Jørn Utzon, the architect of the Sydney Opera House never expressly stated what exactly its iconic roof depicts. The commonly prevailing view is that they are billowing sails set on the world’s most beautiful harbour, though many more interpretations exist.
Indeed, one such view is that they are in fact orange peels. Whether this is true or not, we may never know, but we do know that Utzon solved the great riddle of the roof with an orange peel. Previously, no-one knew how to build these massive, curvaceous structures detailed in the winning competition sketches. Three years of engineering work by Arup, undisputedly the world’s greatest engineering firm were fruitless, until Utzon realised during one lunch break (with an orange in hand!), that by putting together identical pre-fabricated segments in different arrangements, you could build vastly different structures with ease.
The Sydney Opera House to this day remains the world’s largest enclosed space without interior supporting columns and was the first building in the world to utilise computers to assist in design and construction.
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