the.com/sydney opera house

A roof so iconic it bankrupted an architect and seduced a nation.

means A performing arts complex in Sydney, Australia, famous for its white shell-shaped roof, built on a point jutting into the harbor.

from The name is simply geographic — Sydney, the city, plus Opera House, describing its function — but the building's story is the real tale: Danish architect Jørn Utzon won a 1957 international design competition with sketches so unconventional that engineers initially couldn't figure out how to build the roof. Construction dragged on for over a decade, costs ballooned roughly fifteenfold, and Utzon resigned in 1966 amid political and financial disputes, leaving before his masterpiece was finished. He never returned to see it completed in 1973.

construction time
planned 4 years, took 14
cost overrun
budgeted $7m, cost $102m
architect's exit
jørn utzon quit, never saw it finished
roof tiles
over 1 million self-cleaning swedish tiles
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