Index – FOMO – Delivered 50 years ago, the Sydney Opera House could have been a gray concrete block

On October 20, 1973, almost exactly 50 years ago, the late II. Queen Elizabeth.

Although Australia is unthinkable without the building, everything did not go smoothly compared to the initial plans. The construction was completed a decade later, and was much more expensive than anyone expected, so it is not surprising that the unusual-looking building was not immediately a huge success among Australians. However, despite the rocky start, in the decades since, the architectural marvel adorned with a stunning shell-shaped roof has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site, attracting more than 10 million visitors each year.

Moreover, if something had happened a little differently, there is a good chance that even today it would not be possible to write this in the list of opera house positives…

The successful submission by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, who won the design for the opera house, was just one of 233 entries in the international design competition. The competition was launched in 1955 by the Premier of the federal state of New South Wales, Joseph Cahill, who at the time was advocating the conversion of an old tram depot into an opera house. Its appeal eventually proved so popular that requests came from more than 30 different counties to do the work.

However, it was not easy to win the right to construct the building, since the document determined the bidding criteria Brown book The award of the tender was linked to specific architectural requirements. According to the book, the building will need, for example, a large hall capable of accommodating 3,000-3,500 people and a parking lot that can accommodate at least 100 cars. The document is also very specific on matters such as how ventilation will be ensured, the number of doors and windows required, and the number of entrances and exits the building must have. However, they also encouraged designers to let their imaginations run wild and design the buildings as majestic as possible. In addition, at that time, the organizers did not even put a limit on how much money it could cost to carry out shows, so plans were created that could be implemented very expensively.

Applicants were required to submit only black-and-white drawings, including floor plans and diagrams, and a description that “should be as brief as possible and explain only what is not obvious from the drawings,” according to Brown’s book.

We would be very happy today if the winner came out of this

Encouraged by this, staff at creative studio NeoMam Studios and Project Comunicación Arquitectónica, a now-defunct architectural office, began examining notes and plans in 2019. Together they finally designed a colorful model of what some of the proposals could look like.

Seven of the 232 unsuccessful applications were finally selected – the selection process was based on the merits of the applications and the information available to researchers.

Some had a story, some were things we knew we could do well with, and some were where we thought it would be fun to do something like this.

– Quotes CNN NeoMam Studios CEO Gisele Navarro, who, although he agreed that the plans for the existing building would win, could have chosen from the unrealized plans if necessary.

How close any of these alternatives came to winning is unlikely to ever be revealed. However, we know that Jørn Utzon’s plan was also rejected in the first round, and he was only able to win through the intervention of Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen.

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