SYDNEY 20 October 2008 Now-threatened Sydney Opera House opened 35 years ago

Australia's futuristic landmark, the Sydney Opera House, was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 Oct 1973, with fireworks and a huge crowd of onlookers. With its nesting concrete shells that billow like the sails on Sydney Harbor, it has been a source of arguments and great national pride since Danish architect Jørn Utzon won the international competition to design it in 1957. Nearing its 35th anniversary, the Opera House is in dire need of restoration. The project is so costly that there is talk of scrapping the building and starting again.

Some protection could lie in its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The arguments started during the building phase. No one, including the architect, knew how to translate the visionary design into construction documents. Endless modifications, compromises and cost overruns stretched a four-year building project into 16 years. On 28 Feb 1966 Utzon resigned in disgust with politicians' meddling and left the country. Another architectural team was appointed to bring it to completion. Utzon later famously described the situation as "Malice in Blunderland." He never saw the finished building.

The government called Utzon back in 1999 when wear and tear -- and the obsolescence of some of the Opera House's features -- made repairs and restoration an urgent issue. Now 90, Utzon can't travel, so he prepared designs for a repair, restoration and retrofitting project that will make the building more as he envisioned it in 1957. According to a Wall Street Journal article, reconstruction of the interiors with the architect's custom furniture and fittings, and major acoustical, structural and technological changes that include theater improvements and opening whole new vistas and promenades on the waterside will mean virtually redoing the building. The staggering cost of $700 million has some politicians and others saying it is not worth it and that the country needs a replacement for the iconic building.

The question is whether the Opera House will make it to 40. May/08

RELATED READING:

Sydney Opera House
http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/

In praise -- and not -- of follies (WSJ 15 May 2008)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121080294195393107.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

UN Lists India fort, Sydney Opera as heritage sites (Reuters 27 Jun 2007)
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2007-06-28T101159Z_01_SYD218050_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-HERITAGE-UNESCO-DC.XML&pageNumber=1!id=)"=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage