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More recently, critics such as Mike Davis, with his books including City of Quartz, have seen it crashing back to the present, discussing its negative aspects, the deep social inequality and the physical degradation wrought by its car-based culture and freeways.
50 years ago, in the ‘year out’ between architecture degrees, most of my cohort went overland to London, following a path laid out just a couple of years earlier by Tony and Maureen Wheeler, which became the foundation of Lonely Planet.
Firstly, tendering is a scourge on quality in the industry – lowest price usually wins, and invariably it is too low, and something has to give, inevitably quality. Subbies are pressured to lower their costs, and then pressured further to return to a job they lost money on, to repair defects. The end process is a s**tfight to get something approximating the intended finish. Or the builder folds.
Of the 220+ entries in the 1956 competition Jørn Utzon's (number 218), was one of the very few that put the two required halls side by side. This gave equity to both halls, made the same approach to both and provided a foyer for each that faced the harbour. You’ve seen the spectacular view that results.
Comparisons have been made to the marriage equality plebiscite: many knew someone gay, maybe wanting to be married, and so it was personal. But very few white Australians know an indigenous person as a friend. It’s not just numbers - people identifying as LGBTI has been estimated as high as 11%, but is usually accepted at a third of that – the same percentage as indigenous. There are so many other factors.