A Building That Changed the Image of Entire Country

The Sydney Opera House is one of the most famous buildings in Australia. It is known for its unique architectural style. The main architect, Jørn Utzon, was inspired by the natural world as he designed the building. 1) __________ So, he decided to shape his building’s roof like rising boat sails. The white roof is also covered in tiles that look like the patterns found on leaves. These tiles reflect the sunlight. The roof glimmers on a sunny day. 2) _________ There are over one million tiles! Sometimes images will also be projected onto the roof. These projections look beautiful at night. They are often used to celebrate a holiday.

3) __________ Construction began in 1957 and ended in 1973. It took many years for Utzon and his fellow architects to figure out how to create the roof sails. One of the reasons why it was such a difficult process was that Utzon had to think about the acoustics of the building. 4) ________ The Sydney Opera House needed to have good acoustics since many singers and musicians would be performing there.

5) ______. Now four million people visit or attend performances at the Sydney Opera House every year! Would you want to attend a performance at the Sydney Opera House?