Sydney Opera House Architect Celebrations
Designer Joern Utzon's Life Celebrated at Sydney's Greatest Building
Apr 13, 2009
Joern Utzen's philosophy was to always work on the edge of the possible. The architect of the Sydney Opera House died last November at the age of 90. His memorial service, held on 25th March 2009 at the Opera House, was also a somewhat belated tribute to him from the Australian people.
Joern Utzen's Winning Design
In 1994 the Danish architect won an international design competition, beating more than 200 other architects who were vying to win this coveted project. Building began in 1959, but construction started to fall behind schedule straight away.
The work, which was planned to take place over a span of four years, ended up taking 17 years to complete. The initial budget was seven million Australian dollars, but soared to a total of one hundred million Australian dollars.
Sydeney Opera House Architect Sacked by Australian Government
Worried by escalating costs and ever stretching timescales, the Australian government decided to sack Utzen. The exterior of the building was by that time completed, but the construction of the interior fell to a local architect. Unfortunately, because of this, the vision of the interior fails to live up to the spectacular exterior of the building. One design feature of note, however, is the award winning toilet facilities.
After being sacked Utzen left Australia, never to return, but the story so caught the imagination of the Australian people that it became a talking point and eventually became the subject of Alan John's opera "Eighth Wonder".
Sydney Opera House Architect Finally Honored by Australian People
Forty years on, Australia has finally honored Utzen, acknowledging the part that he played in the evolution of the cultural identity of the nation. The day started with Aboriginal dancers performing at dawn on the steps of the Opera House and later the Bangarra Dance Theatre performed outside the concert hall.
The service was attended by Utzen's children, Jan and Lin, and the day included performances by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Opera Australia and the Australian Ballet. Cate Blanchett read from Shakespeare's Cymbeline, while Neil Finn performed "Don't Dream Its Over".
World Heritage Status for Sydney Opera House
Mr Utzon's creation won World Heritage Status in 2007. His son, Jan Utzen said that his father had been very touched by how much the Opera House was loved and had been delighted to be part of the project, even if he wished things had turned out differently. His daughter Lin added that the building is "so beautiful and in a way self evident that it seems as if God himself put it there". Currently the Australian government is considering a one billion dollar (£480million) face-lift for the building.
Reference
Kathy Marks, The Independent, Thursday March 26th
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