The opening in October 1973 of the Sydney Opera House, fourteen years after construction began and a decade after Jorn Utzon, the Danish architect who won the 1957 design competition, resigned amid cost overruns and political conflict with the New South Wales government and never saw the finished building in person. Its shell roofs, ultimately engineered by Ove Arup's firm as segments of a single sphere, made it one of the most recognizable buildings of the twentieth century and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007.
Facts
Milestone Year Milestone Date FAQs
Why did Jorn Utzon leave the Sydney Opera House project before it was finished?
Cost overruns and a political conflict with the New South Wales government forced his resignation in 1966.
Utzon resigned in 1966, seven years before the building opened, after cost overruns and political conflict with the New South Wales government over payment and design control became unworkable. He never saw the finished building in person; the shell roofs were completed under a different design team, with the structural engineering carried out by Ove Arup's firm.
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Source UNESCO World Heritage Centre Official Site
Source UNESCO World Heritage Centre Official Site
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Sources
1. UNESCO World Heritage Centre Official Site
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