The Sydney Opera House
Considered by many to be one of the modern wonders of the world, the Sydney Opera House is one of Australias most famous landmarks. Louis Kahn said “The sun did not know how beautiful its light was until it was reflected of this building”. Jorn Ultzon’s competition winning design is said to have been inspired by orange segments, palm fronds and Maya temples. Inside,there are six auditoriums where opera, concerts, dance and theatre are staged. The internal aesthetics are like the belly of a whale and the acoustics are superb.
The scheme which makes no reference to historical or to classical architectural forms was designed to match the vast scale of the harbour the Opera House’s low edges contain enough visual appeal for human interest. As a public building, it conceals its usage in its lack of historical associations, and restores the concept of the ‘monument’ as being acceptable in social terms. The Sydney Opera House also embodies timeless popular metaphors. The building’s organic shape and lack of surface decoration have made it both timeless and ageless. Moreover, it demonstrates how buildings can add to environmental experience rather than detract from it - something of spiritual value independent of function.
The building and the setting look orchestrated, and the synergy between the setting and the building make it appear that the scheme actually involved flooding the harbour valley to set the building off to best advantage. Despite so much richness, the building has had virtually no influence on the shape and form of Australian buildings which followed. It remains something of an enigma which crowns the silent collapse of Western Classical architecture from being the one language for great public buildings. Joern Utzon’s historic resignation causes a furore and divided the Sydney architecture profession. There were rallies and marches to Sydney Town Hall led by architects such as Peter Killar and Harry Seidler; other architects resigned their profession and became teachers, chefs, film makers and artists in protest.
There are a number of tours that visitors can take of the Sydney Opera House. On the one-hour guided walking tour of the Sydney Opera House, visitors see what goes on behind the world's most recognizable sails. They will hear the controversial story of the building's construction, as dramatic as any opera plot and brought alive by the tour's new interactive audio-visual presentation.
The backstage tour allows visitors to gain "exclusive access" to areas of the Sydney Opera House normally reserved for staff and performers on a two-hour backstage tour of one of the world's "must-see" attractions. Sit in the orchestra pit, stand where legends have performed, go inside the stars' dressing rooms and hear about the real-life dramas that go on behind the curtain.
