Sails, Octopuses, and Telescopic Cranes
Building the Sydney Opera House
Discover the Sydney Opera House as a triumph of pure (technical) imagination that seamlessly bridges architectural design and the practicalities of construction. Through a talk, panel discussion and virtual reality experience, we’ll explore shop drawings, concrete castings, formworks, telescopic arches and moving cranes. You’ll also have an opportunity to view the exhibition The People’s House: Sydney Opera House at 50.
Even after 50 years, the World Heritage–listed Sydney Opera House is renowned for its ‘unparalleled and seminal design and construction’, and the building remains one of the most ingenious and fascinating, yet obscure, architectural works of the 20th century.
Thanks to recently discovered documents and 5,000 shop drawings produced by Hornibrook – the Australian contractor responsible for realising the Opera House’s iconic sails – held in the collections of Museums of History NSW, it’s now possible to illuminate the exact procedures and awe-inspiring methods employed in the prodigious construction of the sails, built 1963–67.
This event has emerged from a multi-year research project led by Paolo Stracchi at the University of Sydney, Luciano Cardellicchio at the University of New South Wales, and Paolo Tombesi at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Through new three-dimensional animations and virtual reality simulations, you’ll be transported back to the Sydney Opera House construction site. Here, architects, engineers, builders and carpenters from all around the world joined forces to transform Jørn Utzon’s vision into a built masterpiece.
Museum of Sydney
Corner Phillip and Bridge streets, Sydney NSW 2000. Phone +61 2 9251 5988- Cafe
- Wheelchair accessible
- Thursday 7 December 5.30pm–8pm
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