Sydney Opera House

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Sydney Opera House

by Takeo Maebashi
(Higashi-Yamato, Tokyo, Japan)

Sydney Opera House

The Opera House in Sydney was registered as a World Heritage Site in 2007. This unique shape gives us an idea of the sail of a yacht or a seashell. But most people don't know that there is an entirely different reason that it was designed like this.

In fact, the following shocking (laughable?) anecdote tells more about it.

One day after its completion, Mr. Jorn Utzon (designer of the Opera House) professed, "Actually, I got the idea for this design when I saw a boy peeling a mandarin orange."

Is this a joke? Or serious? Only he knows the truth! But to me it appears more like a seashell than a mandarin orange. What do you think?

Anyhow, I think Mr. Jorn Utzon has a great talent!!

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Sydney Opera House

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May 29, 2010
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Design of the Sydney Opera House
by: Gary Wolff

Thanks, Takeo, for your interesting story.

Yacht sail, seashell, mandarin orange? Who knows?

How about this? Being from Texas, to me it kind of looks like the back of an armadillo, a small animal that lives underground and which is one of our state symbols. :-)

Well, whatever we think it looks like, it is without question a very beautiful building.

Thanks, Takeo !

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