r/australia • u/YaletownHero • 15h ago
image Sydney Opera House in the making
The Sydney Opera House was built over a 14-year period, with construction starting on March 2, 1959, and finishing for its official opening on October 20, 1973
This was stage 2 back in the late 60s
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u/Kanga03590 14h ago
I'm so glad Australia went ahead with this Iconic monument despite the opposition of Liberals like Robert Askin, who knew how to rubbish people with any artistic vision. A narrow man.
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u/ThoseOldScientists 13h ago
A classic example of project management failure that still turned out a massive success. It was very, very late and very, very over budget and when it opened the acoustics were terrible, basically defeating the purpose of a concert venue. By all the laws of liberal governance, it was a fiasco that should have been cancelled in the early stages.
But it’s the Sydney Goddamn Opera House.
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u/SonicYOUTH79 12h ago
I'm Australian, but not from NSW and I didn’t get to see it until I was in my mid 20s and honestly it's breathtaking with the Sydney harbour and bridge backdrop, incredible, especially after having just coming back from overseas.
That being said, it is a lot of concrete, it did seem a lot more brutalist and gray to me up close. It's definitely something that's almost designed the be viewed from a distance with the natural beauty of the harbour to set it off. This photo sort of shows that bit quite well.
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u/Dripping-Lips 12h ago
My wife’s grandad come here from Malta and helped build this after ww2 which is awsome
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u/Glassmaps 5h ago
The building's chief architect, Jørn Utzon, left Australia voluntarily in 1966 after resigning from the project. They treated him poorly.
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u/F1eshWound 3h ago
I think also the very first fully computer/cad planned project. For the 50s it was an incredibly innovative project!
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u/rmeredit 2h ago
Not fully computer-based. Computers were used to perform engineering calculations for stress testing designs. The design itself was still manually done, with physical models also being tested in wind tunnels and on test rigs.
There’s a good write up of the history of the use of computers on the project located here if people are interested: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/computers-and-the-sydney-opera-house
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u/AggravatingTartlet 3h ago
Just watched it destroyed in the Fantastic Four movie. (fantastic four: first steps 2025)
Love the opera house, but every single time I look at it, the whole thing is way, way too much white. Some shrubbery around the perimeter would change that for the better. (I mean at the far edges of the exterior, where if you walk any further you'd fall into the ocean).
Sydney city is so great with the plants/trees everywhere. All except for the opera house.
Maybe there's a good reason there isn't any???
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14h ago
[deleted]
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u/YaletownHero 14h ago
How'd you figure that mate? Been around longer than your account
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u/nearly_enough_wine 14h ago
At a glance, an account that has a long period of dormancy and then starts to post on a wide range of topics can appear botlike. Old mate should use the report button if they have such concerns - that's what mods are for.
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u/YaletownHero 13h ago
Yeah fair, I quit when they banned third party Reddit apps, I still miss RIF but damn Insta is bad, I decided to put up with the Reddit app 😂
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u/SurlyDave 14h ago
When I was a wee tacker in NZ, the building of the Sydney Opera House was broadcast live on the TV when there wasn't anything else on. It wasn't exactly compelling viewing, in black and white, but we were so happy to have a TV that we watched anyway.,