Additions to Sydney Opera House

el-capitano · Mar 25, 2008

The architect Ken Woolley has gone one better, with a proposal that would allow the Opera House complex to stage the grandest of grand operas without remaking either the opera theatre or concert hall. His idea is to build a 1800-seat opera theatre next to the Opera House, partly over the harbour and partly into the Botanic Gardens. He says this could be done for $400 million.

Woolley admits his idea will not appeal to all. "Some critics will feel it compromises Utzon's original vision, while others will say it just will not work … It does demand courage. Only the brave would dare build something near the sacred monument."
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http://www.smh.com.au/news/national...the-opera-house/2008/03/21/1205602658555.html

el-capitano · Mar 25, 2008

el-capitano · Mar 25, 2008

Plans & Eles

el-capitano · Mar 25, 2008

And link to flythrough.......

http://www.smh.com.au/multimedia/2008/national/opera-house-theatre/operahouse.html

el-capitano · Mar 25, 2008

Of all people- ex Prime Minister Paul Keating has his say......

This place is no site for a structure of the kind proposed by Ken Woolley as illustrated on the front page of Saturday's Herald. Viewed from the most advantageous place, Mrs Macquaries Chair, or the wider Botanical Gardens, it would present as an ungainly and all too proximate appendage to the great composition. And from the harbour it would appear as some giant garage at the rear of the house; or a large, lookalike auditorium.

Right now, the Opera House is approachable on foot from either the city or the gardens. You can stroll up to it, where all of a sudden it reveals its majesty: you do not have to work your way around or have your vista obliterated by another building.

A giant box dropped into this space, I believe, has absolutely no merit. And to provide a theatre on the scale proposed by Woolley would need to be much larger, far larger than that illustrated in the Herald. A major auditorium will look like a major auditorium.

Woolley is an esteemed member of the architectural fraternity of Sydney. And justifiably so. Many of his works have added to the common stock of this city. But what he is proposing for the forecourt of the Opera House and the foot of the gardens has more to do with landscape, composition and aesthetics than it has to do with architecture.

Utzon has done the architecture and his building sits harmoniously in its space.

Any changes to be considered for the future should first and foremost be considered only in Utzon's terms.
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http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/keep-your-mitts-off/2008/03/24/1206207010875.html

el-capitano · Mar 25, 2008

Paul saved me a post when he said it would present as an ungainly and all too proximate appendage to the great composition. And from the harbour it would appear as some giant garage at the rear of the house; or a large, lookalike auditorium.

If it smells like a piece of crap, and looks like a piece of crap, then is it?

Daniel from Montréal · Mar 26, 2008

el-capitano · Mar 26, 2008

Daniel from Montréal said: ↑

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Cheeky

sharkia55 · May 26, 2008

hot

Caesar · May 30, 2008

Say what you like about Keating, the man has taste.