Sydney Opera House Tiles Roof Structure

Principal curator matthew connell explores the ideas behind the creation of sydney s most famous building.

Sydney opera house tiles roof structure.

The impressive and subtle chevron pattern has glossy white matte cream coloured tiles manufactured by höganäs ab. We can already see this principle at work in the tower crane assembly of the segmental pre cast concrete ribs of the shell roofs of the sydney opera house wherein coffered tile faced units of up to ten tons in weight were hauled into position and sequentially secured to each other some two hundred feet in the air. What s more you can buy them to use at home. Sails of the century.

Though they are meant to be self cleaning in nature they still require maintenance replacement. Even today they are known as the sydney tile. Sydney opera house model. The roof structure consists of over 2 400 precast arch units placed on cast in situ concrete pedestals.

This is an extract from the publication icons which can be purchased online. There are more than 1 million roof tiles covering approximately 1 62 hectares sitting over the structure. Its unique use of a series of gleaming white sail shaped shells as its roof structure makes it one of the most photographed buildings in the world. The sydney opera house port jackson sydney harbour.

Between 1958 and 1962 the roof design for the sydney opera house evolved through various iterations as utzon and his team pursued parabolic ellipsoid and finally spherical geometry to derive the final form of the shells. They were made in sweden. Now the tiles of the sydney opera house can be yours they are the 12 centimetre by 12 centimetre ceramic squares that in their own small way embody the ambitions of a nation. The roof of the sydney opera house has a whopping 1 056 000 glazed white granite tiles that have been imported from sweden.

The tiles used in the sydney opera house construction are 120mm square. Seven a380s could sit wing to wing on the site. 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. On monday 125 000 of the sydney opera house s 1 056 006 tiles go on sale as part of a drive towards community ownership of the building s future.

Sydney opera house was opened by queen elizabeth ii on 20th october 1973.