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When the Sydney Opera House was planned in 1957, it was expected to cost 3.5 million Australian pounds. It opened on 20 October 1973, more than ten years later than first planned, and the final cost was A$102 million.

Sydney Opera House — construction history

ArtHistory

The story behind the card

The Danish architect Jørn Utzon won the design competition in 1957. His great curved roof shells proved very hard to build until, around 1961, Utzon hit on cutting every shell from the surface of the same imaginary sphere, so the concrete pieces could be made in repeating shapes. Costs and delays mounted, and in 1966, after a dispute with the New South Wales government over payments and control of the design, Utzon resigned and left Australia; he never saw the finished building. Most of the money came from a state lottery. When Australia switched to dollars in 1966, one pound became two dollars, so the final bill was about 14 times the first estimate. The building became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.

Türkçe oku
Sidney Opera Binası 1957'de planlandığında 3,5 milyon Avustralya sterlinine mal olacağı hesaplanmıştı. Bina ilk öngörülenden on yıldan fazla geç, 20 Ekim 1973'te açıldı ve toplam maliyeti 102 milyon Avustralya dolarını buldu.

Danimarkalı mimar Jørn Utzon, 1957'de tasarım yarışmasını kazandı. Binanın büyük, kavisli çatı kabuklarını inşa etmek yıllarca mümkün olmadı. 1961 dolaylarında Utzon çözümü buldu: bütün kabuklar aynı hayali kürenin yüzeyinden kesilmiş parçalar gibi tasarlandı, böylece beton parçalar tekrarlanan kalıplarla üretilebildi. Maliyet ve gecikmeler büyüdükçe Yeni Güney Galler hükûmetiyle ödemeler ve tasarımın denetimi konusunda anlaşmazlık çıktı; Utzon 1966'da istifa edip Avustralya'dan ayrıldı ve binanın bitmiş hâlini hiç görmedi. Paranın büyük kısmı bir devlet piyangosundan karşılandı. Avustralya 1966'da dolara geçtiğinde bir sterlin iki dolar sayıldı; yani son fatura ilk tahminin yaklaşık 14 katıydı. Bina 2007'de UNESCO Dünya Mirası Listesi'ne alındı.

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