How Many Tiles On The Opera House Roof

The sydney opera house is an iconic global landmark immediately recognisable by most of us.

How many tiles on the opera house roof.

This is an extract from the publication icons which can be purchased online. The roof of the sydney opera house has a whopping 1 056 000 glazed white granite tiles that have been imported from sweden. Utzon s initial sketches showed these as relatively squat free form concrete sail shapes which were to be covered with white tiles. Finished in 1973 it s considered by many architectural experts to be the greatest building in the world not only for its raw beauty but also because of the way in which it overcame a colossal engineering impasse with apparently unfeasible architecture.

Though they are meant to be self cleaning in nature they still require maintenance replacement. Sydney opera house was opened by queen elizabeth ii on 20th october 1973. The 4228 tile chevrons required to cover the shells were produced in a factory set up under the monumental steps. The height of the roof follows the different functions that these spaces serve.

Principal curator matthew connell explores the ideas behind the creation of sydney s most famous building. On monday 125 000 of the sydney opera house s 1 056 006 tiles go on. Glossy off white tiles make up the majority of the tiles used whilst matt bone color tiles are used at edges of tiles panels or at the edges of the shells picture 1 shows this well. Seven a380s could sit wing to wing on the site.

The sydney opera house is a multi venue performing arts centre at sydney harbour in sydney new south wales australia it is one of the 20th century s most famous and distinctive buildings. They were made in sweden. In total there are 1 056 006 tiles on the roof. Sydney opera house model.

Once the podiums of the opera house were defined the overwhelming problem of the shape of the roof arose. Timber illustrates the origin of the roof geometry of the sydney opera house designed by jørn utzon made by ove arup and partners england australia 1961 65. Designed by danish architect jørn utzon but completed by an australian architectural team headed up by peter hall the building was formally opened on 20 october 1973 after a gestation beginning with. The roof is covered with more than one million tiles made by swedish company höganas.

The sydney opera house s glistening roof is achieved through the use of 1 056 006 roof tiles. Tiles were placed face down in one of 26 chevron shaped beds each with a base shaped to match the curve of the roof. Sydney opera house was added to unesco s world heritage list in 2007 there are more than 1 million roof tiles covering approximately 1 62 hectares sitting over the structure. But the shapes didn t work.