SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

The Sydney Opera House is without doubt Australia's best-known contemporary building. Its imaginative, sail-like design on Sydney Harbour was the result of an international competition, won in 1956 by a 38-year-old Danish architect, Jørn Oberg Utzon (1918-2008), out of 233 entries! The only two major constraints at the time were to include two auditoria in the structure to accommodate theatrical and musical performances, and to construct the building at Bennelong Point. All could have been achieved without a hitch. But in 1966, following major differences between Utzon and the new municipality, the architect finally withdrew from the project, vowing never to return to Australia. Work on the Opera House was finally continued and completed by architects Peter Hall, David Littlemore and Lionel Todd in 1973, at a total cost of over $100 million. To finance these additional costs, a major lottery was organized. Since 2007, the Opera House has been one of 4 Australian cultural sites listed as Unesco World Heritage Sites (the other three being the Australian prison sites, the Royal Exhibition Centre and Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, and the Budj Bim cultural landscape). Jørn Oberg Utzon died in his homeland in 2008 and never returned to Sydney. An exhibition room at the Opera House nevertheless bears his name to commemorate and celebrate his extraordinary work.