The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction

The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction

There is no doubt, it is thinking of Australia and - in addition to the image of a kangaroo and a koala - the Sydney Opera House appears in your head . So much so that it is the number one tourist destination in the country: it cannot be missed in any travel itinerary through Australia and, of course, it is one of those places that you have to see in Sydney even if you have very little time.
Today there are many buildings with shapes completely removed from the classic vertical line. Sloping, bulging, undulating walls ... abound in large cities. But when the Sydney Opera House was built in the mid-twentieth century, the effect was almost as brutal as admiring the first Gothic cathedral . That which had only been an idea crossed out as impossible could be put into practice.
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction


The Sydney Opera House is an expressionist construction designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, made up of a series of large prefabricated shells, each taken from the same hemisphere, which form the vaults of the structure. The Opera House covers 1.8 hectares (4.5 acres of land).

The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction

It is 183 meters (605 feet) long and about 120 meters (388 feet) at its widest point. It is supported by 580 sunken pillars to a depth of 25 meters below sea level. Its power supply has a capacity equivalent to the electricity consumption of a city of 25,000 people.
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction


The energy is distributed by 645 kilometers of cable. The roofs of the theater are covered with 1.056 million glossy white tiles and creams in matte finish made in Sweden, which appear only white in the distance. They are manufactured to be self-cleaning, but periodic cleaning and replacement maintenance is carried out anyway.

The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction

The two largest groups of vaults that make up the roof of the theater each belong to the Concert Hall and the Opera House. The other rooms have as roof the smallest groupings of vaults. The shape of shells was chosen to lighten the internal weight structure, rising from the low spaces of the entrance, over the seating areas, until reaching the highest boxes.
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction

A much smaller group of the shells system is located next to the entrances and the monumental staircase and the Bennelong restaurant. Although the roof structures of the Sydney Opera House are commonly referred to as shells (as in this article), they are in fact not vaults in the architectural sense of the word, since they are prefabricated panels supported by prefabricated ribs. The competition for the construction of the Sydney Opera House began on September 13, 1955 and received a total of 233 projects from 32 different countries in search of a prize consisting of $ 100,000.
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction

The minimum specified criteria that the projects should contain were a large room with a capacity for 3,000 seats and a smaller room for some 1,200 seats, each of the designs must also contain spaces for large operas, orchestral concerts, choirs, conferences, meetings, representations of different types. The winning design was announced in 1957 , the project by Jørn Utzon, a Danish architect, winning. The American architect Eero Saarinen of Finnish origin, who was part of the jury of the Sydney Opera House Commission, proved crucial for the selection of Jørn Utzon's design. Utzon arrived in Sydney in 1957 to help oversee the project and construction of the building completed in 1973.
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction
The Sydney Opera House Is An Expressionist Construction

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