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Designing the Sydney Opera House

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Old photo of aerial view of Sydney Harbor, showing Sydney Opera House under construction
Designing the Sydney Opera House

SUBJECTS:  History

YEARS:  9–10


What does it take to create a building that is famous the world over?

In 1956, NSW Premier Joseph Cahill announced a competition for the design of an opera house for Sydney. The winner was architect Jorn Utzon with 'design 218'.

In this 1950s clip, learn about Utzon's aims in designing the building, the challenges in realising his vision, and different views about the building at the time.


Things to think about

  1. 1.The Sydney Opera House was designed to show that Sydney was a 'city of the future'. Today, it is one of the most well-known buildings in the world. While the Sydney Opera House has a practical use, in many ways it could also be seen as similar to landmarks such as Paris's Eiffel Tower or New York's Statue of Liberty. Would you agree?
  2. 2.How did Jorn Utzon define modern design? How did his belief about what it meant to be 'modern' influence his design of the Opera House? In what ways did Utzon want the Opera House to be like a church? Do you think he succeeded in this? In what ways was the building designed to be practical and in what ways was it designed to inspire?
  3. 3.What evidence can you find in this clip that Utzon wanted to make this a venue that Sydneysiders could feel proud of? Utzon said that he wanted to 'make the whole peninsula one piece of architecture'. Look at a modern photograph of the Opera House and explain whether or not you think Utzon achieved these two aims.
  4. 4.Research the life and work of Jorn Utzon and answer the following questions: Who was Utzon, where did he come from, and what influenced his ideas about design? What research did Utzon do for his Sydney Opera House design? What objections did judges of the competition, and others, have to Utzon's design?



Date of broadcast: 23 Nov 1960


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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