nomination by the Government of Australia - Sydney Opera House

3.39 3.40
3.41
Masterpieces of the 20th century that challenged
conventional norms of building expression, siting
and planning
A number of signifi cant 20th century buildings have
successfully challenged conventional imagery and
architectural typologies in ways comparable to
the Sydney Opera House. These include the city
of Brasilia (Brazil 1957–1960), the Guggenheim
Museum (Spain 1993 –1997), the Getty Centre
(United States 1997) and the Centre Georges
Pompidou (France 1977).
The new capital city of Brasilia was inscribed on the
World Heritage List in 1987 for the achievement of
Oscar Niemeyer’s architecture and Lucio Costa’s
town planning. Niemeyer respected all schools of
architecture ‘from the chill and elemental structures of
Mies van der Rohe to the imagination and delirium of
Gaudi’ (Niemeyer 1988: 4)). His own design refl ected
the spirit of Brazil with ‘beauty prevailing over the
limitations of the constructive logic’ (Niemeyer 1988: 5).
Niemeyer’s vast public buildings in Brasilia are dramatic
free-standing architectural statements, sitting lightly
on thin platforms and seeming to fl oat above the fl at
ground. The delicate detailing of structural elements
and the quality of execution and fi nish are remarkable
for their time and place. Niemeyer was awarded
the Pritzker Prize in 1988 (Pritzker web page 2005).
Both Niemeyer and Utzon share that ability to fi nd
remarkable beauty and poetry in a structural form.
In the search by architects in the mid 20th century
for an appropriate formal, structural and material
language to describe monumentality and civic value
for 20th century architecture, the Sydney Opera House
represents a defi ning moment with respect to the opera
house or cultural centre (Goad 2005). With the demise
of the classical language of western architecture after
World War II as the basis for monumental works that
Figure 3.39 Oscar Niemeyer’s National Congress
Chambers, Brasilia, 1957–1960
Figure 3.40 Hans Scharoun’s Berlin Philharmonie,
1956–1963
might express civic values, the Sydney Opera House
design represents a signifi cant point in the search for
alternative means of expression that had preoccupied
progressive architects since the 1920s.
In terms of the opera house or cultural centre, Utzon’s
design needs to be seen against a range of similar
complexes that were constructed after the war in
Europe, Britain and the United States. When compared
with the moderate Modernism of Robert Matthew and
Leslie Martin’s Royal Festival Hall in London (1949–
1951), the free expression of Hans Scharoun’s Berlin
Philharmonie (1956–1963) and Avar Aalto’s Finlandia
Hall in Helsinki (1962, 1967–1972), the Sydney Opera
House breaks new ground in terms of complex sources
of architectural representation (see Parts 2.A and
3.A), innovation in structure and technology and an
empathetic relationship between a large public building
and its dramatic natural setting.
The success of the Sydney Opera House in creating
a cultural centre as a monument or signature building
has been recognised and emulated in a number of late
20th century cultural buildings. These include Frank O
Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (Spain 1993–
1997) and Richard Meier and Partners’ Getty Centre
in Los Angeles (United States 1997). The Guggenheim
Museum (Bilbao), perhaps the best known example of
the use of a ‘signature building’ as a deliberate urban
design strategy, was strongly modelled on the Sydney
Opera House. Gehry was asked in the brief from the
Guggenheim Foundation for ‘an equivalent to the
Sydney Opera House to transform a fading industrial
city through the marriage of Basque cultural aspiration’
(Thiele-Siling 1998: 182). The city got ‘one of the most
talked about buildings in years’ (Guggenheim-Bilbao
web site 2000).
Figure 3.41 Frank O Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum,
Bilbao, 1993 –1997
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