Editing Sydney Opera House (section)

===Origins of the project===

====Site selection====
[[File:Aerial view of Sydney Harbour - the bridge is under construction.jpg|thumb|Bennelong Point with tram depot in the 1920s (top left-hand side of photograph), during the building of [[Sydney Harbour Bridge]] (foreground)|left]]
Planning began in the late 1940s when [[Eugene Aynsley Goossens|Eugene Goossens]], the Director of the [[Sydney Conservatorium of Music|New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music]], lobbied for a suitable venue for large theatrical productions. The normal venue for such productions, the [[Sydney Town Hall]], was not considered large enough. By 1954, Goossens succeeded in gaining the support of New South Wales Premier [[Joseph Cahill]], who called for designs for a dedicated opera house. It was also Goossens who insisted that Bennelong Point be the site: Cahill had wanted it to be on or near [[Wynyard railway station, Sydney|Wynyard Railway Station]] in the northwest of the [[Sydney central business district|central business district]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sydneyarchitecture.com/ROC/QUA01.htm |title=Sydney Architecture Images- Sydney Opera House |publisher=Sydneyarchitecture.com |access-date=9 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224195120/http://sydneyarchitecture.com/ROC/QUA01.htm |archive-date=24 December 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Architecture competition 1955–1957====
An international [[Architectural design competition|design competition]] with a grand prize of 5,000 [[Australian pound]]s<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ericellis.com/utzon.htm|title=Eric Ellis interview with Utzon in the ''Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend''|work=Ericellis.com|date=31 October 1992|access-date=2 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020726154645/http://www.ericellis.com/utzon.htm|archive-date=26 July 2002}}</ref> was launched by Cahill on 13 September 1955 and received 233 entries, representing architects from 32 countries. The criteria specified a large hall seating 3,000 and a small hall for 1,200 people, each to be designed for different uses, including full-scale operas, orchestral and choral concerts, mass meetings, lectures, ballet performances, and other presentations.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Ziegler
 | first = Oswald
 | title = Sydney Builds an Opera House
 | publisher=Oswald Ziegler Publications
 | year = 1973
 | page = 35
 }}</ref>
[[File:Sydney Opera House - Jørn Utzon drawings (5247755534).jpg|left|thumb|[[Jørn Utzon|Utzon's]] initial sketches in 1957]]

The jury for the competition were: Professor Henry Ashworth ([[University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning|University of Sydney]]),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lumby |first=Roy |date=2014 |title=Henry Ingham Ashworth (1907–1991) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ashworth-henry-ingham-15498 |access-date=24 January 2024 |website=Australian Dictionay of Biography}}</ref> Cobden Parkes ([[New South Wales Government Architect]]); Professor [[Leslie Martin]] (Professor of Architecture of [[Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]] and architect of [[Royal Festival Hall]] 1951) and American architect [[Eero Saarinen]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 January 2021 |title=From the Archives, 1957: Utzon's design wins Opera House contest, edited version of a story first published in The Sydney Morning Herald on January 30, 1957. |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/from-the-archives-1957-utzon-s-design-wins-opera-house-contest-20210117-p56uq5.html |access-date=24 February 2024 |website=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref>

The winner, announced in Sydney on 29 January 1957,<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 January 2021 |title=From the Archives, 1957: Utzon's design wins Opera House contest, edited version of a story first published in The Sydney Morning Herald on January 30, 1957. |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/from-the-archives-1957-utzon-s-design-wins-opera-house-contest-20210117-p56uq5.html |access-date=24 February 2024 |website=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref> was Danish architect [[Jørn Utzon]]. Utzon's distinctive design was selected by Finnish-American architect [[Eero Saarinen]] from a final cut of 30 rejects<ref>{{cite book |author1=Geddes, Robert |author-link1=Second Thoughts: Reflections on Winning Second Prize |editor1-last=Watson |editor1-first=Anne |title=Building a Masterpiece: The Sydney Opera House |date=2013 |publisher=Powerhouse Press |location=Sydney |isbn=9780853319412 |page=56}}</ref> and was inspired by natural shapes, most notably those of bird wings, clouds, shells, walnuts, rivers and palm leaves.<ref>{{cite AV media | title=Sydney Opera House: Inspired by Nature | publisher=Sydney Opera House | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Phiq8szxpA | date=March 5, 2015 | type=video | location=Australia }}</ref>

The runner-up was a [[Philadelphia]]-based team assembled by [[Robert Geddes (architect)|Robert Geddes]] and George Qualls, both teaching at the [[University of Pennsylvania School of Design]]. They brought together a band of Penn faculty and friends from Philadelphia architectural offices, including Melvin Brecher, Warren Cunningham, Joseph Marzella, Walter Wiseman, and Leon Loschetter. Geddes, Brecher, Qualls, and Cunningham went on to found the firm GBQC Architects.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Utzon visited Sydney in 1957 to help supervise the project.<ref>{{cite web
 | title=Millennium Masterwork: Jorn Utzon's Sydney Opera House
 | work=Hugh Pearman
 | publisher=Gabion
 | url=http://www.hughpearman.com/articles/sydney.htm
 | access-date=28 June 2007
 | url-status=dead
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926231514/http://www.hughpearman.com/articles/sydney.htm
 | archive-date=26 September 2007
 | df=dmy-all
 }}</ref> His office moved to [[Palm Beach, New South Wales|Palm Beach]], Sydney in February 1963.<ref>Drew, Philip, "The Masterpiece: Jørn Utzon: a secret life", Hardie Grant Books, 1999</ref>

Utzon received the [[Pritzker Architecture Prize]], architecture's highest honour, in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sydney-opera-house-architect-joern-utzon-dead/2008/11/30/1227979814647.html|title=Joern Utzon dead|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=30 November 2008|access-date=23 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104002919/http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sydney-opera-house-architect-joern-utzon-dead/2008/11/30/1227979814647.html|archive-date=4 November 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> The Pritzker Prize citation read:
{{blockquote|There is no doubt that the Sydney Opera House is his masterpiece. It is one of the great iconic buildings of the 20th century, an image of great beauty that has become known throughout the world – a symbol for not only a city but a whole country and continent.}}