ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECE
INTRODUCTION
Australia is a beautiful country. Where there are number of things which make the country beautiful, Sydney Opera House is known as the recognition of the Australia as a country and Sydney as a city. Sydney Opera House is a venue of performing arts. Sydney is the largest and most populous city of Australia. City is the capital of New South Wales. Opera house is considered as one of the most distinctive buildings made in 20th century and stands with dignity among the most famous performing arts centers of the world. Sydney Opera House is situated close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge at Bennlong Point. SOH is surrounded by harbour from three sides. It is located on the northeastern corner of the Sydney Central Business District.
In the building there are number of performance venues. Sydney opera House is rated as one of the busiest performing arts centers in the world. You can imagine from the fact that how busy is the place throughout the year that 1500 performances are performed each year and 1.2 million people attend these performances. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Australia which attracts about seven million people each year. Sydney Opera House has been recognized as World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
ABOUT THE BUILDING
The award winning design of the building was made by a Danish architect Jorn Utzon. The architect received the Pritzker Award in 2003 for designing the Sydney Opera House. The citation of the award stated that the design is really a masterpiece and a symbol for the continent, country and city of Sydney.
The building covers the area of 4.5 acres (1.8 hectares). To support the building in sea water, 588 concrete piers are sunk as much as 25 meters below sea level. We believe that the roof structure of the Sydney Opera House is one major factor which makes the building distinctive. Generally the roof the building is referred as composed of concrete shells but these are precast concrete panels which are supported by the concrete ribs. On the roof, 1,056,006 tiles are used which are infact Swedish made. The colour of the tiles is glossy white and matte crème which looks white from a distance. The exterior of the building is marvelous. The low edges of the building are a great appeal for people to visit the place. Another remarkable thing about the design and structure of the building is that is it doesn’t make any reference to the classical architectural form. It is unique in its structure.
There are number of different performance venues in the Sydney Opera House. The concert hall is the biggest venue among all the others with seating capacity of 2679. In this concert hall there is the world’s largest mechanical tracker action organ which contains 10,000 pipes. This hall is the home of Sydney Symphony which is a symphony orchestra. Besides the concert hall there is Opera theatre, Drama theatre, Playhouse, Utzon room and forecourt.
The building is not just a performance venue but there are number of other things to facilitate the visitors and performers. There are cafes, restaurants, bars and a recording studio. Guided tour is a big facility for the visitors to see the wholesome beauty of the building. Guided tour can bring an advantage for the visitors that they can go backstage and see the performers.
Initially the cost of the project was estimated $7 million when it was started in 1957. But at the completion cost was much higher than the expected cost. When the project completed in 1973 its cost was raised to $102 million.
There is nothing missing in the building which attracts you as a visitor. Location is beautiful, structure is just awesome and the performances are really world class.
