Relying entirely on photographs, survey charts and maps, Utzon imagined a pearly-white building, its shells recalling spinnakers and gull wings, gleaming at the entrance to the beautiful harbour.
Construction of this great architectural piece started in 1959. Following a series of disagreements with the state government, Utzon resigned from the project and left the country, and the building was completed without any further input from him. Thirty years later, Utzon reconciled with Sydney and began working on much-needed renovations.
Finally, in 2003, in recognition of his life's work, among them, his breathtaking vision for Sydney, he was awarded the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest accolade. There are in this world but a few buildings that are seamlessly linked to their location, so tight is the knot that it's impossible to think of one without the other. The Sydney Opera House, locked in the embrace of sun-kissed Sydney, is one such building. Recently, the Sydney Opera House is added to the list of World Heritage sites in year 2007.
Esplanade Theatres on the Bay, Singapore's first dedicated performing arts center, stands out against the city skyline with its twin glass domes. Located on prime waterfront property in Marina Bay, it is 125m long, spans 95m and is studded with a distinctive aluminium cladding.
Esplanade project had a long incubation. The idea was conceived in the 1970's, took shape in the 1980's, and construction began in 1996. Eventually, Esplanade opened to international fanfare in 2002. In the interim years, theatre productions, concerts and recitals were held in various stadiums and auditoriums that did dual duty for school recitals, the MTV Music Awards and National Day parades. Not an ideal situation, but the whole scene would eventually be transformed in a way that would exceed all expectations.
Yet even before ground breaking of the $389 million project, critics were vociferous in their criticism of the plans put forward by Singaporean firm DP Architects and the UK-based Micheal Wilford and Partners. Depending on who one asked, the building was either a poor imitation of Utzon's Sydney Opera House, or it resembled the eyes of a fly, or two copulating aardvarks.
What a difference time makes. A few fleeting years later, Esplanade, now referred to fondly as the Durians, welcomes more than seven million visitors a year, making it one of the busiest arts centers in the world. Eiffel Tower is Paris's tallest structure and its most famous icon. Alexandre Dumas, Jr is believed to have called it a "tragic lamp post" while the poet Valaine would take a long detour on his way home famously exclaiming "I can't look at it". It is surprising to learn that these gentlemen, all highly respected voices of late 19th century Parisian society, were talking about the Eiffel Tower. In fact, writer Guy de Maupassant declared it a "disgrace".
Built by Gustave Eiffel as the entrance arch to the Universal Exposition held in Paris in 1889 to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution, the tower was meant to be a temporary structure. Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years; it was scheduled to be dismantled in 1909. But by the time the permit expired, the tower had not only become an integral part of the Paris landscape, it had also become useful as communications tower.
At a height of 321m, the Eiffel Tower, a slender, tapering confection of laced girders and precise geometry, is no longer regarded as a "disgrace" or a "tragic lamp post". Though Eiffel himself never thought of his tower as a permanent structure, today its demolition is as unthinkable as Paris without hot chocolate.
Never one to shy from controversy, architect I.M Pei has produced some stunning monuments that, initially, were controversial but which, over time, have become much loved and iconic. The bank of China in Hong Kong, sheathed in a steel frame with a tessellated curtain of glass, the 70 story edifice soars 369m over Central. At the time of construction, which started in 1985, critics were almost unanimous in their disdain for Pei's triangular stepped back plan which created razor-sharp edges at every vertical corner.
Ironically, Pei had conceived the building to resemble bamboo shoots which symbolize prosperity. But Feng Shui-sensitive locals were horrified by the edges, claiming that the building was essentially a collection of knives that cut through the good fortunes of neighboring buildings. It also did not escape anyone's attention that one of the edges pointed directly at the HSBC building down the road.
Today, as one of Hong Kong's most famous land marks, the Bank of China Tower represents the triumph of man's creative genius over a difficult-to-please audience. And tellingly, the HSBC building is still doing very good business. Recently, the story of every operatic fashionista's lips is Beijing's National Grand Theatre. Designed by French architect Paul Andreu, the distinctive 120,000 sqm theatre complex, still a work in progress, is unlike anything Beijing has ever seen. Set west of the Great Hall of the People, just off Tiananmen Square, the gigantic egg-shaped titanium and glass dome will, when complete, sit on an artificial lake.
The proposed dome, containing an opera hall, concert hall, auditorium and art galleries, has been unkindly compared by its critics to a manure ball. Access to the theatre is via a translucent underwater tunnel, a major bone of contention with Andreu's detractors who lament the cultural insensitivity. One Beijing architecture professor pointed out that there are only three things the Chinese descend to enter: the subway, bomb shelters and a tomb.
Shortly after ground-breaking, construction was brought to a skidding, yet temporary halt, when 157 local engineersand architects signed a petition decrying the Frenchman's unabashedly futuristic plans. "It's as Chinese as a hamburger" sniffed a local architect. The theatre is due for completion within a year and time will decide its fate. However, if the monuments catalogued here are anything to go by, our bet is that the National Grand Theatre is poised to become another of Beijing's landmarks.
Presently, we are viewing various novel and exotic architectural pieces in their development stages in Pakistan. As expected, the critics are speaking volumes about the negativity or monstrosity of the upcoming architectural projects whether it's a building or an elevated expressway. After the global view of the iconic architecture, we may suggest that only the time and the changing trends would judge the upcoming building projects whether they are going to be categorized as eyesores or icons. |