nomination by the Government of Australia - Sydney Opera House

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Part 2. Description
2.23
International design competition 1956
A major cultural centre for Sydney and its siting at
Bennelong Point had been discussed since the 1940s.
Eugene Goossens, the British-born conductor of the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra, fi rst proposed this site
in 1948, a recommendation that was later accepted by
the New South Wales Premier, John Joseph Cahill. In
1956 the New South Wales Government called an openended
international design competition and appointed
an independent jury, rather than commissioning a
local fi rm. The competition brief provided broad
specifi cations to attract the best design talent in the
world. Open to all architects from around the globe, it
did not specify design parameters or set a cost limit.
The main requirement of the competition brief was a
design for a dual function building with two performance
halls. The competition generated enormous interest
in Australia and overseas: 933 architects registered of
whom 233 (mostly from overseas) submitted a design
on a strictly anonymous basis (Messent 1997: 60–99).
2.24
The New South Wales Government’s decision
to commission Utzon as the sole architect was
unexpected, bold and visionary. There was scepticism
as to whether the structure could be built given Utzon’s
limited experience, the rudimentary and unique design
concept and the absence of any engineering advice.
The competition drawings were largely diagrammatic,
the design had not been fully costed and neither Utzon
nor the jury had consulted a structural engineer (Murray
2004: 13).
Utzon’s design concept included unprecedented
architectural forms and demanded solutions that
required new technologies and materials. Utzon was
only 38 years old and while he was starting to gain
a reputation as an innovative designer he had just a
handful of small-scale works to his credit. This was
quite young for an architect to tackle such a large and
complex building, particularly given the failure of several
talented but inexperienced winners of other international
competitions (Weston 2002: 119). The New South
Wales Government also faced public pressure to select
an Australian architect.
Figure 2.23 One of Utzon’s original competition drawings, 1956
Figure 2.24 The competition judges with the design, from left to
right: renowned English architect Leslie Martin; Cobden Parkes (NSW
Government Architect); eminent American-based Finnish architect
Eero Saarinen, and H Ingham Ashworth, Professor of Architecture,
University of Sydney.