Photos: pp. 42 (photo R.L. Stewart), 47 (photo Frank Burke); Richard Johnson: p. 59 above; Yuzo Mikami: p. 19 below; David Moore Collection: pp. 2, 32, 36–7, 41, 45, 84 right; Creative Commons: pp. 4–5 (photo popejon2); Hall Family Archives: p. 43 below; Hamilton Lund: pp. 86–7; NAA: p. 11 above (public domain); Opera Australia: p. 68 below; Powerhouse Museum (photo Jenni Carter): p. 48; Royal Institute of British Architects: p. 18; State Library of New South Wales: pp. 6–7 (public domain), 7 above (Mitchell Library [ML 124]), 9 above (Sydney Streets and Buildings, 1861–c.1900 / chiefly by Kerry & Co. No. 10. Mitchell Library [DL PX 163]), 19 above (photo Max Dupain), 20 below (Jørn Utzon Sydney Opera House photographs: Stage 1 construction, c.1961–62. Mitchell Library [PXA 590 (v.1)]), 21 Jørn Utzon Sydney Opera House photographs: Stage 1 construction, c.1961–62. Mitchell Library [PXA 590 (v.1)]), 22 left (Jørn Utzon Sydney Opera House photographs: Stage 1 construction, c.1961–62. Mitchell Library [PXA 590 (v.1)]), 22 right (Jørn Utzon Sydney Opera House photographs: Stage 1 construction, c.1961–62. Mitchell Library [PXA 590 (v.1)]), 23, 24 above (Mitchell Library [PXA 590 (v.10)]), 24 below, 26 left (photo Max Dupain. Mitchell Library [ON 562/nos 285–95]), 26 right (photo Max Dupain. Mitchell Library [ON 562/nos 815–30]), 27 (photo Max Dupain. Mitchell Library [ON 562/nos 815–30]), 28 (photo Max Dupain), 29 (photo Max Dupain), 33 (photo Max Dupain, Mitchell Library [ON 562/nos 370–2]), 34 above, 35 below, 38 (photo Max Dupain), 39 left (photo Jørn Utzon. Mitchell Library [ON 122/501-1436]), 39 right (Jørn Utzon Sydney Opera House Collection 1956–67.

Mitchell Library [ON 122/501-1436]), 43 above, 44 (photo Max Dupain), 47 (Mitchell Library, courtesy Max Dupain and Associates [Uncommissioned Sydney Opera House construction photographs, 981201]), 49 left (Mitchell Library, courtesy Max Dupain and Associates [Uncommissioned Sydney Opera House construction photographs, 981200]), 49 right (Mitchell Library, courtesy Max Dupain and Associates [Uncommissioned Sydney Opera House construction photographs, 981200], 50 (photo Max Dupain. Mitchell Library [ON 562/nos 1281–1302]), 55 (photo Max Dupain. Mitchell Library [ON 562/nos.

1708-1714]), 65 below (photo Max Dupain), 75 above and below (photo Max Dupain); State Records NSW (public domain): pp. 9 below (NRS 17420 State Rail Authority Archives Photographic Reference Print Collection), 14 below left; Sydney Opera House Trust: cover, pp. 5 above (photo Daniel Boud), 5 below, 14 below right, 15 above, 25, 35 above, 51 (photo Jay Patel), 53 (photo Daniel Boud), 58, 60, 62–3, 63, 64 left, 68 above, 69 right (photo Daniel Boud), 70–1 (photo Daniel Boud), 71 (photo Prudence Upton), 72–3 (photo Daniel Boud), 78, 79, 80 (photo Daniel Boud), 80–1, 81, 82 (ARC Architecture), 83 (photo Daniel Boud), 84 left (photo Yasmin Mund), 85 above (photo Daniel Boud), 85 below (photo Paul Najor); The Sydney Philharmonia Choirs: p. 66; Sydney Symphony Orchestra (photo Jay Patel): p. 65 above; Sydney Theatre Company (photo Brett Boardman): p. 70; Jørn Utzon: p. 77 above.

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This edition © Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd, 2022 First published in 2022 by Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd 305 Access House 141–157 Acre Lane London SW2 5UA www.scalapublishers.com ISBN 978-1-78551-382-4 For Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd: Claire Young Edited by Johanna Stephenson Designed by Heather Bowen Photo Editor: Sam Doust Printed in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the Sydney Opera House and Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd. Every effort has been made to acknowledge correct copyright of images where applicable. Any errors or omissions are unintentional and should be notified to the Publisher, who will arrange for corrections to appear in any reprints.