Touring the Sydney Opera House

With Kieran back and needing to stay awake to beat the jetlag, we decided to all go into the city and have lunch. Another absolutely stunning day, and a busy city awaited us.

After lunch I had booked Nikki, Nathan and myself in for a guided tour of the Sydney Opera House. I felt like it was a must-do. This building is such an icon, not just for Sydney but for Australia itself. It is also a World Heritage site and of course - a Scandinavian pride, designed by a Danish architect, Jørn Utzon.

I was really excited!

The tour took just over an hour, and we had a great tour guide called Sheila. She gave us the perfect mix of historical information, fun facts and stories. For example, she told us that Coldplay (amongst many others) once recorded an album in this studio below:

Beautiful views around the front of the Opera House, imagine living there across the water! We were told that the owners of those houses initially had complained when the construction started for the Opera House because they were worried about their view... 

Inside the main Concert Hall, the home of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

It was quite interesting to hear all about the different things they had to think about during designing and constructing this space to ensure the best acoustics and give the audience the best musical experience. Like the different choices of wood for the different parts of the hall, brush box timber for the walls, stage and floor; white birch timber for the seats and ceiling.

For example, the big pink petals you can see are there to stop the music from going too far up into the ceiling and rather provide an acoustic foldback to the stage, so that the musicians can keep on beat.
In this space you can also find the Grand Organ, the largest mechanical tracker action organ in the world with over 10,000 pipes, although only a few hundred are visible, the rest you find behind.

On the way out we got to experience the acoustic wall panels up close. See how they are structured and tactile? It is because they have ripples on them that graphically represent the music note Middle C! How cool?

The foyer of the Concert Hall, another beautiful space with unsurpassed views across the Sydney Harbour and the Harbour Bridge.

One of the most characteristic parts of the Sydney Opera House of course, is the tiles covering it. They contrast so beautifully with the deep blue of the water and the clear blue of the sky. And guess where they were manufactured??
Sweden!!

These tiles, that became known as the Sydney Tiles, were produced in Höganäs, Sweden. Utzon was inspired by Japanese ceramics and Iranian mosque tiles in the development of these tiles.

The tiles are a major part of the building as they are unique in the way they catch and mirror the sky. There are two kinds of tiles, one very shiny, and one with no gloss. The latter tiles have a subtle coarseness as they are made from clay with a granular texture thanks to an addition of crushed stone. Utzon had requested tiles that needed to be gloss but not too gloss, as to cause glare, and he got the perfect mix.
In total there are over 1 million tiles on the roof!

I really enjoyed the tour, what building, and what a story! What a great way to spend an afternoon!