Stunning exhibition hints at what Sydney’s most famous building might have been

The Danish port of Aalborg is more than 16,000 kilometres from Sydney but the two cities have a similar treasure: a waterfront building designed by Jorn Utzon.

Aalborg was Utzon’s childhood home and its foreshore hosts the Utzon Centre, the celebrated architect’s final project completed in 2008. His greatest work, the Sydney Opera House, has just celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Some drawings and models at the Utzon Centre show designs for the Sydney Opera House interior never realised.

To commemorate that milestone, the Utzon Centre has created a stunning Opera House exhibition including a trove of sketches, drawings, photographs, models and other objects from the centre’s collection.

The show, called “Sydney Opera House: A beautiful idea”, kicked off in October 2023 and will be open until late 2028 – so there’s plenty of time to plan a visit.

Beginnings of a masterpiece.Credit: Roland Jensen

It traces the building’s evolution from Utzon’s earliest, fledgling ideas to its famously complex construction. There are hints at what might have been if Utzon had not left the project unfinished in 1966 after a dispute with the NSW government over costs and schedule issues. Some design concepts not included in the building we know today are on show including interior models.

Director of Exhibitions at the Utzon Centre, Line Norskov Davenport, says visitors can take “a deep dive” into some of Utzon’s unrealised ideas for the Opera House.

“Those ideas are very beautiful and worth spending some time with,” she says.

A planned interior seating area that didn’t proceed once Utzon left the Opera House project.

The exhibition’s fine wooden furniture allows visitors to get a close-up view of Utzon’s work – drawer after drawer of original “soft pencil” sketches and detailed architectural drawings can be opened and examined. Many include handwritten notes and are marked in the lower case branding of Utzon’s architecture firm.

A series of beautiful models made during the project’s design phase are on display. One from 1961 details the exterior of the Opera House; another shows the building’s vast platform, a key feature of the design.

Striking drawings and models show the development of the building’s geometric principles including a wooden object described as the “key” to the Opera House design – an iconic three-part model completed in 1961 showing how each roof sail of the Opera House is a segment of a sphere. A quote from Utzon on a brass plaque near today’s entrance to the Opera House says this spherical design solution came “after three years of intensive search”.

Utzon’s 1962 model of the Opera House’s acoustic ceiling that sadly didn’t go ahead.

Line Norskov Davenport says the Sydney Opera House inspires curiosity and that the Utzon Centre’s unique exhibition about it is drawing visitors from across the world.

“The Sydney Opera House – the ideas it is founded on, the story of its construction and pioneer spirit it required from the architect, the engineers and Australia – is remarkable and dramatic, and I hope people will take a deep dive into the story, and hopefully walk away inspired,” she says.

The Utzon Centre in Aalborg.Credit: iStock

The Utzon Centre, designed by Jorn Utzon in collaboration with his son Kim, was the last project Jorn worked on before his death in 2008. Kim Utzon was instrumental in translating his father’s design vision into the final construction drawings. Its architectural features echo other buildings Utzon designed during his long career.

Aalborg, about 400 kilometres north of Copenhagen, looks out on Limfjord, a waterway separating the North Jutlandic Island from continental Denmark. The Utzon Centre has helped to revitalise the city’s foreshore.

Jorn Utzon was born in Copenhagen but grew up in Aalborg where he spent a lot of time doing outdoor activities, especially sailing. Utzon’s father, Aage, worked as a boat builder in the city and the young Jorn grew-up surrounded by maritime craftsmanship. The exhibition includes several wooden model boats including Utzon’s own invention called “Tritail.”

The show locates the Opera House in its global context and underscores the building’s place as a masterpiece of modern architecture. But it also sheds light on Utzon’s personal life.

There is a series of family travel photographs which reveal architectural influences that helped shape his Opera House design. This includes images of ancient Mexican monuments taken in 1949 and a sculptural pagoda roof photographed on a trip to China in the late 1950s.

Another travel photo, taken in Iran in 1959, shows a building covered in intricate white tile work. Nearby hangs a section of experimental prototype tiles produced in 1961 during the design of the Opera House – the sample includes both black and white tiles which would have given the building a very different look, had that pattern been chosen.

The centrepiece of the show is a giant mobile made of rings and triangular sections of canvas. Once visitors reach the culmination of the exhibition the Opera House’s distinctive sails are revealed amid the mobile’s curves.

A giant mobile is the centrepiece of the show.

The exhibition has a beautiful wooden viewing platform, inspired by Sydney’s sandstone caves, where visitors can watch a film from the Utzon Centre’s archives showing the Opera House’s construction during the 1960s. The soundtrack is Bach’s Symphony in C major, which provides an audio backdrop to the whole exhibition.

Visitors can have coffee or a meal with fjord views at Jorn’s, the Utzon Centre’s cafe, or pick up some Utzon merchandise at its shop.

The Utzon Centre has a permanent exhibition about the architect’s life and work and stages other shows with architectural themes. The centre holds about 4700 drawings, sketches, and photos from the architect’s private collection.

The building is more than a museum – it is also a hub for architects to convene, exchange ideas and seeks to promote a deeper understanding of architecture through exhibitions, workshops and conferences.

THE DETAILS

Visit

Entry to the Utzon Centre costs 100 Danish Krone ($20.20) for adults and 60 Danish Krone ($13.30) for children aged four-17 (under four years free). The centre is closed on Mondays. See utzoncenter.dk/en

The writer travelled at his own expense.