Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T19:56:25.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A specialist partnership frustrated: Utzon and Symonds at Sydney

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2008

John Cochrane
Affiliation:
46a Harrow RoadStanmoreNSW 2048Australia

Abstract

The resignation of the Sydney Opera House architect, Jørn Utzon, marked the culmination of an increasingly frustrating phase of the project. Utzon had intended a partnership between designer, consultant, contractor and subcontractor to develop technical design solutions which would not have been possible under normal competitive tendering. The government rejected this. Here are examined the issues which underpinned the relationship between the architect seeking technical perfection and the manufacturing engineer seeking the fullest artistic expression of his product.

Type
Construction
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ed. Cooper, J., Creagh, L., Francis-Jones, R., Neild, L. (1995). Content – House Form Technique 1 Fog, Sydney.Google Scholar
Duek-Cohen, Elias (1967). Utzon & The Sydney Opera House, Morgan, Sydney.Google Scholar
Frampton, Kenneth (1995). Studies in Tectonic Culture: the Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Messent, David (1997). Opera House Act One, David Messent Photography, Sydney.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library, Sydney (a). Symonds Archive. Hochcroth, Y., Company History of Ralph Symonds Australia Pty (unpublished).Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (b). Letter from Knud Laustrup Larsen of Utzon's Hellebaek office to Ralph Symonds Ltd.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (c). Letter from Ralph Symonds to Utzon dated 2 11 1961.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (d). Letter from Ralph Symonds Ltd to Jorn Utzon dated 24 October 1961.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (e). ON122.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (f). MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (g). Letter from Utzon to Symonds, 4 12 1961. MLMSS 2362/12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell Library (h). Letter from Utzon to Symonds, 23 01 1962. MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (i). Report from Ove Arup & Partners to Jorn Utzon, 26 10 1962. MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (j). Design Principles for Windows and Auditorium Ceilings, Ove Arup & Partners, 19 11 1962. MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (k). Minutes of meeting in Utzon's office, 7 08 1963. MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (l). Letter from Symonds to Utzon, 20 01 1964. MLMSS 2362/3.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (m). Memo to Olaf Skipper Neilsen. MLMSS 2362/3.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (n). Minutes of meeting in the architect's office, 20 04 1964. MLMSS 2362/3.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (o). Report by Ove Arup & Partners, 7 12 1964. MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (p). 11 11 1964. MLMSS 2362/12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell Library (q). 17 11 1964 – letter from the Secretary of Public Works to Utzon. MLMSS 2362/3.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (r). Letter from Utzon to the Secretary of Public Works, 26 01 1995. MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (s). Letter from Utzon to the Secretary of Public Works. MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (t). Minutes of meeting of 1 07 1965. MLMSS 2362/3.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (u). 16 06 1965. MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (v). Minutes of meeting of 2 12 1965. MLMSS 2362/17.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (w). Letter dated 7 12 1965. MLMSS 2362/12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell Library (x). Letter dated 25 08 1965. MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (y). MLSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
Mitchell Library (z). Letter in several drafts. MLMSS 2362/12.Google Scholar
New South Wales Government Hansard (1965). Mr Davis-Hughes, 3 November 1965.Google Scholar
New South Wales State Archives, Utzon Records, 4/8067, Sydney Opera House Executive Committee, 14 09 1962.Google Scholar
State Government of New South Wales (1959), Sydney Opera House Gold Book, State Government of New South Wales.Google Scholar
Pacey, Arnold (1976). The Maze of Ingenuity, MIT, London.Google Scholar
Wheatland, W. (1997). ‘Radar - Unseen UtzonArchitecture Australia, 12 1997.Google Scholar