The document discusses the history and design of the Sydney Opera House, including how a competition was held in 1956 to design the opera house, which was won by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, whose innovative sail-like designs for the building's shell-like roof structures were highly praised by the judges over more conventional designs. Utzon's winning entry featured sculptural shells that took advantage of the site's harbor views and represented an expressionist style ahead of its time compared to modernist buildings of the era.

1. THE SYDNEY
OPERA
Australia
the Sydney Opera House was designed by Jørn Utzon,
following a 1956 competition that attracted 222
competition entries

2. The beginning
● The idea for a dedicated performing arts centre in Sydney had been discussed for decades, yet it was
not until the mid-1950s that it gained enough political traction to become a reality.
● It was a transformative period for Australia whose economy was rapidly expanding, fuelled by
unprecedented levels of post-WWII immigration from Europe.
● After the rupture of war, a newly optimistic nation was looking to define itself.

3. The key
● A key advocate for a new opera house was English composer Sir Eugene Goossens, who moved to
Sydney in 1947 to take up the position of conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
● Sir Eugene had spent the previous 20 years as the conductor of orchestras in the United States that
performed in large, purpose-built halls.
● The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, in contrast, performed in the 1889 Sydney Town Hall.
● Upon his arrival in Sydney, Goossens immediately drew attention to the inadequate facilities.
● “Mr Goossens ... felt that ... in Australia there was a challenging situation from which something fine
could be created for music, and for the people,”
● The Sydney Morning Herald reported at the time. “His ambitions include a fine concert hall for the
orchestra, with perfect acoustics and seating accommodation for 3500 people, a home for an
opera company and a smaller hall for chamber music. He said he saw no reason why a city the
size of Sydney, with such keen music interest, should not have these.”

4. The proposal
● In 1955, Bennelong Point was declared the site for the proposed new opera house and on 15
February, 1956 Premier Cahill released an international competition for “a National Opera House at
Bennelong Point.”
● The conductor of Sydney Symphony Orchestra and director of the New South Wales
Conservatorium of Music, Sir Eugene Goossens; the orchestra’s first conductor, Sir Bernard Heinze;
and members of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of New South Wales, Harry Ashworth and
George Molnar proposed the competition guidelines.
● The competition guidelines were contained in a 25-page booklet known as the Brown Book and
contained black and white photos of Bennelong Point.
● Competitors were required to register for the competition by paying a fee of 10 Australian pounds.
● The competition was open for 11 months, closing in December 1956. Judging began a few weeks later,
in January 1957.

5. Image on
BrownBook
Page 1
(site aerial view)

6. Brown Book
Page 3

7. Brown Book
Page 4

8. Brown Book
Page 5

9. Brown Book
Page 6

10. Brown Book
Page 7

11. Brown Book
Page 8

12. Brown Book
Page 8

13. Image on
BrownBook
Page 10 - 18
(site approach
and view from
sites)

14. Jorn utzon’s
entry
Four men were selected to judge the entries –
the British-born chair of architecture at Sydney
University H. Ingram Ashworth, fellow
Englishman Dr J Leslie Martin who had helped
design the Royal Festival Hall on London’s
South Bank, the NSW Government Architect
Cobden Parkes and Eero Saarinen, an
American architect and designer of Finnish
descent.

15. The jury panel
There is no precise record of how the winning design was chosen.
A widely-told story is that Saarinen, who had missed the beginning of the ten days set aside for judging, was
underwhelmed by the already shortlisted entrants and pulled Utzon’s entry out of a pile of rejected schemes,
exclaiming that it was easily the winning design.
This version of events has been rejected by Ashworth who would later say that Dr Martin had been
particularly impressed by Utzon’s entry well before Saarinen arrived. Regardless of the story’s accuracy
Saarinen was a key influence in judging the panel’s decision.

16. The attraction
The most eminent of the four, Saarinen had been steeped in modernism and had studied and worked
with Charles and Ray Eames. By the time of the competition for the Sydney Opera House his architectural
practice was moving away from the rectangular shapes of modernist architecture towards more expressive
forms built from concrete.
At the same time as the Opera House competition Saarinen was designing what would become his most
famous building, the TWA Passenger Terminal at John F Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New
York. Its wing-shaped concrete roof both similarities to Utzon’s design.

17. The winner
On 29 January 1957, Premier Cahill announced that the winner of the competition was Design 218 by Jørn
Utzon, the unknown 38-year-old Dane from Hellebæk.
“We have returned again and again to the study of these drawings and are convinced that they present a
concept of an Opera House which is capable of becoming one of the great buildings of the world,” the four
assessors wrote in their report. “Because of its very originality, it is clearly a controversial design. We
are however, absolutely convinced of its merits.”
Utzon’s sail-like sketches flew in the face of convention. It was estimated that the project would cost 3.5
million pounds. Second prize was awarded to an American team of architects headed by J. Marzella, and
third prize to Boissevain and Osmond from Britain.

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30. The architecture
By the mid-1950s, modernism and the International Style of architecture had been in the ascendancy for 30
years. Rejecting the decorative motifs and ornamentalism of pre-WWI architecture, modernist architects
preferred to reveal a building’s structure, emphasising function over form. Such modernist buildings
typically resembled glass boxes, as did many of the entrants to the Sydney Opera House competition.
In contrast, Utzon’s design was more sculptural and embraced expressionism. Among the competition
entries, it was singular in making full use of Bennelong Point’s harbourside setting, which would allow the
building to be viewed from every angle. In the same year that Utzon’s designs were selected in Sydney, Mies
van Rohe’s Seagram building was under construction in New York. The Seagram building, completed in
1958, stands as both a highpoint of modernist architecture, and a testament to how far Utzon’s Opera House
was ahead of its time.

31. Seagram building - Constructed in 1958
Opera house - designed in 1955

32. The structure
His competition entry contained schematic designs,
clearly explaining the concept for the building but
not how it would be built.
The challenge of constructing the concrete shells that
form the roof would confound the building’s engineers
for years. It was Utzon who eventually struck upon a
‘spherical solution’ to craft the shells from the
surface of an imaginary sphere.
This spherical solution elevated the architecture
beyond a mere style – in this case that of shells – into
a more permanent idea, one inherent in the universal
geometry of the sphere.
t was also a timeless expression of the fusion
between design and engineering.

33. Designed by
Philadelphia collaborative group
Second place in the competition went to this
submarine-shaped opera house, created by an
improvised team of seven designers in Philadelphia.
Like the winning design, the structure was inspired
by the seashell form and was to have utilized the
latest techniques in the use of concrete.

35. Designed by
Paul boissevain and Barbara Osmond
The judges were impressed with the human scale of
the building and its promenade. And the boxy design
and emphasis on walking can’t help but recall the
tilted ground-to-roof walkway of Oslo Opera House in
Norway, built fifty years after Boissevain and
Osmond’s unrealized vision.

37. Designed by
Sir Eugene Goossen
Goossens was not only the conductor of
the Sydney Symphony Orchestra but also
the director of the NSW State
Conservatorium of Music and one of the
key voices in demanding for an opera
house to be built.

39. Designed by
Peter Kollar and Balthazar Korab
Refugees from the communist regime in
Hungary, Kollar and Korab’s entry was the
highest ranking entry from an Australian
entity. The judges commented on the
project’s “very skillful planning.”

41. Designed by
S.W.Milburn and partners
Milburn and Dow tucked their promenade
under the raised building and planted a
helicopter pad up on the roof, presumably
in case the conductor needed to get
somewhere in a hurry.

43. Designed by
Vine and Vine
English company Vine and Vine’s
sprawling opera house was made up of two
auditoria, separated by a restaurant. Like
many of their competitors, the Vines made
provision for outdoor space – in their case
with a sunken waterside plaza.

45. Designed by
Kelly and Gruzen
This collaborative group’s entrance echoes
the Vines’ with its sunken courtyards. But
there’s also a certain Vegas-style pizzazz
to the American team’s entry.

47. S.RAghuNAndhan
A presentation from