The building is structured under a series of

“shells” which give cover to several theater

complexes organized on two main axis.
Overall there are more than 1000 rooms,
most of them dedicated to music studios,
with a capacity to host over 5000 people
comfortably seated.
 THE SITE

The site is surrounded on the east, north and west sides by the waters of
Sydney Harbour and on the south by the Royal Botanic Garden and the
north end of Macquarie Street and East Circular Quay.

The Opera House comprises four main structures being:

• The broad flat platform comprising the Forecourt and Broadwalks
• The Concert Hall on the western side of Bennelong Point
• The Opera Theatre (Joan Sutherland Theatre) on the eastern side
• The Bennelong Restaurant, to the south of the two main venues
 CONCEPT
The visual approach to the shells is opposed to the one for the base building. The
shells are white, shiny and fragmented curved surfaces that contradict the sense of
darkness and unity form the base.

“My design is like an orange. If you peel an orange you’ll

get these segments with shapes very much like what you see here.”

• The building is made up by two very distinctive elements; a solid base and a series of
light, organically shaped roofs. The first is actually the building itself and houses all the
service areas, including dressing rooms, rehearsal areas, warehouses, offices and library.
• This base building is very angular and covered in dark stone, giving it a very solid tectonic
image.
• Even the openings on its façade appear to have been made after it was completed, using
the same stone that should otherwise cover the opening as a visor to the window.
• The other part of the building, the roofs, are made by a series of triangular shells
supported on their corners and facing upwards.
• These shells cover the three main spaces, the opera theater, the concert theater and the
restaurant. Each of these spaces is covered by four pairs of shells, except for the
restaurant which only has two pair.
 DESIGN PRINCIPLES
• The visually free-standing sculptural form of the building in its setting as a counterpoint to the city, unobstructed by adjacent objects or structures;
• The geometry and configuration of the three groups of shell roof structures and their tiled cladding; c. The orientation and relationship between
the three shell roof groupings, the podium and platform below;
• The open and uncluttered relationship between the forecourt, monumental steps, podium and broadwalks
• The visually open relationship between the podium and its setting, including the bennelong restaurant and foyers encircling the auditoria;
• The sequence and intended qualities of approach and arrival spaces and experiences
• The natural palette of materials for exterior and related interior spaces
• The building’s architecture, both externally and internally, formed by the honest expression of structure and materials
• The supporting structural systems throughout the building and their integrity as a reinforced concrete structure
• The utilisation of prefabricated components, strictly controlled in regard to geometry and quality, assembled to create structure, elements and
spaces of the desired form
• Harmony and uniformity resulting from application of a strict geometrical order and consistent forms
• Containing all the processes of theatre and performance preparation out of public sight and within the podium
• The interdependence of structure, form and fabric with function, all focused on enhancing the intellectual and emotional response of patrons,
performers and visitors
• The primary function of the Sydney opera house as a cultural venue that inspires and presents work of the highest quality in the performing arts
 SPACES

Each design element of the building was conceived to

make the visitors feel welcome and relaxed.
All the way from the building’s placement and orientation,
the different point of views from where it would be
observed, the 100 meter wide staircase that gives access
to the podium’s roof, etc.
The three main building that inhabit the podium are the
concert hall, the opera house and the restaurant, however
there whole complex counts with five theatres, five
rehearsal studios, two main rooms, four restaurants, six
bars and numerous gift shots.
SECTIONAL PLANS
SECTIONS
MATERIALS
The structure of the building is made from reinforced concrete
and the facades from polarized glass with steel frames.
The shells are covered by white and cream mate tiles made in
Sweden, although from a distance they all look white to the eye.
In the interiors the predominant materials are pink granite
brought from Tarana and plywood from New South Wales.
Technical Details
• The building is 183 meters long and 120 meters wide.
• The roof is made up by 2194 prefabricated concrete pieces.
• Some of those pieces weight up to 15 tones.
• Keeping those pieces together are 350 kilometres of steel wire.
• Over one million tiles were needed to cover the roof shells.
• All the glass walls together have an area of 6225 m2.
• Inside the building 645 kilometres of electrical wire were used.
 EXTERNAL TILE
CLADDING OF SHELLS
• The ribs of the roof shells are covered by precast concrete lids
that are, in turn, clad with tiles.
• He likened the structure of the shells and their covering to the
structure of a leaf with the whole subdivided into parts and, at
the micro level, each part a tiny membrane separated by veins.
For the reflective qualities of the tiles.
• A solution was found using ‘tile lids’ which modified a Swedish
glue process to create a recess between each two tiles in order
to define the edges. The lids and their tiles were fixed with
precision and followed the curvature of the shell exactly,
presenting a completely smooth exterior skin.
• When all the tiles had been placed in position, the joints
between tiles were partially filled with heated animal glue,
which set on cooling (melting point 90-95°F), to prevent grout
penetration onto the surface of the tile lids.
• Steam curing was introduced by covering each tile lid with a
tent-like PVC hessian hood to a maximum temperature of 170°F.
Heat from the steam curing melted the animal glue and the tile
lids were then cleaned with steam. All recessed joints were then
sealed with an epoxy compound.
• The construction of the Podium was a significant design and
engineering achievement.
• The challenge was to construct a podium that simultaneously
created a sense of the continuation of the natural landscape and a
bold modern structure of continuous reinforced concrete that rose
out of the ground and overlooked the harbour.
• Utzon’s initial design concept was for the [Covered] Concourse to THE PODIUM
be supported by a number of columns.
• Ove Arup investigated ways to better reflect Utzon’s precepts:
'Express honestly the characteristics of the material used’ and ‘Let
the structure speak for itself’.
• The bold solution was a beam system that integrated the
techniques of folded plate structures and pre stressing.
• The single span design created a form both sculptural and
efficient.61 This design provided the ability, long sought by
architects, to create huge spaces unencumbered by structural
supports
• The finish on the beams over the Vehicle Concourse disappointed
Utzon and convinced him to pursue prefabrication for the shell
structures.
• On the other hand, the cranked concrete beams spanning the lower
northern foyers present arguably the finest off-form finish of all the
in-situ casting on the site.
 THE SHELLS AND THE SPHERICAL SOLUTION
• Sharing a common radius, the segments could be broken into individual components, prefabricated and then
assembled on site. The order and geometry underpinning Utzon’s design was considerably strengthened and unified
by the spherical solution for the shells. The turning point in the development of the roof shell design.
• The sphere is the simplest three-dimensional curve and there for was relatively easy to work with since the angle of
its curvature remains the same at any given point. In the end this was the solution chosen by the design team to
move forward.
• This elegant solution allowed for the structure of the shells to be built off site and removed the need for the super
expensive onsite formwork.
• The Ove Arup and partners team developed a cutting edge construction system to mount all the pieces together,
using what they called a “construction arch” to support all the pieces before they were finally all together and ready
to support their own weight.
• Even though each piece of the puzzle was unique and unswitchable the fact that they all belonged to the geometry
of a sphere meant they all were curved to the same radius of 460 feet, which really simplified and cheapened the
construction and calculation processes
GLASS WALLS
• The glass wall met the Podium at an angle.
• The glazed infill walls between the shells and the
Podium, and the bronze louvered panels between the
shells, are possibly the most geometrically complex
elements on the site.
• Utzon’s concept was to make a structure of
prefabricated components, assembled to hang from
the shells as a series of deep vertical blades with
uniformly-sized glass panels between
• The exterior metalwork of the existing glass wall
structural system is of bronze, an appropriate and
relatively stable metal, consistent with Utzon’s design
concepts and palette of materials.
• It is essential for the longevity and visual integrity of
the bronze that only compatible metals are used in
association with it, and that any potentially damaging
or disfiguring oxidation or encrustations are carefully
removed.
• All glass walls should look as they belong to the same family, with a similar structural
design
• The structure must be as minimal as possible. Frames should be reduced to a minimum
and even removed when possible.
• The frames should never act as a support for the shells. The glass walls should appear as
if they were hanging from the shells.

Making the glass walls appear as if they were hanging from the shells was the key
challenge to solve. Because of the different geometries between the base building and the
shells the window uprights had to be bend towards the outside in order to get a usable
bottom edge.
The two walls facing the bay were by far the most complex. In those spaces the glass walls
are a combination of several geometrical shapes, a cylinder and two cones to be precise,
all of them aligned on the same vertical axis. Starting from the top the wall has the shape
of a cylinder, halfway down it crosses with a tilted cone which then crosses with yet
another cone towards the bottom.
In the end the glass chosen was made up by a 12mm layer of transparent glass and a 6mm
layer of polarized glass in bronze tones glued together by a 0,76mm layer of clear polyvinyl
butyral.
The color was chosen in order to avoid the greenish shade that two layer of transparent
glass would’ve created and had the added bonus of providing a much needed sun
protection, especially on the highly exposed north facades. The largest sheet of glass
required for the project was 4×2.1 meters.