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The Sydney Opera House Boasts By Far The Most Complex Design Structures On The Globe.

By Naomi Hall


It has (get this) 1000 rooms (not 10 or 100, but 1000 rooms... insanity), including five auditoriums, a reception hall, five rehearsal studios, four restaurants (pleasant!), six theatre bars, an in depth foyer and lounge areas, sixty dressing rooms and suites, a library, an artists' lounge (more lounges) plus a canteen referred to as "Green Room" (we used to do Green Room at my high-school on the evening of a production), administrative offices and extensive plant and machinery areas. (All this equals 1000 rooms... again insanity). The house is built on the Sydney Harbour and it is maintained by 580 concrete piers that are 82 feet below sea level (that is definitely soooo cool!). From the Concert Hall, there is certainly (I believe) the greatest organ inside Universe. It was designed and built by Ronald Sharp (who's Australian, naturally. Sydney is in Australia) between 1969 and 1979. This musical beast has 10,500 pipes (holy cowwww!!!), five manual keyboards, one pedal keyboard, and 127 stops arranged in 205 ranks (don't know what that means, but them some big numbers). Okay, considering that we've broken the ice, let's examine the Sydney Opera House!

Years ago deep in a country far, far away... there were a harbor called the Sydney Harbor. As well as in this magical place would have been a fort, called the Fort Macquarie Tram Depot. Also it wasn't until a man named Jorn Utzon (don't ask me the way to pronounce this) won a contest which the NSW (New South Wales) Government had made (it absolutely was some international design competition to make a place with two performance halls) that the Fort Macquarie Tram Depot was demolished. The Depot was demolished in 1958. (We'll proceed to the Utzon fellow in a sec, for the time being, a second of silence for the demolished Depot................. okay, I presume that's enough.)

Jorn Utzon may be the original designer of the Sydney Opera House. He won the competition in 1956 along with the NSW Government made him the sole architect for any house. Utzon was given birth on April 9, 1918 in Copenhagen (April babies are awesome. Yes, I am an April baby. Whoo!!). He received his Diploma in Architecture via the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1942 along his own office (of architecture awesomeness) in 1946. (Okay, let's go back Sydney.)

The Sydney Opera House's building didn't start until March 1959. There have been many issues that Utzon and the NSW Government faced as they created the residence. By January 23, 1961, construction was 42 weeks behind schedule (yikes!). There were weather difficulties and design/construction problems. Utzon was designing the place since it had been built (under no circumstances a positive thing) and because of this, the design brief kept changing. The podium columns were too weak and couldn't include the elaborate roof structure, so those would have to be rebuilt (which cost the builders a lot of time). Sadly, Utzon resigned in 1966 because of cost overruns and also the change in government. The new Robert Askin Government placed the building of the place below the jurisdiction belonging to the Ministry of Public Works. This caused several troubles and bring about street demonstrations (unhealthy). FYI: Through the entire assembly on the Sydney Opera House, architects kept adjusting. After Utzon's resignation, Peter Hall, Lionel Todd, David Littlemore, plus the new NSW Government Architect (I'm assuming this is in front of the government changed. I'm not really, really sure) Ted Farmer took command over the making of the house. They performed the glass walls and three venues that were added since the NSW Government wanted a better concert hall (it seems that concerts were more popular than opera... not cool). Between 1986 and 1988, Peter Hall and the new (newer) NSW Government Architect, Andrew Anderson (catchy name), worked on the land approach and the Forecourt of the property. (Okay, therefore we talked a lot of the architect dilemma. Let's discuss even more regarding the setting up construction.)

The Sydney Opera House's building didn't start until March 1959. There have been many issues that Utzon and the NSW Government faced as they created the residence. By January 23, 1961, construction was 42 weeks behind schedule (yikes!). There were weather difficulties and design/construction problems. Utzon was designing the place since it had been built (under no circumstances a positive thing) and because of this, the design brief kept changing. The podium columns were too weak and couldn't include the elaborate roof structure, so those would have to be rebuilt (which cost the builders a lot of time). Sadly, Utzon resigned in 1966 because of cost overruns and also the change in government. The new Robert Askin Government placed the building of the place below the jurisdiction belonging to the Ministry of Public Works. This caused several troubles and bring about street demonstrations (unhealthy). FYI: Through the entire assembly on the Sydney Opera House, architects kept adjusting. After Utzon's resignation, Peter Hall, Lionel Todd, David Littlemore, plus the new NSW Government Architect (I'm assuming this is in front of the government changed. I'm not really, really sure) Ted Farmer took command over the making of the house. They performed the glass walls and three venues that were added since the NSW Government wanted a better concert hall (it seems that concerts were more popular than opera... not cool). Between 1986 and 1988, Peter Hall and the new (newer) NSW Government Architect, Andrew Anderson (catchy name), worked on the land approach and the Forecourt of the property. (Okay, therefore we talked a lot of the architect dilemma. Let's discuss even more regarding the setting up construction.)

In summary, the Sydney Opera House was finally finished in 1973 and opened by Queen Elizabeth II on October 20 the exact same year. It took roughly 14 years for that house to be assembled.




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