My Favorite Piece of Architecture

“The Sydney Opera House!” Often, when people learn I am an architect, they quickly ask about my favorite building. My down-under response often surprises them. The Sydney Opera House was my top choice throughout my early career, based simply on photographs and images. However, once I saw the Opera House in person ten years ago this month, its favored stature was cemented forever. I had always been enamored of the building’s sweeping sails and sculptural nature, at once symbolizing Sydney and representing its welcoming harbor. Upon visiting this civic icon, my impression of the structure’s significance expanded profoundly.

Even with 1,600 shows a year, if one considers how many people have attended performances for the symphony, opera, chorus, ballet, or theatre since the Opera House opened in the 1950s, the numbers of PATRONS reaches the high hundreds of thousands. But the total tally of VISITORS is staggering … into the hundreds of millions.

As I stood outside the structure people-watching, literally thousands visit the Opera House – for its own sake and in its own right – every hour. In other words, the building itself draws more crowds (and from a few folks, perhaps more admiration) than do the performances.

That piece of architecture literally defines the city of Sydney. In this case, as in so many other cities around the globe, architecture contributes mightily to defining culture! Thus is demonstrated the power of design to shape society!!!

Image: Sketch gifted by Timm Jamieson, FAIA