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Sydney Opera House Failed Project - What Can You Learn?

Project Profitability , Failed Project Series

This post is the first in a series of posts discussing some of the most prominent failed projects and how you can avoid the same pitfalls.

Every project, regardless of its subject matter, starts with an idea and ends (if successful) with a functioning reality of the idea's intent. Projects that fail are sometimes considered losses, but, most often, they also offer excellent lessons on how to avoid repeating the failures in the future. The Sydney, Australia Opera House is a notable example.

A Lesson in Project Failure: Sydney's National Opera House

You can't tell from looking at it, but Sydney Australia's iconic Opera House is actually a study in a project failure . Its original plan had a four-year timetable and an AU $7 million budget, but in the end, it took AU $102 million and 14 years to complete.

The Opera House project failed because it did not follow any of the processes that normally signify proper project management and accounting processes:

• Inadequate resource management planning resulted in no one dedicated person responsible for project activities, and the budget was at best a suggestion.
• No management and no accounting expectations lead to excessive and wasteful materials costs.
• No resource scheduling lead to delays at all stages of the project's development.

What were the circumstances?

In 1957, Australia's government (the client) held a contest to select an architect to design its future " National Opera House ." The client's primary focus was to showcase Australia's creative and technical capacities, and it set almost no parameters on the building's cost or construction timeframe.

In 1958, the winner of the competition, Jorn Utzon , presented his "Red Book" of the project, which contained details of some but not all of the elements of the overall project, such as designs, consultant reports, and varied plans. The "Red Book" was not a comprehensive working document for strategizing the construction of the building.

And, despite the fact that Utzon clearly stated he hadn't finished the structural design, the client insisted on immediately beginning work on the project anyway. From there, things went from bad to worse, with contributions to the growing debacle amassing over time.

No Clearly Defined Project Plan or Leadership

Not only did the project launch with no finalized plans to follow, but the client also changed the floor plan from two theaters to four shortly after construction began. Compounding the chaos that followed was the lack of a project manager. Instead of a single person to whom to turn with questions and for direction, an ad hoc "partnership" between Utzon and the engineer, Ove Arup , handled "management" of the project, assisted by a hastily assembled "team" of electrical, mechanical, and HVAC subcontractors.

Since each separate "management team" member had different goals and perspectives from the others, it's not surprising that finding consensus among them was often an elusive goal.

No Defined Project Budget

Not having a finalized design also meant not knowing how much the project would cost. Almost immediately upon its start, costs began escalating, first with the change orders, and then with the discovery that the site surveys were wrong. The budget went uphill from there. Utzon's vision divided the construction project into three segments: the podium; the outer shells, and the interiors and windows. By the end of stage one, a government monitoring committee was overseeing payments and had to withhold a few until it received proof of completion of actual work.

No Set Time Frame

By 1966, seven years from the time it started and four years after the proposed completion date, the Opera House had not yet completed phase two. Utzon left in frustration, taking his designs and plans with him. "Management" of the rest of the project fell to a committee of three Australian engineers, who did complete phase two by the end of 1967.

However, because the next phase required an entirely new set of plans, the budget to fill out the construction then soared to AU $85 million. Another four years and an additional AU $17 million went by before the Opera House was finally completed in 1973 when Queen Elizabeth inaugurated it.

Typical Causes of Failed Projects

Despite being such an excellent example of "what not to do," project management professionals continue to follow the dubious lead of the people who built the Opera House. In a 2015 survey by Raconteur , the top three reasons for failed projects within the previous 12 months were:

• Changes in organizational priorities;
• Inaccurate estimates of project requirements , and
• Changes in the project's objectives.

Andy Soanes, CTO of Bell Integration, commented that shifting deadlines, adding or modifying features, and unforeseen risks are the typical reasons for cost overruns and escalating costs.

Technology Addresses the Problem

Fortunately, today's project management professionals have advanced technology available to prevent cost, timing, and personnel challenges in the first place, or to circumvent those issues that do arise to reduce their impact on the overall project. Software designed to manage project resources such as materials, subcontractors, or other critical elements can help overseers avoid missing the minute details that can derail the production process. Professional Services Automation (PSA) is particularly useful for comprehensively evaluating project processes over time and helps to keep Key Performance Indicators and other metrics on task and on track.

Perhaps if the Australians had had the opportunity to access today's project management software capabilities, they would have been enjoying the world's most iconic Opera House a decade earlier.

Related Blog Post

Failed Project Series - The Aurora CO VA Administration Hospital

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The Project Management of the Sydney Opera House

Examine a specific example of contemporary project failure. Choose one that has generated significant media attention. Critically examine the stated causes of the projects failure and then reflect on the potential underlying issues that might lay behind those statements. Where was blame apportioned? Who gained and who lost from that particular apportionment? What other factors might have been significant in the failure?

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Simon Dwyer

The story of the construction of the Sydney Opera House is well told though numerous scholarly outputs ranging from monographs about specific building elements to critiques of the architectural form and function. This article explores how the stories of those who inhabit the various spaces within the Sydney Opera House have become supplementary and are often overlooked in the narrative of what is Australia's most famous building. In particular, this article seeks to highlight some of the stories of this unique performing arts complex utilising the lens of those who ensure the building functions – administrators, technicians and tradespeople – in this way offering a biography of a building that does not adopt the traditional point of view of the architect, the performer and the politician. The biography thus explores the backstage stories of the Sydney Opera House rather than those stories that made front-page news.

SOBHIN DAS Bm

Some of the earliest connections between the citizens of Sydney and their opera house were made through the flood of letters to the editors of Sydney’s daily newspapers in the days following the announcement of Jørn Utzon’s winning design for one of the most sought-after architectural prizes of the decade. This research unpacks the connections between people and newspapers and looks at how the unconventional modernist design proposed for Bennelong Point variously, set Sydney apart or made it the butt of jokes, promoted modernity or absurdity, represented a canny political move or presented as a foolhardy folly. These letters, by ordinary Australians to mass media publications, provide an early biography of the structure that is now a globally recognised symbol for Sydney.

Juan Rey Rey

Over the last decades, the new technical means and methods, and in particular computing technology, has became more and more popular and efficient and their capabilities evolved exponentially in due time. This development has led to the present situation, where structural analysis has stopped being a hindrance to the development of projects with geomet- rical and construction complexity. The Sydney Opera House, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, it is one of the most rep- resentative examples of the architecture developed prior to the disappearance of the structural analysis barrier in architectural design that tried to cross this imaginary border. When design work for the competition started in 1956, personal computers did not exist, nor did the software packages for graphic representation and structural analysis. Thus, to enable their definition and analysis, the proposed free-form surfaces have been forced to adapt to a well understood geome- try as well as the shells have ...

Arindam Dutta

The paper looks at aesthetics in the the urban context of London as an alibi for varying theories of economics. Starting from John Maynard Keynes' theory of money and his thoughts on urbanism in the 1940s, the paper looks at the development of an "icon"-laden South Bank in London as indicative of the history of the changing monetary wherewithal of the state.

The Sydney Opera House silhouette is recognised the world over. It is a story of drama and complexities - a foreign architect, a courageous modern design, political debate and skyrocketing costs - yet it is also the story of a building that has been adopted as an icon for Sydney, and possibly the Australian nation. This paper is an examination of the media's role in introducing the concept of the Sydney Opera House to the Australian public: a structure so familiar today, that was shocking when first revealed. Focusing on media coverage of the competition period, 1956-57, with emphasis on the announcement of the winning design, this presentation tells the story of how we, and the world, came to know this building. The media, particularly newspapers, played a crucial role in setting the early standards for how we would interact with, understand and ultimately come to appreciate the icon on Bennelong Point. Front page coverage, cartoons and lengthy opinion pieces (supplemented by a rich range of imagery) all contributed to the generation of an essential chapter in the history of architecture and one of the world's most famous performing arts complexes. This early reportage setting the scene, and establishing an ongoing appetite, for news of a site that continues to intrigue and court controversy.

Hollee Becker

Structures and Architecture: concepts, applications and challenges

The Sydney Opera House is one of the world's most recognisable buildings. It serves as a symbol of Sydney and, often, Australia. Visited by over eight million people a year there is considerable interest in this icon of the built environment but an interest that does not readily flow into academic research outputs. For instance, the illumination remains an under investigated aspect of the edifice, compared to the construction or specific elements such as the glazing or acoustics. This paper will briefly discuss the interdisciplinary nature of the research into the illumination of the Sydney Opera House that is currently been undertaken to uncover the original design concepts and then relate these to the function of the building as a performing arts centre. Using the Sydney Opera House as a case study, the research examines the notion of theatricality in lighting design, drawing inferences from the aesthetic principles of stage lighting and applying these to the architectural lighting of this iconic structure. When completed, this research aims to demonstrate that, in relation to the world's most easily recognised performing arts complex, the efforts of the original lighting design team produced a scheme in which the illumination – incidentally or intentionally – is specifically theatrical.

The Sydney Opera House has achieved fame, not only for its spectacular location and harbour side setting but also for its architectural form. The building dominates Bennelong Point, a heavy granite base supporting lightweight shells that appear to soar, effortlessly, between the sky above and water below. This icon of the built environment – perfectly balanced between earth and sky is one of the world’s busiest performing arts centres. This chapter will explore an under-examined visual aspect of the performances held at the Sydney Opera House: Jørn Utzon’s utilisation of both natural and artificial illumination to reinforce the architectural form and to also shape audience perceptions of the building that surrounds the performance spaces. This examination of lighting will unpack the link between how Utzon envisaged the interpretation of the physical structure and how this complex set of venues (with spaces seating from around 400 to 2,500 people) would be in concert with the ‘world of the play’. Thus, as will be argued, the lighting of the building’s exteriors and interiors form an extension of the stage lighting for individual productions presented within the building. Indeed, the lighting of performances, it will be asserted, is enhanced through the ability of the lighting of the structure to directly contribute to the idea of the stage and the more traditional theatrical lighting designs deployed to illuminate presentations from ballet to opera to theatre.

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Cristina Garcia-Ochoa Martin

The sidney opera house construction: a case of project management failure.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the best-known iconic buildings, recognized around the world as a global symbol of Australia. The Danish architect Jørn Utzon won the architecture competition set out by the New South Wales government for the new building in 1957, and the construction started in 1959. The project was originally scheduled for four years, with a budget of AUS $7 million. It ended up taking 14 years to be completed and cost AUS $102 million.

The Sydney Opera House could probably be seen as one of the most disastrous construction projects in history not only from the financial point of view but also for the whole management plan. Lets analyze the main reasons that led to it.

First of all, at the beginning of any project goals and objectives have to be clearly defined by the client to provide a guideline for what the project must complete. There are three main factors: time, cost, and quality. In the case of the Sydney Opera House the last one was the most important, as it was an almost unrestricted goal of the project and the reason why it was launched. No indications regarding time or cost limits were either provided for the competition. Thus, the architects were allowed total freedom in their designs.

After Utzon was selected, he presented his “Red Book” in March 1958, which consisted of the Sydney National Opera House report. It comprised some indications such as plans, sections, reports by consultants, etc. The funds came almost entirely from a dedicated lottery, so the project was not a financial burden for the government. Regarding time planning the goal was to complete the construction at the end of 1962 and have the grand opening at the start of 1963. The project should have lasted four years.

The main stakeholder was the architect, but Utzon was much more concerned with the design aspect rather than time and costs objectives, which proved problematic. During the project, Utzon collaborated with Ove Arup, who was in charge of the structure and the engineering. With some other subcontractors, the team was in charge of mechanics, electrics, heating and ventilating, lighting and acoustics. There was no real project manager, but rather collaboration between Utzon and Arup.

The other main stakeholder was the client, the state of New South Wales. This encompassed the Australian government, which launched the competition for the project, and especially the Labor Premier, Joe Cahill. A part-time executive committee was created to provide project supervision but the members had no real technical skills. The government eventually became an obstacle to the project team by inhibiting changes during the progress of the operations and thus contributed to cost overrun and delays. Finally, the public was an indirect stakeholder because they were concerned with the projects success.

There appeared to be problems from the start of the project that was divided into three stages: Stage 1 was the podium, stage 2 was the outer shells, and stage 3 was the interiors and windows. Apparently Utzon protested that he had not completed the designs for the structure, but the government insisted the construction had to get underway. In addition, the client changed the requirements of the design after the construction was started, moving from two theatres to four, so plans and designs had to be modified during construction.

Regarding the project’s budget the initial estimation was drawn on incomplete design drawings and site surveys which later lead to disagreements. The contractors for the first stage successfully claimed additional costs of AUS $1,2 million in 1962 due to design changes. When it was completed in 1963, it had cost an estimated AUS $5.2 million and it was already 47 weeks over schedule for the whole project.

Stage two became the most controversial stage of the entire construction. As costs were rising a new government stepped in and monitored all payments being requested by the Opera House. By the end of stage one, Utzon submitted an updated estimate of the projects total cost as AUS$12.5 million. As more payments were being delivered and no visible progress was seen, the government began withholding payments to Utzon. Stage two slowed down and in 1966 Utzon felt he was forced to resign from the project as his creative freedom was restricted, and therefore could not bring his perfect idea to fruition.

This came as a shock and nearly an insult to Utzon who had been fending off the Government from rising costs for years. The news that they had agreed to that budget, which was more than four times Utzon’s original estimate, was evidence that he had been unjustly treated.

Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated the Sydney Opera House in 1973, after 17 years of redesigns, underestimates and cost overruns. By 1975, the building had paid for itself, thanks mainly to the lottery system that was created to help its funding. Utzon was never to return to Australia, never to see the final result of his work that was recognized as an incredible feat of architecture. In 2003 the architect was honored with the Pritzker Prize for architecture, the most renowned architectural prize in the world.

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[…] the world of design and construction maybe one of the most famous cases in the 20th century is a Sydney Opera House. 76 million US dollars of budget overrun and decades of delays should be a strong lesson to our […]

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Project in-depth: The Sydney Opera House

Any iconic built form, be it the Taj Mahal , the great pyramids of Giza or the Taj Mahal has a fantastic story to convey. A story enriched with histories of the kings and queens, the commoners, and the stories of people who took decades to build them. A story that is not so very enigmatic as the final built form. But that’s why the structure has become iconic. The Sydney Opera House in Australia which now seems to float on the shore of the Sydney harbor has a fantastic story behind it. A story that started with an extraordinary conceptual idea and a decade of thought processes leading to its realization. It is a reality that changed the life of the architect as well as the continent. An engineering marvel listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. The building underwent many controversies and political agendas. Yet destined to be iconic and continue to mesmerize the thousands who visit it.

The Inception 

In 1955, Premier Joseph Cahill called for an international design competition for a dedicated opera house. The existing New South Wales Conservatorium of Music needed a much more dedicated space. The Sydney Town Hall did not seem fit for this purpose anymore. The design competition received 233 entries from all over the world. In 1957, the judging panel which included famous architect Earo Saarinen declared Jorn Utzon as the winner. Utzon’s entry was conceptual and included only simple diagrams and sketches. But the judges chose those sketches that changed the history of the Australian continent forever.

Jorn Utzon started to refine his plans for the starting of the construction. Lack of funding and public support led the New South Wales government to hasten the construction. Jorn Utson still had to finish his schematic plans. The crucial design challenges were yet unsolved. The work commenced with a budget of 7 million Australian dollars and a time schedule of 6 years. But, due to the hastened construction and unresolved issues, the budget went overboard 14 times and 10 years ahead of the scheduled date. The early start of the project led to bigger problems in the later stage of the project.

Construction Phase I 

Conceptualization of the iconic structure took place in three stages. The first stage from 1959 to 1963 saw the construction of the upper podium. The second stage from 1963 to 1967 saw the construction of the outer shell or the roof of the structure. The third and final stage was from 1967 to 1973. Here, the focus was on the design and construction of the interiors of the concert halls and other adjoining spaces. When the construction began in 1959, 588 concrete piers supported the upper podium of the 1.8-hectare building. In 1961, the structure was already 47 weeks behind schedule. The blame was sometimes on the weather or due to lack of completed proposals. Besides the existing issues, the concrete piers of the building did not support the upper podium. So they needed replacement.

Construction Phase II 

The construction of the outer shell constituted the second stage. As per the architect’s initial idea, the outer shell was a series of random large forms. They were a series of parabolas supported by precast concrete ribs. However, the engineers were unable to devise any cost-effective solution for its construction. After twelve mathematical iterations, the design team came up with a solution. They derived the forms from the portions of a sphere. The team utilized computers for the analysis of the structures. Studies on the forces acting on the structure led to the solution. This event marked the earliest use of computers. It is still unclear about who came up with the solution. But, Utzon himself might have come up with the solution while peeling an orange. By looking at each shell as a part of the sphere, arches of varying lengths were cast from the same mold.

Construction Phase III  

Utzon shifted his office to Sydney in 1963. During the last phase of the construction, the new government started to criticize the project. The project came under the control of the Ministry of Public Works. The political tensions around the project grew. The public showed their displeasure with the government’s decision through protests and public outrages. Finally, in the year 1966, Utzon left the project and the city forever never to see his iconic built form completed.

The new construction team revised Utzon’s designs for the interiors. The multipurpose major hall which hosts concerts and opera changed into a concert hall. The minor hall designed to suit the opera and ballet productions became the opera theater. Despite the design iterations for the betterment of the major hall, there were many acoustical pitfalls. Also lack of backstage facilities added to the share of pitfalls.

Queen Elizabeth II on 20th October 1973 inaugurated the building after 14 years of its construction. Beethoven’s Symphony Number 9 overflowed the concert hall marking its official opening. It was then that an icon was born. The Pritzker prize laureate who spent countless years on the building was neither present nor mentioned during the inaugural ceremony. 

After several years, in the 1990s, the Sydney Opera House needed major renovations. The Trust went and met Utzon. They decided that the architect who envisioned the building should be the design consultant for future works as well. Utzon agreed to this proposal. The architect shared in an interview that he has no regrets looking back now and readily agreed to the proposal. The building which started off as a concept still continues to mesmerize thousands of visitors by instilling a spirit in them that makes it immortal.

• The B1M. (2018). Sydney Opera House: Building an Icon. [YouTube video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51m-YvjmijI. [Accessed: 26 November 2023].
• 60 Minutes Australia. (2023). The urgent repairs needed for Australia’s national icon | 60 Minutes Australia. [YouTube video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWVQ7HxlAow. [Accessed: 26 November 2023].
• Mark 1333. (2018). The Sydney Opera House (construction story) 1958 – 1973 (Australia) – BBC News – 14th July 2018. [YouTube video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81-EDxHdmlI. [Accessed: 26 November 2023].
• Dan Cortese (2018). Sydney Opera House: Building an Icon. [online]. Available at: https://www.theb1m.com/video/sydney-opera-house-building-an-icon [Accessed date: 26 November 2023].

Ar. Sandhya Parameswaran is a creative individual seeking opportunities to evolve continuously through learning and unlearning, traveling, reading, and writing. Currently working as Associate Professor with the Saveetha College of Architecture and Design (SCAD), Chennai; she is looking forward to sharing her unique and untold stories far and wide.

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The Sydney Opera House: a world leading sustainability performance

"the green star performance rating scheme is fantastic because it provides a framework to assess current sustainability performance and to then conduct a gap analysis on how performance can be improved over time. this translates into policy changes, behavioural changes, equipment upgrades, and more.".

MARLON KOBACKER

Technical Director of Sustainability, Mott MacDonald

Underneath its striking white sails set against the blue of the harbour, the Sydney Opera House is green-certified. Designed with nature in mind and building on its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Listed and globally renowned performing arts space, the Opera House has been working with Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) since 2013 to position itself as a world leader in operational sustainability performance.

From sandstone buildings in city streets, to industrial estates in the suburbs and government blocks in outback Broken Hill, Green Star Performance has been used by thousands of existing buildings around Australia.

The popular tool assesses a building’s operational performance across several areas including energy use, emissions, indoor environment quality, water, materials and waste. Davina Rooney, CEO, GBCA says it’s a tool that lightens the environmental footprint of any building type, including the Sydney Opera House.

“This energy efficient, heritage listed, public building has gone from a 4 Star Green Star Performance rating for best practice in 2015, to a 6 Star Green Star rating for world leadership in 2023. This is proof that any building – old or new, big or small – can reach the highest sustainability outcomes,” said Davina.

Our journey with the Sydney Opera House

The building we see today was designed in the late 1950s with sustainability in mind. Inspired by nature, the Opera House’s architect Jørn Utzon incorporated revolutionary features that ensure energy efficiency and a reduction in carbon emissions.

“Utzon was strongly influenced and inspired by nature. To receive this 6 Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia demonstrates our commitment to continuing to build on Utzon’s legacy and doing our part to encourage greater community awareness in reducing our impact on the environment,” shared Emma Bombonato, environmental sustainability manager at the Opera House.

“I like to be on the edge of possible.”

Jørn Utzon,, Architect, Sydney Opera House

The Opera House has worked closely with GBCA member and partner Mott Macdonald to develop a plan to reach 6 Star certification and uplift sustainability performance from the existing 5 Star rating. This involved providing technical advice and reviewing documentation for:

• indoor environment quality monitoring and management (including an innovative bushfire dust response system)
• building services information management (including an innovative digitally responsive maintenance platform)
• fire system test water reuse
• energy and water metering and monitoring
• sustainable procurement
• operational waste management
• refurbishment waste management
• building user sustainability information sharing
• content and performance sharing using the innovative ‘From Our House to Your House’ online platform during the global pandemic to enable access to both live and recorded performances to audiences all over the world.

The Opera House’s 6 Star Green Star Performance certification joins a list of achievements worth celebrating:

• switching to 100% renewable electricity
• maintaining carbon neutral status year-on-year since 2018
• retrofitting the building with new technology to monitor energy, water and indoor environment quality, enabled by Opera House Global Goals partner Honeywell Building Technologies
• reducing electricity and water usage by approximately 20% since 2018
• increasing operational waste recycling rate from 55% to more than 90%
• diverting more than 90% of major building works construction waste from landfill
• installing an artificial reef in the waters around Bennelong Point to restore habitat, clean the harbour water, and increase marine biodiversity
• diverting 95% of event waste from landfill for Vivid LIVE and outdoor concerts in 2022 (and on track for 2023), and
• completing major building improvements including new accessible passageways, lifts and facilities and creating a new Centre for Creativity that provides hands-on creative experiences for all ages

This case study is part of a bigger story following the growth and innovation of SOH since 2015 , with periodic check-in's on performance, including during 2019 .

Green Star - Performance is Australia's leading sustainability rating tool to assess the operational sustainability performance of existing buildings. If you're a building owner or manager wanting to measure the environmental impact of existing assets, learn more about Green Star Performance here.

Andrew Hayne - Case Study: Concert Hall Renewal

Andrew Hayne, Principal, ARM Architecture As the architects entrusted with the renewal of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, we embarked on a transformative journey in the heart of architectural history. This talk delves into the challenges of revitalizing an icon, a structure deeply embedded in the cultural fabric of Australia. Navigating the delicate balance between preservation and innovation, we faced the weight of legacy while envisioning a bold, contemporary response.

Through meticulous planning and a team driven by reverence for the original vision, we embarked on a process that demanded rigour and ingenuity. The Concert Hall Renewal project stands as a testament to the power of the synergy between tradition and innovation. We will highlight some of the key ideas that underpin our interventions, demonstrating that through research and vision, even the most cherished icons can evolve without compromising their timeless essence.

Andrew has over 20 years architectural experience and has been a key part of many of ARM’s highest profile performing arts venues. He has delivered projects around Australia including the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Renewal, Smith Collective, Canberra Theatre Business Case and was an integral member on the National Museum of Australia and the high-profile MRC & MTC Southbank Theatres.

His work on the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall spanned seven years, from project inception through to the gala re-opening. Across this period he maintained excellent relationships with the client, resident companies, heritage stakeholders and the managing contractor on a complex World Heritage Listed national icon. This project recently won the NSW Architecture Medallion.

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Why California's high speed rail was always going to blow out

Darian Woods

Cooper Katz McKim

Kate Concannon

Contractors work on a high-speed rail project in California. Bloomberg hide caption

Contractors work on a high-speed rail project in California.

99.5 percent of megaprojects are either over time, over budget or have lower benefits than expected. What's going wrong? Today, we look at case studies from California's high speed rail project to the Sydney Opera House to consider the do's and don'ts of ambitious projects. Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner's book on megaprojects is How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors that Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between . Related episodes: Why building public transit in the US costs so much ( Apple / Spotify ) Planes, trains and bad bridges ( Apple / Spotify ) ICYMI, preorder our new Indicator t-shirt at the NPR shop . For more ways to support our show, sign up for Planet Money+ where you'll get sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, and access to even more Indicator merch! Music by Drop Electric . Find us: TikTok , Instagram , Facebook , Newsletter .

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Why I Love the Sydney Opera House

The art is accessible, the attendees cut across the social spectrum and the architecture beguiles.

By Damien Cave

The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. This week’s issue is written by Damien Cave, the Australia bureau chief.

Earlier this week, as I stood in line at the Sydney Opera House for an event in the concert hall with Amy Poehler tied to the new movie “Inside Out 2,” I looked around at the large crowd.

There were young and old, men and women of various races and fashion styles. The place was packed, and large animated art danced across the famous sails, courtesy of the Vivid Sydney festival.

I thought back to all the events I’ve gone to at what is affectionately known as “the house.” On its handful of stages, I’ve seen Shakespeare, a drama about the Oxford English Dictionary and a big-budget musical that later landed on Broadway. In its main performance hall, I’ve listened to classical music and soul music and a reimagining of Bob Dylan.

Outside, in just the past year, I’ve had beers on the stairs listening to “The War on Drugs” play on a stage facing the harbor, and The Pixies, too. Inside, on the main stage, I once interviewed the Harvard historian Jill Lepore about American politics for an ideas festival.

In a hallway, I’d run into Tim Minchin, the creator of “Matilda.” One night I said hello to Lianne Moriarty, the author of “Big Little Lies.” After Amy Poehler finished, I walked by Emma Watkins, of the children’s pop group the Wiggles. And at the bar or on the way to the bathroom over the years, I’ve seen some of Australia’s most powerful politicians along with some of my neighbors and quite a few strangers who struck up interesting conversations.

I recount all of this only because, to me at least, it’s extraordinary. Never in my life have I had such a deep and varied bond with a cultural institution, never have I seen so much in one place and never have I felt so at home and so connected to a creative community in a place of art, no matter if I was wearing jeans, shorts or the fanciest thing I own.

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