Wonders of the World

The Sydney Opera House took more than 16 years to complete. It is supposed to look like a giant sailing ship, and from some angles it does look exactly that. This giant structure has well over two thousand glass panes specifically made for it in France. Unless one gets too close to the building one does not realise that what covers the sails so to speak is in fact rectangular ceramic tiles. Much like the tiles in the bathroom, except that there are well over one million of them made for the Opera House in Sweden.

Facts

	It was designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon.
	Queen Elizabeth II opened it on 20 October 1973.
	The first performance was The Australian Opera's production of War and Peace by Prokofiev.
	Around 3000 events are conducted each year.
	Guided tours show 200,000 people each year around the complex.
	Performances attract an annual audience of 2 million.

Figures

Cost to construct	$AU 102,000,000 (approx £39,500,000)
Overall Length and Width	185 metres (611 ft) long and 120 metres (380 ft) wide
Highest roof vault, (above Concert Hall)	67m (221 ft) above sea level
Number of rooms	1000
Building	The entire building weighs 161,000 tonnes. Supported on 580 concrete piers sunk up to 25 m (82 ft) below sea level.
Roof	Constructed from a total of 2194 sections Each section can weigh up to 15.5 tonnes. Total weight is 27,230 tonnes Supported on 32 concrete columns up to 2.5 m (8 ft) square. Held together by 350 kms (217 miles) of tensioned steel cable Covered with exactly 1,056,056 Swedish ceramic tiles
Glass	6225 square metres
Electric cables	645 kilometres (400 miles)
Power supply	Equivalent to the needs of a town of 25,000 people
Air Conditioning	Twenty six air conditioning plant rooms move more than 28,500 cubic metres (1,000,000 cubic feet) of air per minute through 19.5 km (12 miles) of ducting.