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he Sydney Opera House is a modern expressionist design, with a series of large precast
concrete "shells", each composed of sections of a sphere of 75.2 metre (246 ft 8 in) radius ,
forming the roofs of the structure, set on a monumental podium. The building covers 1.8 hectares
(4.5 acres) of land and is 183 metres (605 ft) long and 120 metres (388 ft) wide at its widest
point. It is supported on 588 concrete piers sunk as much as 25 metres below sea level.
Although the roof structures of the Sydney Opera House are commonly referred to as "shells" (as
they are in this article), they are in fact not shells in a strictly structural sense, but are instead
precast concrete panels supported by precast concrete ribs.The shells are covered in a subtle
chevron pattern with 1,056,006 glossy white- and matte-cream-coloured Swedish-made tiles
from Hgans AB,though, from a distance, the shells appear a uniform white.
Apart from the tile of the shells and the glass curtain walls of the foyer spaces, the building's
exterior is largely clad with aggregate panels composed of pink granite quarried in Tarana.
Significant interior surface treatments also include off-form concrete, Australian white birch
plywood supplied from Wauchope in northern New South Wales, and brush box glulam
Of the two larger spaces, the Concert Hall is located within the western group of shells, and the
Opera Theatre within the eastern group. The scale of the shells was chosen to reflect the internal
height requirements, with low entrance spaces, rising over the seating areas and up to the high
stage towers. The smaller venues (the Drama Theatre, the Playhouse, and The Studio) are
located within the podium, beneath the Concert Hall. A smaller group of shells set to the western
side of the Monumental Steps houses the Bennelong Restaurant. The podium is surrounded by
substantial open public spaces, of which the large stone-paved forecourt area with the adjacent
monumental steps is also regularly used as a performance space.
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