Summary Of Sydney Opera House Construction
Sydney opera house is a place where the past meets the future, where the cultures are celebrated and conventions are challenged. Despite being a modern lifestyle capital of the world, Sydney opera is the main thing that represents Australia when you mention its name to anyone. Sydney opera house is an architectural masterpiece. Sydney opera house is a multi-venue performing arts center at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the 20th century most distinctive and famous building. The history of this building is more than just concrete and steel. It is a story full of ups and downs and controversies. Besides being an architectural masterpiece, the building is considered as a failure in terms of project management.
In 1957 the design of Sydney opera house was won by a Danish architect Jørn Utzon in a competition set out by the New South Wales government and likewise the construction was funded by a dedicated government lottery. After winning the competition Utzon wrote a book named “The Red book” in March, 1958, which comprised some indications such as plans, sections and design reports by consultants. The project was originally scheduled for four years, with a budget of AUS $7 million. Regarding time planning, the goal was to complete the construction at the end of 1962 and have the grand opening at the start of 1963. The development of Sydney opera house started in 1959 but due to lack of management it took 14 years to wrap it up with a total cost of AUS $102 million.
For every project there are three principle factors cost, time and quality, but for Utzon, design was the only thing that mattered and this was the main reasons for its failure from administration and financial aspect. No project is successful without project boundaries so freedom of cost and design became hazardous for this undertaking. The task was lacking a project manager and it is said that, the construction of Sydney Opera House was led by mere collaboration of Utzon, the designer and Ove Arup, the construction engineer with some different contractual workers. Although a part-time executive committee was created to provide venture supervision but the members themselves had no genuine specialized abilities. Being the main stakeholder, the government of south whales turned into a hindrance as they were restraining the implementation of original design by requesting changes during the operational phase of the undertaking task stretching timeline and causing budget blowouts.
The government insisted the construction of the undertaking shall start before the final designs are completed. Hereby causing modifications in structure i.e. originally the opera house had two theaters which were later made four.
For developmental phase the structure was divided into three parts
- The podium – stage
- The outer shells
- The windows and interior
There was a disagreement over the project cost as the initial budget was estimated based on inadequate structural reviews and site surveys as a result an additional cost of 1.2 million was claimed for stage 1. Stage 1 was developed in 1963, with a deferral of 47 weeks and cost overrun of AUS $5.2 M. By the end of stage 1 Utzon submitted an updated estimate of project AUS $12.5 million for stage 2.
Meanwhile the ruling parliament changed and stage 2 became the most questionable phase of the whole construction. Stage 2 slowed down because the government started withholding payments to Utzon as there were only delays and cost over runs with no visible progress in project. Utzon felt that his creative freedom was being restricted so in 1966 he decided to resign. Utzon while leaving left no backup of designs as he was sure that being an important entity to the project he would be called back but to his surprise he was not. Stage 2 was completed in 1967 with the help of three Australian engineers at a total cost of AUS $13.2 million. The new engineers completed it on the basis of already built architecture, facing some unpredictable difficulties in the project. After new drawings and designs, the updated estimate of the project was AUS $85 million, which was shocking as Utzon updated cost that was regretted by the government was four times less than the one estimated by Australian engineers. Hence it was evident that Utzon was treated unjustly in this project. After leaving Australia Utzon never came back to see the Opera House, an architecture that was one of its kind.
After 17 years of designing and redesigning architecture the construction of Sydney Opera House was complete. Sydney opera house was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973. Later in 2003, the architect was awarded with Pritzker Prize – the most renowned award in architecture for his remarkable designs.
