nomination by the Government of Australia - Sydney Opera House

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42 Part 3. Justifi cation for inscription The Sydney Opera House is ‘one of the great iconic buildings of the twentieth century, an image of great beauty known throughout the world’ (Lord Rothschild, Pritzker jury chairman). The Swedish tile manufacturer Höganäs was commissioned to produce the highly specialised tiles as no standard product was available. Research and experimental work were undertaken to develop a tile that would produce the colour, surface texture and pattern specifi ed by Utzon and meet other technical requirements. Tests, using a full-scale mock up of a corner of a shell, revealed that normal pressed tiles gave a very dull effect compared with the livelier refl ection of extruded tiles. It took three years of experimentation to achieve the right quality and fi nish: a white transparent glaze and uneven texture for the tiles for the main areas, creating a diffused and softer refl ection of the sun than the hard image created by a standard glaze; and a matt, offwhite tile for the edges. Höganäs pioneered a special process of coating, fi ring and glazing that gave the tiles ‘a beautiful lustre or sheen, a surface that would retain its visual qualities even when the tile became dirty’ (Utzon 2002: 20–22). 3.31 Figure 3.31 Victor Hugo likened the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris to ‘a great ship embedded in the mind’, a simile that could be appropriated for the Sydney Opera House (Sharp 2005). A new design solution then had to be devised to successfully bond the tiles to the curved shell structure. Changes to the shell structure meant that the original design to fi x the tiles directly to the shells was no longer feasible. A solution was found using ‘tile lids’ which modifi ed a Swedish process and used an unusual glue process to create a recess between each two tiles in order to defi ne the edges. Around 4253 precast large chevron-shaped panels were manufactured and the tiles were bonded diagonally by a machine to produce a perfect uniform surface. Drawing the layout of each individual tile was an enormous feat—there were more than one million tiles and 41 types of edge tile. Ove Arup & Partners prepared 350 detailed drawings for the tile panels alone. 3.A (iii) A world-famous iconic building of the 20th century The Sydney Opera House is one of the most internationally acclaimed iconic buildings in the world today and is instantly recognised by people around the globe. The building signifi es not only the city of Sydney but the whole nation. The Pritzker Prize formally recognised that the Sydney Opera House was ‘one of the great iconic buildings of the twentieth century’ and that it was ‘an image of great beauty known throughout the world’. Architectural historians have noted that the building achieved iconic status even before its completion (Weston 2002: 185). That the Sydney Opera House was immediately, and radically, novel is selfevident: it was instantly spectacular, and remains so for all those who see it for the fi rst time (and for many of us who see it often) (Smith 2002: 19).
3.32 The Sydney Opera House holds a special place in the history of modern architecture as both an architectural masterpiece and a mass-cultural icon, both iconic and ‘canonic’. It is a multifaceted public monument that is simultaneously ‘high-brow’ and ‘low-brow’, captivating and stirring the hearts and minds of everyone who experiences it (Goad 2005). As British architectural historian Dennis Sharp remarked, the Sydney Opera House is not just another attention-seeking structure but a building that is widely revered (Sharp 2005). Utzon designed a building that would provoke a transformative experience, a sense of curiosity, wonder and pride and would make people feel different. Weston highlights Utzon’s success in achieving this: Like most great works of art that achieve wide popularity [the Sydney Opera House’s] appeal is visceral and optical more than cerebral. A sublime fl ower with primitive roots, it is one of very few twentieth-century buildings to be measured against the achievements of past civilizations (Weston 2002: 186). Figure 3.32 Looking towards Circular Quay The Sydney Opera House has an international reputation as one of the iconic greats. As Weston highlights, the Sydney Opera House is ‘almost universally popular—it is the only twentieth century building guaranteed to appear on lists of “all time greats” ’ (Weston 2002: 185). It is consistently featured in architectural publications about the world’s great iconic buildings as well as in popular culture such as journal and web site listings of the most popular and great buildings of the world. Some of these references are listed in Part 7. Utzon ‘rightly joins the distinguished company of a handful of Modernists who shaped the most notable buildings of our time’ (Pritzker executive Bill Lacy). It is widely thought that the Sydney Opera House was the origin of the infl uential late 20th century trend to erect a ‘signature building’ in order to create a focal point in a city that could become an internationally recognised symbol of that city. The era of the iconic building may have emerged with Utzon’s design of the Sydney Opera House (Sharp 2005; Jencks 2005: 11; Goad 2005). Frank O Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain (1997) is perhaps the best known example of the use of a signature building. See Part 3.C for a comparison with other signature buildings. 43
Page 1 and 2: SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE NOMINATION BY TH
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Page 6 and 7: 4 PREFACE Australia is pleased to p
Page 9 and 10: 1.A COUNTRY Country - Australia 1.B
Page 11 and 12: The topographic map shows the locat
Page 13: PART 2. DESCRIPTION 11
Page 16 and 17: 14 Part 2. Description 2.2 The comp
Page 18 and 19: 16 Part 2. Description 2.6 2.7 2.8
Page 20 and 21: 18 Part 2. Description The glass wa
Page 22 and 23: 20 Part 2. Description 2.19 Further
Page 24 and 25: 22 Part 2. Description 2.23 Interna
Page 26 and 27: 24 Part 2. Description The Sydney O
Page 29 and 30: … we’re here to nudge forward t
Page 31 and 32: Utzon’s design modifi ed the esta
Page 33 and 34: In the Sydney Opera House Jørn Utz
Page 35 and 36: Utzon’s reading and use of histor
Page 37 and 38: 3.17 3.18 Utzon’s genius is manif
Page 39 and 40: The podium The construction of the
Page 41 and 42: 3.24 Figure 3.24 Arups’ summary o
Page 43: 3.28 engineers Jorg Schlaich and We
Page 47 and 48: 3.34 3.35 The setting of Bennelong
Page 49 and 50: 3.36 qualities and precise, geometr
Page 51 and 52: 3.39 3.40 3.41 Masterpieces of the
Page 53 and 54: 3.43 also inspired by the laws of n
Page 55 and 56: 3.45 3.D INTEGRITY AND AUTHENTICITY
Page 57 and 58: Materials and substance The use and
Page 59: PART 4. STATE OF CONSERVATION AND F
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Page 64 and 65: 62 Part 4. State of conservation an
Page 67 and 68: 5.A OWNERSHIP The Sydney Opera Hous
Page 69 and 70: 5.C MEANS OF IMPLEMENTING PROTECTIV
Page 71 and 72: 5.2 Sydney Regional Environmental P
Page 73 and 74: 5.3 Sydney Opera House: a plan for
Page 75 and 76: 5.5 5.6 • • • • • An on-s
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Page 80 and 81: 78 Part 6. Monitoring 6.2 Figure 6.
Page 82 and 83: 80 Part 6. Monitoring 6.C RESULTS O
Page 85 and 86: 7.A PHOTOGRAPHS, SLIDES, IMAGE INVE
Page 87 and 88: 7.B TEXTS RELATING TO PROTECTIVE DE
Page 89 and 90: Baume, M 1967, The Sydney Opera Hou
Page 91 and 92: Hall, P 1981, Great planning disast
Page 93 and 94: Sommer, D, Stöcher, H & Weisser, L
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893 PART 8. CONTACT INFORMATION
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96 Part 8: Contact information 8.C
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98 PART 9. SIGNATURE ON BEHALF OF T
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10.A BIOGRAPHIES OF JØRN UTZON AND
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Awards In addition to the awards de
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10.3 Ove Arup (1895-1988) Ove Nyqui
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10.B LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Front co
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Figure 3.30 Photograph by Max Dupai
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Other contributors Sydney Opera Hou
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Figure 10.6 1902 Fort Macquarie is
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B 10.E PLANS, SECTIONS AND ELEVATIO
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EASTERN ELEVATION WESTERN ELEVATION
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