Fabian
February 9th, 2004, 09:18 PM
http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1076175106866_2004/02/09/350_utzon,0.jpg
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Son of architect Joern Utzon - Jan Utzon
From The Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au)
Opera House opens its doors and finally gets a water view
By Valerie Lawson
February 10, 2004
The big house renovation at Bennelong Point moved a step closer yesterday with the Premier, Bob Carr, announcing the first major structural change to the Sydney Opera House exterior since its opening in 1973.
The western foyers will be opened to the harbour by a new glassed facade, and a $6 million loggia, or colonnade.
Designed by Sydney Opera House architect Joern Utzon, the 45-metre-long construction will be built along the western side of the building, extending five metres onto the broadwalk.
The Opera House's chief executive, Norman Gillespie, yesterday described that part of the broadwalk as "dead space".
From the loggia, patrons will be able to enter the Opera House through a new facade to the western foyers. Half of the facade will be glass.
The three new doors and six large windows will provide what every Sydney home renovator wants - extensive views of the harbour.
The linked foyers of the Playhouse, The Studio and the Drama Theatre are currently a windowless tube.
Mr Utzon, 85, who has never returned to Australia to see the house he designed, has been working on the refurbishment plans with his son, architect Jan Utzon, and Sydney architect Richard Johnson.
Mr Utzon jnr described the new loggia as having "straight lines, very geometrical and defined, in accordance with the base construction. We don't punch holes in the building where we like".
The "main character" of the entire building would remain "its heavy base and billowing sails", he said.
The changes to the western facade will start in late July and take a year to complete.
The cost of the loggia, renovated western foyers and the refurbished Reception Hall on the eastern side of the building, which was announced last September and is expected to be completed mid-year, are covered by the Government's $69.3 million grant to the Opera House in 2002.
Ambitious and costly plans to lower the floor of the Opera Theatre to improve the acoustics are not covered by that grant.
But Mr Carr said yesterday the Opera House Trust was entitled to look at ways of funding those costs "off budget".
Mr Gillespie confirmed Herald reports that the trust was considering issuing bonds to fund the lowering of the floor.
[img]
Son of architect Joern Utzon - Jan Utzon
From The Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au)
Opera House opens its doors and finally gets a water view
By Valerie Lawson
February 10, 2004
The big house renovation at Bennelong Point moved a step closer yesterday with the Premier, Bob Carr, announcing the first major structural change to the Sydney Opera House exterior since its opening in 1973.
The western foyers will be opened to the harbour by a new glassed facade, and a $6 million loggia, or colonnade.
Designed by Sydney Opera House architect Joern Utzon, the 45-metre-long construction will be built along the western side of the building, extending five metres onto the broadwalk.
The Opera House's chief executive, Norman Gillespie, yesterday described that part of the broadwalk as "dead space".
From the loggia, patrons will be able to enter the Opera House through a new facade to the western foyers. Half of the facade will be glass.
The three new doors and six large windows will provide what every Sydney home renovator wants - extensive views of the harbour.
The linked foyers of the Playhouse, The Studio and the Drama Theatre are currently a windowless tube.
Mr Utzon, 85, who has never returned to Australia to see the house he designed, has been working on the refurbishment plans with his son, architect Jan Utzon, and Sydney architect Richard Johnson.
Mr Utzon jnr described the new loggia as having "straight lines, very geometrical and defined, in accordance with the base construction. We don't punch holes in the building where we like".
The "main character" of the entire building would remain "its heavy base and billowing sails", he said.
The changes to the western facade will start in late July and take a year to complete.
The cost of the loggia, renovated western foyers and the refurbished Reception Hall on the eastern side of the building, which was announced last September and is expected to be completed mid-year, are covered by the Government's $69.3 million grant to the Opera House in 2002.
Ambitious and costly plans to lower the floor of the Opera Theatre to improve the acoustics are not covered by that grant.
But Mr Carr said yesterday the Opera House Trust was entitled to look at ways of funding those costs "off budget".
Mr Gillespie confirmed Herald reports that the trust was considering issuing bonds to fund the lowering of the floor.