Journal articles on the topic 'Sydney Opera House'

Both before and after his forced resignation from the charge of the Sydney Opera House (1956–66)in 1966, Danish Architect Jørn Utzon (1918–2008) has cited Chinese architecture as one of the most important inspirational sources of his unfinished masterpiece. However, the significance of Chinese building culture has largely been overlooked in historical accounts of Utzon's Opera House design. This is despite ample evidences suggesting several direct analogies of Chinese architecture in Utzon's design proposals. The evidence also indicates that one of the key Chinese sources for Utzon comes from the written works of Finland-born and Sweden-based art historian Osvald Sirén 喜龍仁 (1879–1966). Accordingly, this paper aims to identify Utzon's perception of Chinese architecture from Sirén's interpretation of this subject, and Utzon's eventual reinterpretation of this notion in his design of the Sydney Opera House.The article poses four questions. First, what were the socio-political contexts both of Sirén and Utzon's approach to Chinese architecture? Second, how did Sirén interpret Chinese architecture in his scholarly work? Third, what was the interrelationship between Sirén and Utzon? And fourth, how did Utzon reinterpret Sirén's concept in his design for the Sydney Opera House? To respond to these questions, the authors surveyed the literature associated with Sirén and Utzon, reviewed their private collections, and undertook interviews with their friends, colleagues and followers. On this basis, the authors constructed a series of ideological analogies between Sirén and Utzon's work, with particular emphasis on Utzon's design for the Sydney Opera House.

Critical regionalisme merupakan aliran arsitektur yang menentang arsitektur regionalism yang dinilai terlalu tradisional dan kurang sesuai dengan perkembangan jaman,critical regionalism sendiri awalnya dimunculkan oleh Alexander Tzonis yang kemudian dikembangkan oleh tokoh-tokoh lain salah satunya Lewis Mumford.Tujuan penelitian ini sendiri untuk menganalisa bangunan Masjid Padang dan Sydney Opera House dengan teori critical regionalism dari Alexander Tzonis dan leiws Mumford. Penellitian ini akan berfokus pada lingkungan sekitar,regions in memory dan rejection of absolute historicism dengan menggunakan metoder literature. Berdasarkan studi literature dan analisa dapat diambil kesimpulan bahwa masjid Padang dan Sydney Opera House termasuk ke dalam critical regionalisme mulai dari lingkungan sekitarnya,ornamen pada bangunan serta adanya modifikasi dari elemen-elemen tradisional.

Paolo Tombesi's investigation of Australia's Parliament House, Canberra (arq 7/2, pp140–154) shows how the ambitions of Public Sector clients are influenced by the political context. The review by John Sergeant of Weston's excellent biography of Utzon in the same issue (pp183–186), provides some insight into his tragedy and triumph at Sydney: the Opera House.

Jørn Utzon, designer of Sydney Opera House, the most famous and controversial building of the twentieth-century that unwittingly ushered in the contemporary fascination with ‘iconic’ buildings, died at his home in Denmark on 5 December 2008 at the age of ninety.

The resignation of the Sydney Opera House architect, Jørn Utzon, marked the culmination of an increasingly frustrating phase of the project. Utzon had intended a partnership between designer, consultant, contractor and subcontractor to develop technical design solutions which would not have been possible under normal competitive tendering. The government rejected this. Here are examined the issues which underpinned the relationship between the architect seeking technical perfection and the manufacturing engineer seeking the fullest artistic expression of his product.

The autor, head of the Czechoslovak delegation, presents basic information about the 26th International Geographical Congress which took place in Sydney, Australia, from 21st to 26th August, 1988. The Congress was formally opened by Sir N. Stephen, Gavernor General of Australia, at the Concert Hall of Sydney Opera House. All sessions and exhibitions were held at the University of Sydney, established in 1850. In the congress more than 1200 geographers participated while from among 88 IGU member countries 51 ones were represented by official delegations. About 800 papers were presented in 14 sections, working and study groups sessions. Prof. Ronald Fuchs from the USA was elected president by the General Assembly of IGU for the next four years. The 27th International Geographical Congress will take place in Washington, D.C. in 1992.

This article will investigate the paradoxical relation between iconic logos, such as the Nike logo, and architectural icons, such as the Sydney Opera House. Both logos and icons are immediately recognizable worldwide. Yet they function in seemingly radically different ways logos as signifiers of a single company: icons as signifiers that always represent something different from exactly what they are. How can these two different ways of signification produce the same result of instant recognition?

Architects throughout the ages have looked to nature for answers to complex questions about the most appropriate structural forms for their buildings. This is the case of Jørn Utzon and the design of roof shells of the Sydney Opera House, in which the search for natural references was constant, from the nautical references in the initial design phases to the final spherical solution based on the analogy with an orange. This paper analyzes the influence of nature as a source of inspiration in this World Heritage building, assessing through FEM calculation models the suitability of the different solutions proposed and weighing up the influence of certain factors such as scale in this type of process. Through the calculation models developed, it has been possible to verify the poor performance of the initial designs compared to the power of the final solution, which, after more than 5 years of research by the design team headed by Utzon, was able to solve the enormous problem with a “simple” typological and geometric change.

Abstract The history of the design decisions directly related to the construction of the Sydney Opera House remains largely anecdotal. A rich group of items recently discovered in Australia may now start filling this gap, as documents brought to light include the drawings issued by the general contractor to build the concrete formwork for the shells, drawings of the temporary structures and falsework, site images, and contractor’s notes. All in all, the drawings display sophisticated combinatory solutions for attaining the structural form required whilst introducing repetition and flexibility in the making of the discrete pieces. While suggesting a remarkable combination of manufacturing and structural shrewdness, these blueprints call into question the canonical history of the building roof’s famous ‘sails’, the rhetoric of the ‘spherical solution’ used to arrive at them, and, most importantly, the information production and knowledge management model we conventionally work within.

Listening to the Mind Listening (LML) explored whether sonifications can be more than just “noise” in terms of perceived information and musical experience. The project generated an unprecedented body of 27 multichannel sonifications of the same dataset by 38 composers. The design of each sonification was explicitly documented, and there are 88 analytical reviews of the works. The public concert presenting 10 of these sonifications at the Sydney Opera House Studio drew a capacity audience. This paper presents an analysis of the reviews, the designs and the correspondences between timelines of these works.

Until the launch of Federation Square in Melbourne, in 1997, Australia's contribution to the history of international architectural competitions consisted essentially of two buildings: the Sydney Opera House, won by Jørn Utzon in 1957, and the Federal Parliament House in Canberra, won by Mitchell/Giurgola and Thorp (MGT) in 1980. While Utzon's building is widely acknowledged as a daring piece of innovative design and one of the architectural icons of this century, MGT's winning scheme for Parliament House drew heavy criticism from the moment the proposal was unveiled: neo-Classicist lines, a Beaux-Arts parti, and the building's occupation of Capital Hill – at the top of the Griffins' 1912 scheme for Canberra – were seen by many as displaying a lack of sensibility towards Australian landscape, culture, and ingenuity, and as the result of a conservative approach to contemporary urban design.

This paper presents a preliminary finite element model in Strand7 software to analyse creep and shrinkage effects on the prestressed concrete ribs of the Sydney Opera House as remarkable heritage. A linear static analysis was performed to investigate the instantaneous impacts of dead and wind loads on the complex concrete structure which was completed in 1973. A quasistatic analysis was performed to predict the effects of creep and shrinkage due to dead load on the structure in 2050 to discern its longevity. In 2050, the Sydney Opera House is expected to experience 0.090% element strain due to creep and shrinkage and therefore suffer prestress losses of 32.59 kN per strand. However, given that the current time after prestress loading is approximately 50 years, the majority of creep and shrinkage effects have already taken place with 0.088% strain and 32.12 kN of prestress losses. The analysis concludes that very minor structural impacts are expected over the next 30 years due to creep and shrinkage, suggesting a change in conservation focus from large structural concerns to inspection and maintenance of minor issues of surface cracking and water ingress. The analysis is the first step in the application of more complex finite element modelling of the structure with the integration of complex building information models. The main motivation to undertake the current numerical simulation is to determine a cost-effective solution when it comes to the long-term time-dependent analysis. The paper also will suggest future directions for monitoring unique historical buildings, including ‘digital twin’.

Pertunjukan teater The Eyes of Marege kolaborasi Teater Kita Makassar dengan Australian Performing Exhange dipentaskan pada OzAsia Festival tanggal 27 – 29 September 2007 di Playhouse Adelaide, dan tanggal 5 – 7 Oktober 2007 di Studio Opera House, Sydney. Penelitian ini mendeskripsikan dan menganalisis fokus masalah: nilai-nilai budaya Makassar dalam karakter tokoh pada pertunjukan tersebut. Data dari jenis penelitian kualitatif ini diperoleh melalui observasi partisipatif, wawancara, dan dokumentasi. Hasil data dideskripsikan dan dianalisis berdasarkan pendekatan kebudayaan dan kajian semiotika teater. Adapun pola relasi antartokoh dianalisis dengan menggunakan model aktantial Greimas. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa karakter tokoh dalam pertunjukan teater The Eyes of Marege yang mewakili suku-bangsaMakassar mengandung nilai-nilai budaya Makassar, antara lain: nilai-nilai siri’ na pacce, nilai-nilai tausipakatau, nilai-nilai pangngadakkang, dan nilai-nilai islam.

Architecture is communication. It conveys human stories, feelings, philosophies, and cultural histories and interacts through them with viewers, occupants, artists, and surrounding communities. Architecture, whether explicitly religious or not, is spiritual, too. Embodying and manifesting spatial spirituality, it invokes in the mind of the appreciator awe, wonder, and contact with the transcendent. All this is possible because architecture is, to borrow Paul Tillich’s language, an art form carrying the ultimate concerns of human life. Recognizing the communicative, spiritual, and existential nature of architecture exemplified in Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House, this article meets a need and demonstrates the potential for architectural preaching. Preaching can serve biblical texts efficiently—particularly architectural ones (e.g., Exodus 26 and Revelation 21)—by approaching them through an architectural hermeneutic and creatively presenting them with architectural imagination.

Hailed as the most important cultural event since the opening of the Sydney Opera House, the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Tasmania seemingly made very substantial changes to visitor experiences of an art gallery, catalysed a significant cultural florescence in Hobart and achieved tourism-led urban and regional regeneration on a par with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Drawing on a large survey of visitors this article illuminates the origins, social aims and impacts of successful attempts to push art museums beyond what Hanquinet and Savage call ‘educative leisure’. It contributes to our knowledge of the processes by which traditional forms of ‘highbrow’ cultural experience associated with the dominance of the classical and historical canon are being eclipsed by newer, performative, emotional and sensual forms of cultural taste.

Welcome to the second issue, Volume 8 of the Journal of University Teaching and Learning (JUTLP). We are very pleased to see the way the journal continues to grow and the improvement in the quality of the papers. For this we would like to thank our editorial board and reviewers for their considerable efforts in providing valuable feedback to the contributors. Recently many people farewelled the Australian Learning and Teaching Council at the Opera House in Sydney as they presented the final round of Teaching and Learning awards and citations. Recognition for these outstanding teachers, as well as support through a multi-million dollar grant system, has seen the profile of teaching and learning raised significantly within higher education in Australia and we look forward to seeing further support through the government body who have taken over this role.

In Space, Time, and Architecture, Sigfried Giedion identified Jørn Utzon as one of the proponents and leaders of what Giedion regarded as the Third Generation of modern architecture in the 20th century. This article considers how Utzon subsequently further exemplified in later works the principles Giedion had identified as essential to that Third Generation and discusses, as Giedion did not explicitly, the significance of light in Utzon’s architecture, which plays a key role in underpinning and articulating these defining principles. This article addresses how the principles Giedion attributed to Utzon and his defining consideration of light, derived from his interpretations of his many transcultural sources of inspiration, notably including from, China, Iran, Japan, Hawaii, Mexico, and Morocco, as well as from his own Nordic realm and Europe, as can be seen in the Sydney Opera House, Can Lis in Mallorca, Melli Bank in Tehran, Kuwait National Assembly, and Bagsværd Church in Denmark, among others.

The Listening to the Mind Listening concert was a practice-led research project to explore the idea that we might hear information patterns in the sonified recordings of brain activity, and to investigate the aesthetics of sonifications of the same data set by different composers. This world-first concert of data sonifications was staged at the Sydney Opera House Studio on the evening of 6 July 2004 to a capacity audience of more than 350 neuroscientists, composers, sonification researchers, new media artists and a general public curious to hear what the human brain could sound like. The concert generated 30 sonifications of the same data set, explicit descriptions of the techniques each composer used to map the data into sound, and 90 reviews of these sonifications. This paper presents the motivations for the project, overviews related work, describes the sonification criteria and the review process, and presents and discusses outcomes from the concert.

Abstract Michael J. Sandel is a political and moral philosopher on the faculty of Harvard’s Department of Government. On World Philosophy Day 2021, Professor Sandel joined the University of Dar es Salaam by live-streamed video in a short question and answer session to celebrate the UN World Philosophy Day 2021. The questions referred to three of Sandel’s books, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? (2020) What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (2012) and Justice: What’s the right thing to do? (2010), volumes that have been translated in over thirty languages. Sandel’s lectures have packed St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and an outdoor stadium in Seoul, South Korea where 14,000 came to one event to hear him speak. Discussants included convener Dr. Josephat Muhoza, a senior member of the UDSM Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. Dr. Philbert Komu and Mr. Shija Kuhumba, faculty members of the department, philosophy students, and other members of the audience, also posed questions.

Abstract Nevertheless, iconic architecture assists in the identification of a place, city or precinct, so, structural, functional and aesthetic aspects of architecture, particularly those that represent unique features, attract tourists. Architecture, according to Aldo Rossi, "is at the same time a place, an event and a symbol". Apart from the construction in the "traditional" sense that one perceives, it is also the process by which a building is lined up. It is therefore understood that the concept of architecture which is used, depending on the purpose, as a means of representation, use, impression, but also commercialization. In particular, regarding to the relationship between Architecture and Tourism, buildings and spaces are understood as "products", that means as a series of enhancing activities while at the same time are completing the image and identity of a place (place branding). The aim of this study is to explore the value of iconic buildings to tourism, while assessing their economic and social value in tourism using the benefit transfer method. For example, the Sydney Opera House is exemplary in this respect and is estimated to contribute "US $ 640 million in annual expenses to visitors to Sydney", as it attracts visitors, indirectly encouraging them to spend the night and further. Concluding, it is noted that the value of virtual architecture is often attributed to the construction of brick and reinforced concrete, while the wider benefits that a building can offer are often overlooked or underestimated. However, what attracts the most stray visitors is the design of the buildings and the virtual architecture which in turn identify a part (country or city) of these important landmarks. While the goal of architects is not to create tourist attractions with economic benefits, however, many are increasingly aware that successful design and functional buildings become attractions for visitors on their own – which form an external environment that requires appreciation, so in the end to end up like tourist products.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk untuk mendeskripsikan dan menganalisis fokus masalah tata artistic pertunjukan teater The Eyes of Marege hasil kolaborasi Teater Kita Makassar dengan Australian Performing Exchange yang pernah dipentaskan pada OzAsia Festival tanggal 27 – 29 September 2007 di Playhouse Adelaide, dan tanggal 5 – 7 Oktober 2007 di Studio Opera House, Sydney. Data dari jenis penelitian kualitatif ini diperoleh melalui observasi partisipatif, wawancara, dan dokumentasi. Hasil data dideskripsikan dan dianalisis mengacu pada analisis data Miles dan Huberman yang menggambarkan tiga alir utama dalam analisis, yaitu: reduksi data, penyajian data, dan penarikan kesimpulan. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa tata artistic pertunjukan teater The Eyes of Marege, antara lain tata panggung, tata kostum dan rias, tata property, tata music, dan tata cahaya. Di atas panggung dibangun set bagang multifungsional, menyimbolkan perahu, latar peristiwa, sebagai rumah, tempat pengintai, penjara, dan sebagai pintu masuk dan keluar aktor ke ruang sidang. Kostum tokoh dari Makassar menggunakan kostum adat Makassar, sarung, belah dada, celana barocci, jas tutup, baju koko, kopiah, baju pengantin Makassar. Kostum tokoh dari Aborigin menggunakan kostum adat Aborigin. Property menggunakan balasuji, oja’ simpa’, payung kematian, payung perkawinan, keranjang ikan parang, tombak, badik, giring-giring, dayung, passapu, karung beras, bola raga, tali merah, gelang perkawinan. Fungsi kostum sebagai alat identifikasi diri dalam kehidupan social dan budaya yang menandakan peran social masing-masing pemakainya. Beberapa alat music, antara lain: gendang, gambus, kecapi, suling, rebana, kancing-kancing, puik-puik, gong. Musik berfungsi sebagai latar peristiwa, membangun suasana dan emosi peran tokoh dalam setiap adegan. Tata cahaya diprogram secara komuputerisasi dan berfungsi untuk mendukung latar peristiwa, pergantian babak dan adegan, serta menandakan berbagai aksi dan kejadian alam.Kata kunci: tata artistic, teater

The philosophy of the idea is one of the most important stages of architectural design. It is based on many sources of inspiration, such as nature, architecture, heritage, tools, languages, intellectual philosophies, civilizations and different cultures among the peoples. During the different stages of history, nature was the most important source of inspiration for design. Art, mathematics, astronomy and various different sciences, and man is still trying to excavate in order to know its inherent secrets and learn from them what is useful in the affairs of his daily life, and architecture is one of the most scientific science of nature and the deduction of nature. The architectural form inspired by abstract nature is one of the most glamorous and attractive forms for the recipient to read its mysterious and surprising design content, and some buildings designed in this way have become a symbol and icon known by these countries, such as the Sydney Opera House. Architecture in the Arab world in general and Yemen in particular, suffer from the scarcity of these unique and inspired models of nature, and in some Arab countries, they are almost finger-shaped. Western architects design them. Some of these models are inspired as transport and Tradition. Which contributes to the dissolution of this architectural style, and makes the designers try to move away from it. For fear of failure resulting from the weakness of the process of inspiration. Because there is no general framework. For how to use architectural abstraction in the inspired design of architectural ideas (and here is the research problem). In order to achieve this objective, the descriptive analytical approach was applied to the process of architectural abstraction and comparative analysis of different projects to produce a general framework for understanding and understanding how abstraction is used in the process of design inspiration of nature. The importance of research lies in the discussion of abstraction in architecture in general and architectural design in particular. In addition, its multiple roles in different design practices to lay the foundations and rules for understanding how abstraction can be used to draw inspiration from nature, for the designer to take advantage of them in the production of designs that meet different human needs. Keywords: Abstraction, Inspiration, Creative thinking, Nature, Shape.

In Ruang we address issues of form and urban space, leaving the economists to ponder the larger issues of democracy and equality in a rapidly fracturing social environment. This raises the problematic of urban form, its representations, symbolism and practices. The conservation of traditional values and norms imply the conservation of those environments that support them. Since conservation means retaining building form without its prior content, the actual fabric and processes of urban conservation are also thrown into the market place. Conservation on any scale also threatens the urban land market since large areas are then removed from trading (or is all history up for sale?) So do we proceed with adaptation, regulated change, conservation or sterilisation (preservation)? Today the identity of a place is not merely about localities, but is, in many occasions, more about image making to support the creation of a modern urban living environment. Over the last forty years, the use of iconic buildings to generate capital has become more and more frequent, from Sydney Opera House and the Pompidou Centre, to the new Guggenheim Bilbao. These are iconic structures whose prime function is not to give identity to neighbourhoods, but to source capital through tourism and to boost local industry. Here there is a crossover from high technology to local icons. For example Frank Gehry used technology from the American space program to design shapes and forms, as well as technology focussed on the properties of materials. But such buildings fall again into the arena of capital rather than community development. So what is happening on the other side of the coin? There is no doubt that social change is also accelerating in many countries and it is also clear that where we cannot hold capital accumulation and globalisation accountable for many adaptations from gender equality, new housing forms based on the disintegration of the nuclear family, the idea of a universal wage to counter automation, the generation of new communities that wish to live ‘off the grid’, and a phenomenon we might call ‘micro-communities of resistance’ to state neo-corporatism and the abuse of technology. At the level of design and urban form, the Charter of the New Urbanism, now sweeping Europe, and North America, with intrusions in Malaysia, China and other countries appears to have merit. Its agenda is community based planning and design, using a process of natural selection to generate urban density, with urban and architectural forms that reflect history and proven value in use. While the New Urbanism is theoretically weak, it sources two major thinkers namely Patrick Geddes and Ian McHarg, who were both concerned with the relationship between the natural environment and human habitation. Importantly, the New Urbanism deals with the tricky problem of transformation that links past formal languages with new uses. Something that we can all learn from.

IntroductionThe Sydney Opera House is Australia’s, if not the world’s, most recognisable building. It is universally recognised as an architectural icon and as a masterpiece of the built environment, which has captured the imagination of many (Commonwealth of Australia 4). The construction of the Sydney Opera House, between 1959 and 1973, utilised many ground-breaking methods and materials which, together, pushed the boundaries of technical possibilities to the limits of human knowledge at the time (Commonwealth of Australia 36, 45). Typical investigations into the Sydney Opera House focus on its architects, the materials, construction, or the events that occur on its stages. The role of the illumination, in the perception and understanding of Australia’s most famous performing arts centre, is an under-investigated aspect of its construction and its use today (Dwyer Backstage Biography 1; Dwyer “Utzon’s Use” 131).This article examines the illumination of the Sydney Opera House from the perspective of light as a construction material, another element that is used to ‘build’ the structure on Bennelong Point. This article examines the illumination from an historical view as Jørn Utzon’s (1918-2008) concepts for the building, including the lighting design intentions, were not all realised as he did not complete the project. The task of finishing this structure was allocated to the architectural cooperative of Hall, Todd & Littlemore who replaced Utzon in 1966. The Danish-born Utzon was appointed in January 1957 having won an international competition, from a field of over 230 entries, to design a national opera house for Sydney. He quickly began the task of resolving his design, transforming the roughly-sketched concepts presented in his competition entry, into detailed drawings that articulated how the opera house would be realised. The iteration of these concepts can be most succinctly identified in Utzon’s formal design reports to the Opera House Committee which are often referred to based on the colour of their cover design. The first report, the ‘red book’ was issued in 1958 with further developments of the architectural and services designs outlined in the ‘yellow book’ which followed in 1962. The last of the original architects’ publications was the Utzon Design Principles (2002) which was created as part of the reengagement process—between the Government of New South Wales and the Sydney Opera House with the original architect—that commenced in 1999.As with many modern buildings (such as Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center, Richard Meier’s Jubilee Church or Adrian D. Smith’ Burj Khalifa), concrete was selected to form the basic structural element of the Sydney Opera House. Working with the, now internationally-renowned, engineering firm Ove Arup and Partners, Utzon designed some of the most significant shapes and finishes that have become synonymous with the site. The concrete elements range from basic blade walls with lustrous finishes to the complex, shape-changing beams that rise from under the monumental stairs and climb to terminate in the southern foyers. Thus, demonstrating the use of concrete as both a structural element and a high quality architectural finish. Another product used throughout the Sydney Opera House is granite. As a hardwearing stone, it is used in a crushed form as part of the precast panels that line the walls and internal flooring and as setts on the forecourt. As with the concrete the use of the same material inside and out blurs the distinction between interior and exterior. The forecourt forms a wide-open plaza before the building rises like a headland as it meets the harbour. The final, and most recognisable element is that of the shell (or roof) tiles. After many years of research Utzon settled on a simple mix of gloss and matt tiles of approximately 120mm square that, carefully arranged, produced a chevron shaped ‘lid’ and results in an effect likened to snow and ice (Commonwealth of Australia 51).These construction elements would all remain invisible if not illuminated by light, natural or artificial. This paper posits that the illumination reinforces the architecture of the structure and extends the architectural and experiential narratives of the Sydney Opera House across time and space. That, light is—like concrete, granite and tiles—a critical component of the Opera House’s build.Building a Narrative with LightIn creating the Sydney Opera House, Utzon set about harnessing natural and artificial illumination that are intrinsic parts of the human condition. Light shapes every facet of our lives from defining working and leisure hours to providing the mechanism for high speed communications and is, therefore, an obvious choice to reinforce the structure of the building and to link the built environment with the natural world that enveloped his creation. Light was to play a major role in the narrative of the Sydney Opera House starting from a patron’s approach to the site.Utzon’s staged approach to a performance at the Sydney Opera House is well documented, from the opening passages of the Descriptive Narrative (Utzon 1-2) to the Lighting Master Plan (Steensen Varming). The role of artificial light in the preparation of the audience extends beyond the simple visibility necessary to navigate the site. Light provides a linking element that guides an audience member along their ‘journey’ through several phases of transformation from the physicality of the city on the forecourt to “another world–a make believe atmosphere, which will exclude all outside impressions and allow the patrons to be absorbed into the theatre mood, which the actors and the producers wish to create” (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 2) in the theatres. Utzon conceived of light as part of the storytelling process, expressing the building’s narrative in a way that allows illumination is to be so much more than signposts to points of activity such as cloaking areas, theatre entries and the like. The lighting was intended to delineate various stages on the ‘journey’ noted above, to reinforce the transition from one world to another such that the combination of light and architecture would provide a series of successive stimuli that would build until the crescendo of the performance itself. This supports the transition of the visitor from the world of the everyday into the narrative of the Sydney Opera House and a world of make believe. Yet, in providing a narrative between these two ‘worlds’ the lighting becomes an anchor—or an element held in suspension – a mediator in the tension between the city at the beginning of the ‘journey’ and the ‘other world’ of the performance at the end. There is a balance to be maintained between illuminating the Sydney Opera House so that it remains prominent in its harbour location, easily read as a distinct sculptural structure on the peninsular separate from, but still an essential part of, the city that lies beyond Circular Quay to the south. Utzon alludes to the challenges of crafting the illumination so that it meets these requirements, noting that the illumination of the broardwalks “must be compatible with the lighting on the approach roads” (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 68) while maintaining that “the floodlit building will be the first and last impression for [… an audience] to receive” (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 1). These lighting requirements are also tempered by the desire that the “night time [...] view will be all lights and reflections, [that] stretch all along the harbour for many miles” (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 1) reinforcing the use of light as an anchor that provides both a point of reference and serves as a mediator of the Sydney Opera House’s place within the city.The narrative of the materials and elements that are combined to give the final, physical form its striking sensory presence is also told through light, in particular colour. Or, perhaps more precisely in an illumination sense, the accurate reproduction of colour and by extension accurate presentation of the construction materials used in the creation of the Sydney Opera House. Expression of the ‘truth’ in the materials he used was important for Utzon and the faithful representation of details such as the fine grains in timber and the smooth concrete finishes required careful lighting to enhance these features. When extended to the human occupants of the Sydney Opera House, there is a short, yet very descriptive instruction: the lighting is to give “life to the skin and hair on the human form in much the same way as the light from candles” (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 67). Thus, the narrative of the materials and their quality was as important as the final structure and those who would occupy it. It is the role of light to build upon the story of the materials to contribute to the overall narrative of the Sydney Opera House.Building an Experience through IlluminationUtzon envisaged that light would do much more than provide illumination or tell the narrative of the materials he had selected – light was also to build a unique architectural experience for a patron. The experience of light was to be subtle; the architecture was to retain a position of centre stage, reinforced by, rather than ever replaced by, the illumination. In this way, concealed lighting was proposed which would be “designed in close collaboration with the acoustical engineers as they will become an integral part of overall acoustic design” and “installed in carefully selected places based on knowledge gleaned from experimental work” (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 67). Through concealing the light source, the architecture did not become cluttered or over powered by a dazzling array of fixtures and fittings that detracted from the audience’s experiences. For instance, to illuminate the monumental steps, Utzon proposed that the fittings would be recessed into the handrails, while the bar and lounge areas would be lit from discreet fittings installed within the plywood ceiling panels (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 16) to create an experience of light that was unified across the site. In addition to the aesthetical improvements gained from the removal of the light sources from the field of view, unwanted glare is also reduced reinforcing the ‘whole’ of the architectural experience.During the time that Utzon was conceptualising the illumination of the Sydney Opera House, the Major Hall (what is now known as the Concert Hall) was envisaged as what might be considered as a modern multipurpose venue, one that could accommodate among other activities: symphonic concerts; opera; ballet and dance; choral concerts; pageants and mass meetings (NSW Department of Local Government 24). The Concert Hall was the terminus for the ‘journey’—where the actors and audience find themselves in the same space, the ‘other world’—“a make believe atmosphere, which will exclude all outside impressions and allow the patrons to be absorbed into the theatre mood, which the actors and the producers wish to create” (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 2). This other world was to sumptuously explode with rich colours “which uplift you in that festive mood, away from daily life, that you expect when you go to the theatre, a play, an opera or a concert” (Utzon Utzon Design Principles 34). These highly decorated and colourful finishes contrast with the white shells further highlighting the ‘journey’ that has taken place. Utzon proposed to use the illumination to reinforce this distance and provide the link between the natural colours of the raw materials used outside the theatre and highly decorated colours of the performance spaces.The lighting treatment of the theatres extended into the foyers and their public amenities to ensure that the lighting design contributed to the overall enhancement of a patron’s visit and delivered the experience of the ‘journey’ that was envisaged by Utzon (Dwyer “Utzon’s Use” 130-32). This standardised approach was in concert with Utzon’s architectural philosophy where repetitive systems of construction elements were utilised, for instance, in the construction of the shells. Utzon clearly articulated this approach in The Descriptive Narrative, noting that “standard light fittings will be chosen […] to suit each location” (67), however the standardisation would not compromise other considerations of the space such as the acoustical performance, with Utzon noting that the “fittings for auditoria and rehearsal rooms must be of necessity, designed in close collaboration with the acoustical engineers as they will become an integral part of over acoustic design” (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 67). Another parallel between the architectural development of the Sydney Opera House and Utzon’s approach to the lighting concepts was, uncommon at the time, his preference for prototyping and experimentation with lighting effects and various fittings (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 67). A sharp contrast to the usual practices of the day which relied upon more straightforward procurement processes with generic rather than tailored solutions. Peter Hall, of Hall, Todd & Littlemore, discussed the typical method of lighting design which was prevalent during the construction of the Sydney Opera House, as a method which “amounted to the electrical engineers laying out on a plan sufficient off-the-shelf light fittings to achieve the desired illumination levels […] the resulting effects were dull even if brightly lit” (Hall 180). Thus, Utzon’s careful approach to ensure that light and architecture were in harmony as “nothing is introduced into the scheme, before it has been carefully investigated and has proved to be the right solution to the problem” (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 2) was highly innovative for its time.The use of light to provide an experience was not necessarily new, for example RSL Clubs, theme parks and department stores all used light to attract attention to their products and services, however the scale and proposed execution of these concepts was pioneering for Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. Utzon’s concepts provided a highly experiential unified design to provide the patron with a unique architectural experience built through the careful use of light.Building the Scenery with LightArchitecture might be considered set design on a grand scale (for example see Raban, Rasmuseen and Read). Both architects and set designers are concerned with the relationship between the creative designs and the viewers and both set up opportunities for interactions between people (as actors or users) and structure. However, without light, the scene remains literally, in the dark, isolated from its surroundings and unperceetable to an audience.Utzon was acutely aware of the relationship between the Sydney Opera House and the city in which it stands. The positioning of the structure on the site is no accident and the interplay between the ‘sails’ and the sun is perhaps the most recognised lighting feature of the Sydney Opera House. By varying the angle of the shells, the reflections and the effects of the sunlight are constantly varying depending on the viewer’s position and focus. More importantly, these subtle variations in the light enhance the sculptural effect of the direct illumination and help create the effect of “matt snow and shining ice” (Commonwealth of Australia 51): the ‘shimmer of life’ so desired by Utzon as the sunlight strikes the ceramic tiles. This ‘shimmer’ is not the only natural lighting effect. The use of the different angles ensures variation in the light, clouds and resulting shadows to heighten interest and create an ever-changing scene that plays out on the shells as the sun moves across the sky, as Utzon notes, “something new goes on all the time and it is so important–this interplay is so important that together with the sun, the light and the clouds, it makes it a living thing” (Utzon Sydney Opera House 49). This scene is enhanced by the changing quality of the sunlight; the shells appear to be deep amber at first light their shadows long and faint before becoming shorter and stronger as the sun moves towards its midday position with the colour changing slowly to ‘pure’ white before the shadows change sides, the process reverses and they again disappear under the cover of darkness. Although the scene replays daily, the relative location of the sun and changing weather patterns ensure infinite variation in the effect.This changing scene, on a grand scale, with light as the central character is just as important as the theatrical performances taking place indoors on the stages. With a mobile audience, the detailing of the visual scene that is the structure becomes more important. The Sydney Opera House competes for attention with shipping movements in the harbour, the adjacent bridge with the ant-like procession of climbers and the activities of the city to the south. Utzon foresaw this noting that the “position on a peninsular, which is overlooked from all angles makes it important to maintain an all-round elevation. There can be no backsides to the building and nothing can be hidden from the view” (Utzon Descriptive Narrative 1). The use of natural light to enhance the sculptural form and reinforce isolation of the structure on the peninsular, centre stage on the harbour is therefore not a coincidence. Utzon has deliberately harnessed the natural light to ensure that the Sydney Opera House is just as vibrant a performer as its surroundings. In this way, Utzon has used light to anchor the Sydney Opera House both in the city it serves and for the performances it houses.It is not just the natural light that is used as such an anchor point. Utzon planned for artificial lighting of the sails and surrounding site to ensure that after dark the ‘shimmer’ of the white tiles would be maintained with an equivalent, if manufactured, effect. For Utzon, the sculptural qualities of structure were important and should be clearly ‘read’ at night, even against a dark harbour on one side and the brighter city on the other. Through the use of artificial lighting, Utzon set the scene on Bennelong Point with the structure clearly centred in the set that is the Sydney skyline. This reinforced the notion that a journey into the Sydney Opera House was something special, a transition from the everyday to the ‘other’ world.ConclusionFor Utzon light was just as essential as concrete and other building materials for the design of the Sydney Opera House. The traditional bright lights of the stage had no place in the architectural illumination, replaced instead by a much more subtle, understated use of light, and indeed its absence. Utzon planned for the lighting to envelope an audience but not to smother them. Unfortunately, he was unable to complete his project and in 1968 J.M. Waldram was eventually appointed to complete the lighting design. Waldram’s lighting solutions—many of which are still in place today—borrowed or significantly drew upon Utzon’s original illumination concepts, thus demonstrating their strength and timeless qualities. In this way light builds on the story of the structure, reinforcing the architecture of the building and extending the narratives of the construction elements used to build the Sydney Opera House.AcknowledgementsThe author acknowledges the assistance of Rachel Franks for her input on an early draft of this article and thanks the blind peer reviewers for their generous feedback and suggestions, of course any remain errors or omissions are my own. ReferencesCommonwealth of Australia. Sydney Opera House Nomination by the Government of Australia for Inscription on the World Heritage List. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2006.Cleaver, Jack. Surface and Textured Finishes for Concrete and Their Impact upon the Environment. Sydney: Steel Reinforcement Institute of Australia, 2005.Dwyer, Simon. A Backstage Biography of the Sydney Opera House. Proceedings of the 7th Annual Conference of the Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand (PopCAANZ) 2016: 1-10.———. “Utzon’s Use of Light to Influence the Audience’s Perception of the Sydney Opera House”. Inhabiting the Meta Visual: Contemporary Performance Themes. Eds. Helene Gee Markstein and Arthur Maria Steijn. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary P, 2016.Hall, Peter. Sydney Opera House: The Design Approach to the Building with Recommendations on Its Conservation. Sydney: Sydney Opera House Trust, 1990.NSW Department of Local Government. An International Competition for a National Opera House at Bennelong Point Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: Conditions and Program (“The ‘Brown’ Book”). Sydney: NSW Government Printer, 1957.Raban, Jonathan. Soft City. London: Picador, 2008.Rasmuseen, Steen. Experiencing Architecture. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology P, 1964.Read, Gary. “Theater of Public Space: Architectural Experimentation in the Théâtre de l'Espace (Theater of Space), Paris 1937.” Journal of Architectural Education 58.4 (2005): 53-62.Steensen Varming. Lighting Master Plan. Sydney: Sydney Opera House Trust, 2007.Utzon, Jørn. Sydney Opera House: The Descriptive Narrative. Sydney: Sydney Opera House Trust, 1965.———. The Sydney Opera House. Zodiac, 1965. 48-93.———. Untitled. (The ‘Red’ Book). Unpublished, 1958.———. Untitled. (The ‘Yellow’ Book). Unpublished, 1962.———. Utzon Design Principles. Sydney: Sydney Opera House Trust, 2002.

Organizational paradoxes persist. In their persistence, they resist closure; we demonstrate how, by using an exemplary project, that of the construction of the Sydney Opera House. By analyzing paradoxes encountered in the construction of a notable contemporary architectural project, we discuss how dialogical interactions enable options to emerge in the form of responses that were not previously evident. Engaging paradoxes dialogically requires accepting rather than denying contradictions, meaning that rather than resolving them in favor of one pole or the other, the contradictions remain in play. Monologic interactions—favoring dominant and singular voices, rather than producing consensus—repress dissent, leading to conflict, through suppressing paradox.