Many know the story of Danish architect Jørn Utzon beating out 232 bigger, more famous names to win the tender for the Sydney Opera House. But fewer are aware that Utzon drew inspiration for his winning design directly from the natural world.
Take a closer look, however, and you’ll realise it’s a reference point that’s evident in every part of the Opera House. The curve of the sails captures both Sydney’s dramatic cliffs and the wingspan of birds. Its interior roof, subdivided into segments, evokes the structure of a leaf. The shape of the concert hall was made to feel like stepping inside a cloud, hanging peacefully within the sky. And the exterior, in what Utzon described as “nature’s colours”, is designed to dramatically reflect the sunlight – making the building, as every Sydneysider knows, most spectacular at sunrise and sunset.
Utzon’s iconic creation is Australia’s most famous example of nature and design converging, though it’s far from the only one. After all, in a country this blessed with beautiful bushland and serene coastlines, where better to draw inspiration from than the great outdoors?
A luxury vehicle that evokes The Great Barrier Reef
It’s not just our iconic buildings that take their cues from nature. Echoes of the natural world can be found in our vehicles, too – the recently unveiled Range Rover SV Orpheus Edition, for instance, is directly inspired by Orpheus Island, a remote piece of paradise in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef.
Just six bespoke units of the vehicle will be produced, priced from $533,670, plus on-road costs, and only available in Australia. Range Rover
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Each element of the luxury vehicle’s extraordinary design was informed by the colours and serenity of Orpheus Island. For instance, in a nod to the deep blue seas surrounding the island, the vehicle boasts a blue gloss body exterior. And on the inside, the hue of the quilted Perlino leather seats evokes the island’s rippling sands.
“When defining the brief for this unique vehicle we looked to a special place – Orpheus Island, where exquisite blue waters lap unblemished sand, where an aura of refined opulence permeates every moment, and where life slows to a dream-like pace,” says Phoebe Lindsay, manager, materiality at Range Rover.
Range Rover SV Orpheus Edition: a tribute to Australia’s very own natural wonder, the Great Barrier Reef. Range Rover
As Lindsay sees it, the SV Orpheus is Range Rover’s “tribute to Australia’s very own natural wonder – the Great Barrier Reef.” And like all great artworks, it’s an exclusive piece. Just six bespoke units of the vehicle will be produced, priced from $533,670, plus on-road costs, and only available in Australia.
Architecture and the Aussie bush
It was 1973 when construction on the Sydney Opera House was completed, some 14 years after it began. But more modern forms of Australian architecture have continued to take their cues from the natural world.
Perhaps our most famous contemporary example is Glenn Murcutt, who is one of the country’s most awarded architects – as well as an avowed naturalist and environmentalist.
Murcutt had grown up in Papua New Guinea living in a home built on stilts for protection from water and animals, and observed how design could both practically and beautifully honour the landscape around it. The motto of his work as an architect became ‘touch the earth lightly’, and his designs set out to respond to the natural environment in which they’re located.
In Murcutt’s hands, each structure is directly and uniquely shaped by nature. Depending on the location, that might include practical elements that respect its surroundings, like a V-shaped roof that collects rainwater and a dwelling form that acts as a natural windbreaker, as in 1984’s Magney House in Moruya.
Or it could be his spectacular Donaldson House, completed in 2016, and nestled amidst a patch of dense bushland just north of Sydney. To honour that setting, the home was angled to preserve as many of the surrounding oak and gum trees as possible. Most famously, it was even built around the trunk of one tree, which sits adjacent to the bedroom and extends into the sky through a gap left in the wood structure for it. Large windows bring views of the natural world in at every turn.
Because as Jørn Utzon understood, the natural world is an asset to design, one every creation can benefit from capturing. That’s why he set out to make the sun such a vivid part of the Sydney Opera House.
“It is important that such a large, white sculpture in the harbour setting catches and mirrors the sky with all its varied lights dawn to dusk, day to day, throughout the year,” Utzon said in his design principles.
In justifying his choice, Utzon quoted the American architect Louis Kahn: “The sun did not know how beautiful its light was, until it was reflected off this building”.
Experience the pinnacle of bespoke design and coastal luxury with the Range Rover SV Bespoke Orpheus Edition – crafted exclusively for Australia. Contact your retailer to explore your piece of paradise today.
