The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts center in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbor, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture.
Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, but completed by an Australian architectural team headed by Peter Hall, the building was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973, 16 years after Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The Government of New South Wales, led by the premier, Joseph Cahill, authorized work to begin in 1958 with Utzon directing construction. The government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's ultimate resignation.
Thanks to Google Earth Studio for this amazing aerial view.
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:00The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
00:14Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's
00:18most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th century architecture.
00:23Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, but completed by an Australian architectural
00:27team headed by Peter Hall, the building was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20
00:33October 1973, 16 years after Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design
00:39competition.
00:41The Government of New South Wales, led by the Premier, Joseph Cahill, authorised work
00:46to begin in 1958 with Utzon directing construction.
00:50The Government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by circumstances
00:54that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's ultimate
00:58resignation.
01:00The building and its surrounds occupy the whole of Bennelong Point on Sydney Harbour,
01:04between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, adjacent to the Sydney Central Business District and
01:08the Royal Botanic Gardens, and near to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
01:13The building comprises multiple performance venues, which together host well over 1,500
01:18performances annually, attended by more than 1.2 million people.
01:23Performances are presented by numerous performing artists, with many resident companies such
01:26as Opera Australia, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
01:31As one of the most popular visitor attractions in Australia, the site is visited by more
01:35than 8 million people annually, and approximately 350,000 visitors take a guided tour of the
01:41building each year.
01:43The building is managed by the Sydney Opera House Trust, an agency of the New South Wales
01:47State Government.
01:49On 28 June 2007 the Sydney Opera House became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, having been
01:54listed on the, now defunct, Register of the National Estate since 1980.
01:59The National Trust of Australia register since 1983, the City of Sydney Heritage Inventory
02:05since 2000, the New South Wales State Heritage Register since 2003, and the Australian National
02:11Heritage List since 2005.
02:13The Opera House was also a finalist in the new Seven Wonders of the World campaign list.
02:18The facility features a modern expressionist design, with a series of large precast concrete
02:23shells, each composed of sections of a sphere of 75.2 metres radius, forming the roofs of
02:29the structure, set on a monumental podium.
02:32The building covers 1.8 hectares of land and is 183 metres long and 120 metres wide at
02:38its widest point.
02:39It is supported on 588 concrete piers sunk as much as 25 metres below sea level.
02:45The highest roof point is 67 metres above sea level which is the same height as that
02:50of a 22-storey building.
02:52The roof is made of 2,194 precast concrete sections, which weigh up to 15 tonnes each.
02:58Although the roof structures are commonly referred to as, shells, as in this article,
03:02they are precast concrete panels supported by precast concrete ribs, not shells in a
03:07strictly structural sense.
03:09Though the shells appear uniformly white from a distance, they feature a subtle chevron pattern
03:14composed of 1,056,006 tiles in two colours, glossy white and matte cream.
03:19The tiles were manufactured by the Swedish company Håganäs AB which generally produced
03:24stoneware tiles for the paper mill industry.
03:27Apart from the tile of the shells and the glass curtain walls of the foyer spaces, the
03:31building's exterior is largely clad with aggregate panels composed of pink granite quarried at
03:35Tarana.
03:37Significant interior surface treatments also include off-form concrete, Australian white
03:41birch plywood supplied from Washope in northern New South Wales, and brushbox glulam.
03:47That is all.
03:48Subscribe and post comments for future videos.