Photo of the Sydney Opera House set. Sydney Opera House (13 photos)

In this lesson we will draw the Sydney Opera House building in Adobe Illustrator. The lesson is intended for users who are familiar with the program and its functions. After we draw the building and background, we export the file to Adobe Photoshop, where we turn the work into an animated GIF picture.

Result

1. Draw a building

Step 1

Let's start by creating a new document in Adobe Illustrator with the following parameters:

Step 2

First, let's create horizontal line 2px thick in the middle of our workspace. Do this with the Line Segment tool.

Then draw a rectangle (340x6px), with a 2 px thick stroke. This will be the base of the opera.

Step 3

Now let's draw the walls of the building. Draw some rectangles and then use the Pen Tool (P) to add reference points, and with the Direct Selection Tool (A) drag the points up.

Then add windows and doors using the Rectangle Tool (M).

Step 4

Now let's draw the domes with the Pen tool. Draw the first dome white with a stroke thickness of 2.

Now let's create a shadow for the dome. To do this, duplicate the dome itself (Ctrl+C & Ctrl+F), remove the stroke for the top copy. Draw a shadow, then place a copy of the dome without a stroke on top of the shadow, select both objects, right-click and select Make Clipping Mask. Group all the dome elements together, and repeat the same procedure with the remaining domes.

Step 5

Now let's draw the windows in the domes.

First, let's designate the intersections with the Line Segment tool, then with the Shape Builder tool (Shift+M) we'll create windows, and then we'll erase the unnecessary elements.

Step 6

Now let's create the overhanging terraces. Using the Pen Tool (P), draw the terraces and send them to the background.

We will also create highlights on the windows. To do this, draw white rectangles and, using clipping masks (as we did above), limit the presence of glare only on the windows.

Our building is ready!

Step 7

Now let's deal with the sea and clouds.

First, let's draw rectangles of different widths, but the same height - 6px. This will be our water. Combine the rectangles in the Pathfinder/Pathfinder palette, and round the corners for the entire object. Using the Line Segment Tool, draw short strokes on the water, 2px thick. Finally, create a background and draw clouds using two circles of different sizes. Combine the circles, cut the bottom part in a straight line.

Now let's move on to Photoshop to animate the clouds!

Step 8

Before moving on to another graphics editor, let's prepare our file. To do this, in the Layer palette, select the layer in which you worked, click on the menu arrow, and select “Release to Layers (Sequence)”. Then select File>Export>Export As... from the menu and select the Photoshop format (.psd) with the options below.

2. Create an Animated GIF in Photoshop

Step 1

First, let's open our file. Select Create Video Time from the Timeline palette.

Step 2

We will be working with three frames. Let's start by animating layers 4, 6 and 7. Create frames with the original arrangement of elements and move the clouds to the right in the third frame. We do the same with layers 2,3 and 5, only we move the clouds to the left.

Step 3

Now we just need to export the file to GIF format. To do this, select File>Export>Save for Web from the menu. And specify the parameters as in the picture below.

Result

Translation – Duty room

The Sydney Opera House is an outstanding architectural structure of the 20th century. It was nominated for the title of a new wonder of the world, and was among the finalists. Listed by UNESCO, this building is a popular tourist attraction in Australia.

The Sydney Opera House is located in the local harbor, on Cape Bennelong point. The building was built on 580 concrete piles driven into the bottom. Its length is 183 m, width - 118, and occupied area - more than 21.5 thousand m2. The maximum height of the building is 67 m.

Interesting Facts about the Sydney Opera House relate not only to the history of construction and architectural implementation (we will discuss them below). No other theater has a work about him in its repertoire. The opera “The Eighth Miracle” is the only precedent.

History of the Sydney Opera House

Sydney until the middle of the 20th century. did not have an opera house at all. Guest conductor of the local symphony orchestra Eugene Goosens considered this situation unacceptable. The Sydney authorities agreed with him, but did not have the funds for construction. In 1954, they launched a fundraiser that lasted two decades. During this period, approximately AUD 10,000,000 was collected. The initially declared cost of the construction of 7,000,000 AUD ultimately turned out to be 10,200,000 AUD actually spent.

According to the terms of the announced competition, the limited territory of Cape Bennelong was designated as the site for the construction of the theater. The main hall with 3 thousand seats of the designed building was reserved for opera and ballet. A small hall for 1200 spectators was planned for chamber theater and musical productions. Among 233 competitors, the young Danish architect Jorn Utson won. According to his design, the building externally resembled a multi-sail ship on the surface of the water surrounding the cape.

The work, which began in 1959, lasted 14 years instead of the planned four, extending the construction date until 1973. The delay had both objective and subjective reasons. The first includes the authorities' requirement to add two additional halls. And the sail-shaped roof shells originally designed by Jörn Utson had acoustic disadvantages. It took the architect several years to find an alternative technical solution. The new vault turned out to be too heavy for the foundation made, and a new one had to be made.

Additional expenses and delays in construction strained Utson's relations with local authorities, and he left Sydney. In 1966, local architects continued construction. According to many experts, this had a negative impact on the interior of the building. The inside of the theater is significantly inferior to the stunning façade.

The new Sydney building actually opened on 28 September 1973 with Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace. The official ceremony took place on October 20 with the participation of the British monarch Elizabeth II, who is the formal head of Australia.

The architect of the Sydney Opera House was not present at the opening, and was not even mentioned. His name is not on the authors’ bronze plaque at the entrance either. True, in the same year the local Institute of Architects awarded Jorn Utson a gold medal. And in 2003 he received the Pritzker Prize for his project - highest award architects.

In 1999, Jörn Utson nevertheless designed the reconstruction of the Reception Hall, which was later renamed in his honor. The work was led by Jorn's son, architect Jan Utson. And Jorn himself did not return to Sydney after 1966. He died in 2008 without ever seeing his famous creation in person. The floodlights illuminating the Sydney Opera House were turned off for an hour in memory of the great architect.

Sydney Opera House by its architect and architect

Opera houses are usually built in the classical style. In contrast, the Sydney Opera House is a shining example architectural style expressionism. The unique roof is realized in the form of sails of different sizes. Surrounded on three sides by water, the building from a distance looks like a large multi-sail ship moored in Sydney Harbor. This is exactly how the architect saw the future theater. He said that he wanted to take viewers away from their usual routine into a world of fantasy where actors and musicians live.

The area allocated for construction was limited. The projects rejected by the competition jury had a common drawback - cumbersomeness. Jorn Utson solved this problem by shifting attention to the architectural dominant of the building - the roof. Its total diameter is 150 m. The roof frame consists of 2 thousand concrete sections and weighs 30 tons. The two largest sails crown both main halls, originally conceived. Under the smallest sail is the Bennelong restaurant. The entire structure is secured with metal cables with a total length of 350 km.

The uneven roof height initially caused acoustic problems. They were removed using a sound-reflecting ceiling with special gutters. The latter, in addition to their practical function, also served an aesthetic one, emphasizing the arches of the stage.

The top of the roof-sails is covered with white polished and creamy matte azulejo tiles (Portuguese tiles). It was specially made for the theater. Matte tiles predominate along the edges, while shiny ones in the center, which made it possible to create an iridescent effect. Over a million pieces of tile were required to cover a total area of 1.62 hectares. The mechanical laying method made it possible to achieve ideal evenness, unattainable with manual cladding.

Although the roof sails appear white from a distance, they change color depending on the lighting. As the architect said, the sun and clouds will make the roof come alive; you will never get tired of looking at it. He turned out to be right.

Sydney Opera House inside

The functional purpose of the main halls has undergone changes. The main hall, initially planned for opera and ballet performances, was decided to be repurposed as a concert hall. The opera hall itself became the second largest hall. Now the complex has 6 main halls.

Concert Hall (Concert) for 2679 spectators. It houses one of the world's largest organs with 10 thousand pipes. The stage measures 17*11 m and can be expanded to include 85 front seats.
Opera Theater (Opera) seats 1547 spectators. His tapestry curtain, called “Solar”, is the largest on the planet.
Drama Theatre, with a capacity of 544 spectators, is used for theater and dance performances. His dark tapestry curtain is called “Moonlight”.
Chamber events are held in the Playhouse hall with 398 seats. theatrical performances, lectures and film screenings. The hall's stage can be expanded in two stages, sacrificing 46 seats.
The Studio hall, opened in 1999, can accommodate 364 lovers of avant-garde plays, modern music or corporate events.
Jorn Utson's small hall is decorated with a wool tapestry in bright colors, woven according to his sketch.

The theater complex includes about a thousand different rooms. In addition to the halls, the building contains rehearsal rooms, theater platforms, a recording studio, shops, cafes, restaurants and numerous other facilities. It is not difficult for a person who does not know the layout of the theater to get lost in it.

There is an anecdotal case with a novice courier who delivered a parcel. He got confused in the premises and ended up on stage during the performance. Fortunately, one of the actors was not taken aback and said: “Finally, the package was delivered!” Viewers considered his remark part of the plot.

Another comical incident occurred during the performance of Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov. Her decorations included real chickens. One of them flew from the stage onto the musician’s head. After this, a net was installed over the orchestra pit.

Theater tickets

The Sydney Opera House, Bennelong point, Sydney NSW 2000, hosts about three thousand cultural events annually, which attract millions of spectators. You can get acquainted with the repertoire and order tickets on the official website.

300 thousand tourists annually visit the theater as part of organized excursions. They take place from 9am to 5pm every day except Christmas Day and Good Friday and last about an hour.

The cost of a regular excursion is 35 AUD. Evening excursions combined with a performance, as well as dinner in a restaurant or cafe, are also practiced. For example, an excursion and Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” will be well complemented by dinner at the Mozart bistro.

– Sydney Opera House, and even if you haven’t heard of it, you will certainly easily recognize the photo of this unusual sail-shaped structure.

Our story will introduce you closer to this unique building, you will find out why it has gained such popularity among tourists, and you will be able to decide whether it deserves your attention or not.

The history of the Sydney Opera House

The history of the construction of the world famous landmark began in the distant past. 1954 year when the British conductor Sir J. Goossens Having come to work for work, I discovered that there was not only an opera house, but also any other sufficiently spacious room where people could listen to music.
He got excited about the idea of construction and soon found a suitable place - Bennelong Point, where at that time there was a tram depot.
J. Goossens did a lot of work, and so, on May 17, 1955, the Australian government announced a competition to develop a project for a new opera house. Architects from all over the world sent in their projects, but in the end the Dane won J. Watson.
Large-scale construction began, which dragged on for 14 years and instead of the initially calculated 7 million Australian dollars, it required 102 million.
In 1973, the official opening of the Sydney Opera House took place, soon after which the building became the main architectural symbol not only of Australia, but also of Australia as a whole.

Key attractions – what to see at the Sydney Opera House?

Without a doubt, the Sydney Opera House attracts the most attention from people around the world. he is attracted by the easily recognizable roof, which to some resembles sails, to others shells, and others say that it is a symbol of frozen music.

Did you know? Many people think that the roof has a white surface, but in fact, some of its tiles are white, others are cream, due to which, depending on the sunlight, it can “change” color.

But besides the roof, there are many other aspects that make the building truly outstanding. It is surrounded by water on three sides and stands on huge concrete stilts. The area of the theater reaches incredible numbers - 22 thousand square meters. m.!

The theater houses 4 large halls:

Concert hall, which can simultaneously accommodate 2679 visitors;
Opera theatre, designed for 1507 spectators, they perform not only opera, but also ballet;
Drama Theater, capable of accommodating 544 people;
Maly Drama Theater– the most comfortable hall for 398 spectators.

In addition to the main halls, the theater has many other rooms - rehearsal rooms, costume rooms, corridors, bars and restaurants.

Entertainment

Without a doubt, the main attraction of the Sydney Opera House is watching his outstanding plays, performances, operas and ballets. World-famous theater and theater companies come here with their performances. ballet companies, as well as orchestras, singers and other artists.

Did you know? The theater can host 4 different performances at the same time!

You can find a poster of upcoming events at official website of the Sydney Opera House.
If you are not an ardent art lover or have little time, but want to get acquainted with the world-famous structure, this is easily possible.

By visiting one of them, you can not only learn more interesting facts about the famous building, but also visit “behind the scenes” of theatrical life, meet the actors of the troupes and even try theater food. By the way, about food.
There are several good bars and restaurants in the Sydney Opera House grounds. The most popular of them:

Opera Bar– a bar and restaurant, which is also one of the “favorites” among Sydney residents;
Bennelong– one of the best restaurants in Australia, whose chef is P. Gilmore, who prepares original dishes from Australian ingredients;
Portside Sydney– the most suitable friendly family restaurant for a light snack, a cup of coffee or dessert.

also in theater building you will find many souvenir shops, offering tourists very wide choose pleasant and memorable things.

Where is the Sydney Opera House located?

The famous structure is located in the picturesque Sydney Harbor on Bennelong Point.
You can easily get here from anywhere in the Australian capital, since the intersection of sea and land transport routes is nearby.
GPS coordinates: 33.856873° S, 151.21497° E.

Sydney Opera House opening hours

The theater is open to visitors daily from 9 am (Sunday from 10:00) until late in the evening.

Prices for visiting the theater depend on the purpose of such a visit - either it will be an excursion, or you want to see this or that performance, or you just want to relax and have a delicious meal in one of the theater restaurants - in each case the price can vary significantly.
For any questions you may have, you can contact the theater’s “Info Service” from Monday to Friday by phone. +61 2 9250 7111, or write to email. address [email protected].
The official website of the Sydney Opera House is www.sydneyoperahouse.com.

Sydney Opera House - interesting facts

Author of the Sydney theater project J. Goossens, despite the amount of work he had done, was “exiled” from Australia, because they allegedly found prohibited “Black Mass” items in his possession.
The initial A$7 million to build the theater was raised thanks to charity lottery.
The famous sail-shaped roof significantly worsened the acoustics of the theater premises, and therefore it was necessary to make additional sound reflective ceilings. The roof, by the way, also turned out to be too heavy, and the builders were forced to redo the entire foundation of the theater.
Due to protracted construction, the architect of the Sydney Opera House, J. Watson, encountered difficulties with the Australian government, and he was forced to leave Australia. The theater was completed by another architect.
She came to the opening of the Sydney Opera House herself. Queen Elizabeth II of Britain.
The Sydney Theater has the longest theater curtains in the world, and in its large concert hall is the largest organ on the planet.
The Sydney Opera House is the first building in the world to be listed as World Heritage UNESCO during the lifetime of its architect.
The opera house building is still not completed. To prepare for the 2000 Olympics, the Australian government invited J. Watson to complete the building, but he refused. The famous architect never returned to Australia after the forced cessation of construction.
J. Watson in 2003 received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for the project of the world famous theater.
Sydney Opera House was a contender for the title of one of the 7 wonders of the world.
Never yet no repairs were required to the famous building.

Sydney Opera House - video

In this video you will learn even more information about the Sydney Opera House. Enjoy watching!

These and many other secrets are hidden behind its walls around the world. famous theater- hurry to see it, touch its secrets and touch the great musical and theater arts, which unfolds daily behind the scenes.

I have already said that at first glance the Sydney Opera House disappointed me. Co observation deck V Botanical Garden she seemed small, unimpressive, of some strange color.
My opinion changed when we went on a tour inside and I got to know her better. Interest in the internal transformed into interest in the external. After all, this often happens with new acquaintances - at first glance you may not like the person, but after getting to know him better, your opinion changes.

So, where did Opera begin? In the late 1940s, the director of the New South Wales Conservatoire, Eugene Goossens, began to talk about the need for a new building for opera productions, as the previously used Sydney Town Hall seemed too small for future projects. In 1954 he obtained the consent of the Premier of NSW, and on 13 September 1955 a public architectural competition was announced for the construction of the Sydney Opera House. Bennelong Point was chosen as the location; at that time there was a tram depot there.

The project requirements included the construction of two buildings: an opera house and a concert hall. More than 200 applications were submitted to the competition. In 1957, the name of the winner was announced; it was a 38-year-old not very famous Danish architect, Jorn Utson. According to legend, his project did not pass the terms of the competition and was considered too ambitious, so it quickly ended up in the basket, from where it was saved famous architect Eero Saarinen, and returned to the competition pool. This is what the initial sketch looked like:

In 1958, the tram depot was demolished and construction of the theater began in 1959. At that time, Utson still did not have the final drawings of the building and engineering project, but the government was in a hurry to start, so the foundation and foundation began to be built without knowing further details. This moment was absolutely astounding to me and seemed rather reckless on the part of the then local government.

The foundation was completed in 1963.

From 1957 to 1961, the engineering team tried to come up with a solution to bring Utson's sketch of his shell opera roofs to life. They were sorting out different shapes parabolas for these shells, but technically at that moment all this was impossible.

And only in 1961 (i.e. 4 years after the end of the competition and 2 years after the start of construction!) a solution was found - the roof shells were made as parts of a sphere, the so-called. Utson spheres.

Thanks to the solution found, it was possible to simplify the process of protracted construction. The building was planned to be completed in 1965, but as always, plans diverged from reality. 1966, construction was still in full swing, although it was nearing completion. But this is only the external part.

There was still work to be done on the interior decoration. The estimate kept growing, a new government came in, which was not happy with Utson’s work, and this led to the architect’s resignation in 1966. So the work with the interior architecture and decoration was carried out under the guidance of another architect; Utson’s plans were largely changed and revised. Who knows what the Sydney Opera House would sound like today if Utson himself had completed it.

Construction was completed in 1973, i.e. 10 years later than the originally planned period and with a 14-fold increase in the estimate. On October 20, 1973, the building was inaugurated by Elizabeth II.

Utson was not at the opening and did not see the completed theater. It was only in the late 90s that the Sydney Opera House Trust Fund contacted the architect with a proposal to rebuild some of the premises. So in 2004, the “Utson’s Room” was opened - one of the interior rooms, redone according to Utson’s new sketches.

It is assumed that in the coming years the theater may be closed for a complete reconstruction to remodel the interior spaces and halls to improve acoustics.

Now the theater has two large halls - the Concert Hall (for 2679 people) and the Joan Sutherland Theater (for 1507 people), named after the Australian opera diva; three theater halls(for 544, 400 and 398 people); and two rooms that can be used for various purposes and for different types productions The building also has a recording room, bars and restaurants.

This is what the Concert Hall looks like inside. They say that Luciano Pavarotti refused to perform there because... this purple The carpet matches the color of the upholstery of coffins in Italy.

Entrails. I don't know why, but I like the simplicity and openness of concrete structures.

Their combination with soft wood and cold metal.

After the tour of the Opera, I became interested in observing and examining the theater not only inside, but also outside.

The roof domes remind me not only of waves and shells, but also of the helmets of the Spanish conquistadors.

I will return to the Opera after the meditation retreat to watch J. Offenbach’s “Orpheus in Hell.” A light operetta, and even with a libretto reworked into modern language - not my cup of tea.

Unfortunately, apart from the production itself, the acoustics of the theater were a disappointment. Very flat and of course much inferior to European opera houses. For some reason, many new halls have problems with acoustics. I can't understand why. It seems that there are many tools for calculations, but you still come to a new hall and hear a flat sound.

But the night landscapes of Sydney, the Opera House and the embankment are simply magnificent.

What is the symbol of Australia? Well, yes, a kangaroo, and what else? Well, of course it's a building!

The Sydney Opera House is the only building of the 20th century that stands on a par with such great architectural symbols of the 19th century as Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. Along with the Hagia Sophia and the Taj Mahal, this building belongs to the highest cultural achievements last millennium. How did it happen that Sydney - even in the opinion of Australians, is by no means the most beautiful and elegant city in the world - got this miracle? And why didn't any other city compete with it? Why is it that most modern cities are a jumble of ugly skyscrapers, while our attempts to mark the end of the outgoing millennium by creating an architectural masterpiece have failed miserably?

Before the Opera House, Sydney boasted its world famous Bridge. Painted sullen grey colour, he, like a Calvinist conscience, looms over the city, which was conceived as King George's Gulag and still cannot free itself from the strong influence of a small island on the other side of the world. One glance at our Bridge is enough to make you not want to look at it a second time.

Why did it happen? The fact is that the building was designed by one man, the Danish architect Jorn Utzon, and its interior is a confused commission that the Australian critic Philip Drew called "a collection of nobodies." This is a sad story, but it helps to understand why almost all modern architectural structures so ugly. Like Sydney itself, the Opera House was invented by the British.

In 1945, Sir Eugene Goossens, a violinist and composer, arrived in Australia and was invited by the Australian Broadcasting Board (then headed by another refined Briton, Sir Charles Moses) to conduct a recording of a concert series. Goossens discovered local residents“an unusually passionate interest” in the musical arts, but there was practically nowhere to satisfy it except the Sydney Town Hall, whose architecture resembled a “wedding cake” in the spirit of the Second Empire, with poor acoustics and a hall with only 2,500 seats. Like many other visitors, Goossens was struck by Sydney's indifference to the city's magnificent skyline and its fondness for hackneyed European ideas that arose in a completely different historical and cultural context. This “cultural subservience” was later reflected in the row over the foreign-designed Opera House.

Goossens, this lover of bohemian life and tireless bon vivant, knew what was missing here: a palace for opera, ballet, theater and concerts - “society must be aware of modern musical achievements.” In the company of Kurt Langer, a city planner originally from Vienna, he combed the entire city with true missionary fervor in search of a suitable site. They chose the rocky headland of Bennelong Point near the Circular Quay, a junction where residents transferred from ferries to trains and buses. On this cape, named after an Australian Aborigine, a friend of the first Sydney governor, stood Fort Macquarie - a real monster, a late Victorian counterfeit of antiquity. Behind its powerful walls with loopholes and crenellated turrets hid a modest institution - the central tram depot.

He brought in another opera lover, Stan Haviland, head of the Sydney Water Authority. The ice has broken.

On 17 May 1955 the State Government gave permission for the construction of an Opera House at Bennelong Point on the condition that public funds won't be needed. The building project was announced international competition. IN next year With great difficulty, Cahill's cabinet managed to stay in power for a second three-year term. Time was running out, but sanctimonious, provincial New South Wales was already preparing the first retaliatory blow to the fighters for the culturalization of Sydney.

Some unknown person called Moses and warned that the luggage of Goossens, who had gone abroad to study opera houses, would be searched at Sydney Airport - then, in the pre-drug era, this was unheard of unceremoniousness. Moses did not tell his friend about this, and upon his return, Black Mass paraphernalia was found in Goossens' suitcases, including rubber masks shaped like genitals. It turned out that the musician sometimes whiled away boring Sydney evenings in the company of black magic lovers led by a certain Rosalyn (Rowe) Norton, a very famous person in relevant circles. Goossens claimed that the ritual paraphernalia (which would not be even glanced at today at Sydney's annual Gay and Lesbian Ball) was foisted on him by blackmailers. He was fined a hundred pounds, resigned as conductor of the new Sydney Symphony Orchestra and went back to England, where he died in sadness and obscurity. Thus the Opera House lost its first, most eloquent and influential supporter.

All but one of the contenders began by trying to solve an obvious problem: how to fit two opera houses on a small piece of land measuring 250 by 350 feet, surrounded on three sides by water? French writer Françoise Fromoneau, who calls the Opera building one of the “great projects” that were never realized in its intended form, in her book “Jorn Utzon: Sydney Opera” introduces the reader to the winners of the second and third prizes (from their works it is quite possible to judge the projects of all other participants of the competition).

Only in one competition work the theaters are placed close to each other, and the problem of walls is eliminated due to their absence: a series of fan-shaped white roofs are attached directly to the cyclopean podium. The author of the project proposed storing the scenery in special recesses made in a massive platform: this was how the problem of the backstage was solved. The pile of rejected projects grew, and the jury members returned to this strikingly original work for the umpteenth time. They say that Saarinen even hired a boat to show his colleagues how the building would look from the water. On January 29, 1957, a beaming Joe Cahill announced the result. The winner was a Danish man of thirty-eight years old, living with his family in a romantic corner near Hamlet's Elsinore, in a house built according to own project(this was one of the architect’s few plans that were realized). The laureate's difficult-to-pronounce name, which meant nothing to most Sydneysiders, was Jörn Utzon

Sometimes in modern megacities you come across original buildings that can capture the imagination (for example, Beaubourg in Paris), but basically their appearance is determined by the same type of skyscrapers with a steel frame and panel walls from a construction catalogue. For the first time in the history of mankind, the most beautiful cities in the world are becoming like twins.

During the war, Utzon studied in Denmark, then in Sweden, and could not participate in commercial projects to create such featureless structures. Instead, he began sending his works to competitions - after the war, the construction of all kinds of public buildings revived. In 1945, together with a fellow student, he was awarded the Small Gold Medal for his design of a concert hall for Copenhagen. The structure, which remained on paper, was supposed to be erected on a special platform. Utzon borrowed this idea from classical Chinese architecture. Chinese palaces stood on podiums, the height of which corresponded to the greatness of the rulers, and the length of the flights of stairs to the scale of their power. According to Utzon, such platforms had their advantage: they emphasized the detachment of timeless art from the bustle of the city. Utzon and his colleague crowned the concert hall with a copper-clad concrete “shell”, the outer profile of which followed the shape of the sound-reflecting ceiling inside the structure. This student work already foreshadowed the stunning success that befell its author in Sydney eleven years later.

Apparently, in communicating with people, he professed the same principles of strict functionality as in architecture: turning away from his guest, Van der Rohe dictated short answers to questions to the secretary, who repeated them loudly. Then the family went to Mexico to look at the Aztec temples in Oaxaca's Monte Alban and Yucatan's Chichen Itza. These stunning ruins sit on massive platforms reached by wide staircases, seeming to float above a sea of jungle that stretches to the horizon. Utzon was looking for architectural masterpieces, equally attractive from the inside and outside and at the same time not being the product of any one culture (he sought to create architecture that would absorb elements of different cultures). It’s hard to imagine a more striking antithesis to the British austerity of the Harbor Bridge than Utzon’s Sydney Opera House, and a better emblem for a growing city that aspires to a new synthesis of cultures could not be found. In any case, none of the other participants in the 1957 competition came close to the laureate.

Sydney Opera House during a storm and on a normal day.

The entire Sydney elite was fascinated by the winning project, and even more so by its author, who first visited the city in July 1957. (Utzon extracted all the necessary information about the construction site from nautical charts.) “Our Gary Cooper!” - one Sydney lady involuntarily burst out when she saw a tall, blue-eyed blond man and heard his exotic Scandinavian accent, which contrasted favorably with the rough local pronunciation. Although the project presented was actually a sketch, a certain Sydney firm estimated the cost of the work at three and a half million pounds. "It doesn't get any cheaper!" cackled the Sydney Morning Herald. Utzon volunteered to start collecting funds by selling kisses for a hundred pounds apiece, but this playful offer had to be abandoned, and the money was raised in a more conventional way - through a lottery, thanks to which the building funds increased by a hundred thousand pounds in two weeks. Utzon returned to Denmark, put together a project team there, and things took off. “We were like a jazz orchestra - everyone knew exactly what was required of them,” recalls one of Utzon’s associates, Jon Lundberg, in a remarkable documentary film"The edge of the possible." - We spent absolutely seven together happy years“The jury chose Utzon’s design, believing that his sketches could be used to “build one of the greatest buildings in the world,” but at the same time, the experts noted that his drawings were “too simple and more like sketches.” There is an implicit hint of difficulty here , which have not been overcome to this day. A huge, spectacular staircase leads to the two side-by-side buildings, and all together creates an unforgettable overall silhouette. However, there was practically no space left for traditional side stages. In addition, for opera performances, a hall with a short reverberation time (about 1.2 seconds) so that the singers' words do not merge, and for a large orchestra this time should be approximately two seconds, provided that the sound is partially reflected from the side walls.Utzon proposed raising the scenery from pits behind the stage (this idea could carried out thanks to the presence of a massive podium), and the shell roofs had to be shaped in such a way that all acoustic requirements were satisfied.The love of music, technical ingenuity and vast experience in the construction of opera houses make Germany a world leader in the field of acoustics, and Utzon was very wise to invite Walter Unruh from Berlin as an expert on this part. The New South Wales government invited Ove Arup's design firm to collaborate with Utzon. The two Danes got along well - perhaps too well, because by the second of March 1959, when Joe Cahill laid the first stone of the new building, the main engineering problems had not yet been solved. Less than a year later, Cahill died. “He adored Utzon for his talent and integrity, and Utzon admired his calculating patron because at heart he was a real dreamer,” writes Fromono. Shortly thereafter, Ove Arup stated that 3,000 hours of work and 1,500 hours of machine time (computers were just beginning to be used in architecture) did not help to find a technical solution to implement Utzon's idea, which proposed building roofs in the form of huge free-form shells. “From a design point of view, its design is simply naive,” said London designers
Utzon himself saved future pride Sydney. At first, he intended to “make shells from reinforcing mesh, dust and cover with tiles” - approximately the same way his sculptor uncle made mannequins, but this technique was completely unsuitable for the huge roof of the theater. Utzon's design team and Arup's designers tried dozens of options for parabolas, ellipsoids and more exotic surfaces, but they all turned out to be unsuitable. One day in 1961, a deeply disappointed Utzon was dismantling yet another unusable model and putting away the “shells” to send them for storage, when suddenly it dawned on him original idea(perhaps he has dyslexia to thank for that). Similar in shape, the shells fit more or less well into one pile. What surface, Utzon asked himself, has constant curvature? Spherical. The sinks can be made from triangular sections of an imaginary concrete ball with a diameter of 492 feet, and these sections in turn can be assembled from smaller curved triangles, industrially manufactured and pre-tiled on site. The result is a multi-layer vault - a structure known for its strength and stability. So, the roof problem was solved.

Subsequently, this decision of Utzon became the reason for his dismissal. But the Dane’s genius cannot be denied. The tiles were laid mechanically, and the roofs turned out to be perfectly level (this would have been impossible to achieve manually). That is why the reflections of the sun reflected from the water play so beautifully on them. Since any cross-section of the vaults is part of a circle, the outlines of the roofs have the same shape, and the building appears very harmonious. If it had been possible to build the fanciful roofs according to Utzon's original sketch, the theater would have seemed like a lightweight toy compared to the mighty bridge nearby. Now the appearance of the building is created by the straight lines of the staircase and podium in combination with the circles of the roofs - a simple and strong design in which the influences of China, Mexico, Greece, Morocco, Denmark and God knows what else have merged, turning this whole vinaigrette from different styles into a single whole. The aesthetic principles used by Utzon offered an answer to the key question facing any modern architect: how to combine functionality and plastic grace and satisfy people's craving for beauty in our industrial age. Fromoneau notes that Utzon moved away from the “organic style” fashionable at that time, which, in the words of its discoverer Frank Lloyd Wright, prescribed “holding onto reality with both hands.” Unlike the American architect, Utzon wanted to understand what new means of expression an artist can find in our time, when machines have everywhere replaced humans.

Meanwhile new form roofs gave rise to new difficulties. The taller ones no longer satisfied the acoustic requirements; separate sound-reflecting ceilings had to be designed. The holes of the “shells” facing the bay had to be closed with something; From an aesthetic point of view, this was a difficult task (since the walls should not look too bare and give the impression that they were supporting vaults) and, according to Utzon, could only be achieved with the help of plywood. By luck, an ardent supporter of this material, inventor and industrialist Ralph Symonds, was found in Sydney. When he grew tired of making furniture, he bought a disused abattoir on Homebush Bay, near the Olympic Stadium. There he made roofs for Sydney trains from single sheets of plywood measuring 45 by 8 feet, at that time the largest in the world. By coating plywood with a thin layer of bronze, lead and aluminum, Symonds created new materials of any kind. the desired shape, size and strength, with any weather resistance and any acoustic properties. This is exactly what Utzon needed to complete the Opera House.

Construct sound-reflecting ceilings from parts of the correct geometric shape turned out to be more complex than the roof vaults that Utzon liked to demonstrate by cutting orange peels into pieces. He studied for a long time and carefully the treatise "Ying Zao Fa Shi" on prefabricated consoles supporting roofs Chinese temples. However, the principle of repetition underlying the new architectural style required the use of industrial technology with which it was possible to produce homogeneous elements. Ultimately, Utzon's design team settled on the following idea: if you rolled an imaginary drum about six hundred feet in diameter down an inclined plane, it would leave a trail of continuous grooves. Such troughs, which were supposed to be made at Symonds's factory from equally curved parts, would simultaneously reflect sound and draw the audience's eyes towards the proscenium arches of the Great and Small Halls. It turned out that the ceilings (as well as the concrete elements of the roofs) could be made in advance, and then transported wherever needed on barges - in much the same way that unfinished ship hulls were delivered to the Utzon Sr. shipyard. The largest trough, corresponding to the lowest notes of the organ, had to be 140 feet long.

Utzon wanted to paint the acoustic ceilings in very impressive colors: scarlet and gold in the Great Hall, blue and silver in the Small Hall (a combination he borrowed from the coral fish of the Great Barrier Reef). After consulting with Symonds, he decided to close the mouths of the "shells" with giant glass walls with plywood mullions attached to the ribs of the vault and curved to match the shape of the vestibules located below. Light and durable, like the wing of a seabird, the entire structure, thanks to the play of light, was supposed to create a feeling of mystery, the unpredictability of what lies inside. Passionate about invention, Utzon, together with Symonds' engineers, designed toilets, railings, doors - all from a magical new material. Experience collaboration the architect and industrialist using advanced technology was unfamiliar to Australians. Although, in fact, this is just a modernized version of the old European tradition- collaboration between medieval architects and skilled masons. In the era of universal religiosity, serving God required complete dedication from a person. Time and money didn't matter. One modern masterpiece is still being built according to these principles: the Expiatory Church of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia) by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi was founded in 1882, Gaudi himself died in 1926, and construction is still not completed and is only moving forward. How Barcelona enthusiasts are raising the necessary funds. For some time it seemed that the old days had returned, only now people served not God, but art: ardent fans of Utzon bought lottery tickets, donating fifty thousand pounds a week, and thus freeing taxpayers from the financial burden. Meanwhile, clouds were gathering over the architect and his creation.

The first estimate of the project's cost of three and a half million pounds was made "by eye" by a reporter who was in a hurry to submit an article for typesetting. It turned out that even the cost of the first contract - for the construction of the foundation and podium - estimated at 2.75 million pounds, is much lower than the real one. Joe Cahill's haste to start the building before all the engineering problems had been solved was politically justifiable - Labor was losing popularity - but it forced the designers to make random decisions about the load that the as yet undesigned vaults would place on the podium. When Utzon decided to make the roofs spherical, he had to blow up the existing foundation and lay a new, more durable one. In January 1963, a contract for the construction of roofs was awarded at a cost of 6.25 million pounds - another example of unjustified optimism. Three months later, when Utzon moved to Sydney, the allowable spending limit was raised to 12.5 million. Rising costs and the slow pace of construction were not lost on those who met in Sydney's oldest public building, Parliament House, which was called the "drinking shop" because the prisoners and convicts who built it worked only for drinks. Since then, corruption in Welsh political circles has remained the talk of the town. On the very first day when the winner of the competition was announced, and even earlier, a wave of criticism arose. Rural residents, traditionally opposed to Sydneysiders, did not like the fact that most of the money ended up in the capital, even if it was raised through the lottery. Utzon was forced to resign as head of construction and leave Sydney forever. The next seven years and huge sums money was spent to deface his masterpiece.

Speaking with bitterness about further events, Philip Drew, the author of a book about Utzon, reports that immediately after the election Askin lost all interest in the Opera House and barely mentioned it until his death in 1981 (note, by the way, that he died a multimillionaire). According to Drew, the role of the main villain in this story belongs to the Minister public works Davis Hughes, former school teacher from provincial Orange, who, like Utzon, is still alive. Referring to documents, Drew accuses him of plotting to remove Utzon even before the elections.

Called to the carpet by Hughes, fully confident that the Minister of Public Works would talk about sewers, dams and bridges, Utzon did not sense any danger. Moreover, he was flattered to see that the new minister's office was hung with sketches and photographs of his creation. “I decided that Hughes loved my Opera House,” he recalled years later. In a sense, this was true. Hughes personally took charge of the investigation into the "Opera scandal" promised during the election campaign, and did not overlook a single detail. Looking for a way to bring down Utzon, he turned to government architect Bill Wood. He advised to suspend monthly cash payments, without which Utzon could not continue working. Hughes then demanded that detailed drawings of the building be submitted to him for approval in order to carry out open competition contractors. This mechanism, invented in the 19th century to prevent bribery of government officials, was suitable for laying sewer pipes and building roads, but was completely inapplicable in this case.

The inevitable conclusion came at the beginning of 1966, when £51,626 had to be paid to the designers of the equipment intended for opera productions in the Great Hall. Hughes once again suspended the release of money. In a state of extreme irritation (exacerbated, according to Drew, by the dire financial situation of Utzon himself, who was forced to pay taxes on his earnings to both the Australian and Danish governments), the architect tried to influence Hughes with a veiled threat. Having refused the salary due to him, on February 28, 1966, Utzon told the minister: “You forced me to leave my post.” Following the architect out of Hughes's office, then-design team member Bill Wheatland turned around and saw "the minister leaning over the table, hiding a satisfied grin." That same evening, Hughes called an emergency meeting and announced that Utzon had “resigned” from his position, but that it would not be difficult to complete the Opera House without him. However, there was one obvious problem: Utzon won the competition and became world famous, at least among architects. Hughes had found a replacement for him in advance and appointed in his place thirty-four-year-old Peter Hall from the Ministry of Public Works, who had built several university buildings with public funds. Hall had a long-standing connection with Utzon friendly relations and he hoped to enlist his support, but, to his surprise, he was refused. Sydney architecture students, led by an indignant Harry Seidler, picketed the unfinished building with slogans like "Bring Utzon Back!" Most of the government architects, including Peter Hall, submitted a petition to Hughes stating that "both technically and ethically, Utzon is the only person capable of completing the Opera House." Hughes did not flinch, and Hall's appointment went through.

Poorly versed in music and acoustics, Hall and his retinue - now entirely Australian - set off on another tour of opera houses. In New York, expert Ben Schlanger expressed the opinion that it is impossible to stage an opera at all in the Sydney Theater - except in an abbreviated form and only in the Small Hall. Drew proves him wrong: there are plenty of dual-purpose venues with good acoustics, including one in Tokyo designed by the brilliant Dane's former assistant, Yuzo Mikami. The stage equipment that arrived from Europe during Utzon's last days in office was sold for scrap at fifty pence a pound, and a recording studio was set up in a remote space under the stage. The changes made by Hall and his team cost 4.7 million. The result was an inexpressive, outdated interior - which is what we see now. Hall's innovations did not affect the external appearance of the Opera, on which its world fame rests, with one (unfortunately too noticeable) exception. He replaced the gull-winged plywood mullions for the glass walls with painted steel windows in the style of the '60s. But he was unable to cope with the geometry: windows disfigured by strange convexities are a harbinger of complete collapse inside the premises.

By October 20, 1973, the day grand opening Operated by Queen Elizabeth, construction costs amounted to 102 million Australian dollars (51 million pounds at the then exchange rate). 75 percent of this amount was spent after Utzon left. Architecture professor and Sydney cartoonist George Molnar scathingly captioned one of his drawings: "Mr Hughes is right. We must control costs, whatever the cost." “If Mr. Utzon had stayed, we would have lost nothing,” the Sydney Morning Herald sadly added, seven years too late. Peter Hall was confident that his work on redesigning the Opera House would glorify his name, but he never received another significant order. He died in Sydney in 1989, forgotten by everyone. Sensing that Labor was again gaining strength, Hughes, even before the opening of the Opera, exchanged his post for a sinecure as the representative of New South Wales in London and doomed himself to further obscurity. If he is remembered at all in Sydney, it is only as a vandal who disfigured the pride of the metropolis. Hughes still maintains that without him the Opera House would never have been completed. The bronze plaque, displayed at the entrance since 1973, speaks volumes of his ambition: after the names of the crowned heads, it bears the name of the Minister of Public Works, the Honorable Davis Hughes, followed by the names of Peter Hall and his assistants. Utzon's name is not on this list; he was not even mentioned in Elizabeth's solemn speech - a shameful impoliteness, for in the days of the Dane's glory the monarch received him on board her yacht in Sydney Harbor.

Still hoping for a second invitation to Sydney, Utzon did not stop thinking about his plan in Denmark. He twice made an offer to continue working, but both times received an icy refusal from the minister. On a dark night in 1968, a desperate Utzon arranged for his theater ritual funeral: burned the last models and drawings on the shore of a deserted fiord in Jutland. In Denmark they were well aware of his troubles, so there was no need to expect decent orders from his fellow countrymen. Utzon resorted to a common way among architects to wait out the dark times - he began to build a house for himself in Mallorca. In 1972, on the recommendation of Leslie Martin, one of the Sydney competition judges, Utzon and his son Jan were commissioned to design the National Assembly in Kuwait.

This Assembly, built on the shores of the Persian Gulf, is reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House: it also has two halls, located side by side, and in the middle is a canopy-like roof, under which, according to Utzon, Kuwaiti legislators could relax in the coolness of the whispering air conditioners. Although some have accused Utzon of never finishing what he starts, the building was completed in 1982 but was almost entirely destroyed during the 1991 Iraqi invasion. The newly rebuilt Assembly no longer sports Scandinavian crystal candelabra and gilt over Utzon's austere teak interior, and its covered courtyard has been converted into a parking lot. In Denmark, Utzon designed a church, a furniture store, a telephone booth, a garage with a defiant reprise of the glass walls of the Opera - that's probably all. The much-publicized theater project in Zurich never came to fruition, but this is not Utzon's fault. His architecture, using standardized building blocks, which are then laid according to a sculptural principle, did not find many followers: it is good from an aesthetic, not a commercial point of view, and has nothing in common with towers that are primitive in design and camouflaged “under classicism”, such as appeared in abundance in the era of postmodernism.

Of all the attractions in Australia, the Sydney Opera House attracts greatest number tourists. Even before the Olympics, it became one of the most famous buildings in the world. Sydneysiders would be happy to get rid of the pompous tinsel of the 60s and complete the Opera the way Utzon wanted - today money is not a problem for them. But the train left. The Mallorcan recluse is no longer the same young dreamer that won the competition. Utzon's reluctance to see his mutilated creation is understandable. True, he did agree to sign a vague document on the basis of which it is planned to develop a project for restoring the Opera worth 35 million pounds. According to this document, the main architect of the construction will be Utzon's son, Jan. But great masterpiece you can’t create from someone else’s words, even if these are the words of Utzon himself. His Opera House with a gigantic stage and stunningly beautiful interior forever remained just a wonderful idea that was not destined to come true.

Perhaps this could not have been avoided. Like all great artists, Utzon strives for perfection, believing that this is exactly what both the client and his own conscience demand of him. But architecture rarely becomes art; it is rather akin to a business that strives to satisfy conflicting demands, and at the lowest cost. And we should be grateful to fate that a rare union of an atheist visionary and a naive provincial town gave us a building whose appearance almost perfect. “You will never tire of it, you will never tire of it,” Utzon predicted in 1965. He was right: it would never really happen.