Lego sydney opera house - 21012 Instruction Manual

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utzon’s distinct design was comprised of sets of 
interlocking vaulted ‘shells’ based upon a podium. Over 
three years utzon gradually made changes from his 
original concept drawings in order to develop a way to 
construct the large roof shells. While the podium was 
under construction, the geometry of the shells had not 
yet been resolved from an engineering perspective. Many 
options were explored, culminating in utzon's 'spherical 
solution', developed in collaboration with Ove arup, using 
segments of a single sphere. This allowed cost effective 
prefabrication from a single set of moulds. 
 
The scale of construction of Sydney Opera House 
was enormous. Over 30 000 cubic metres of rock and soil 
had to be removed from the site and the construction of 
the shell structure required the world’s largest crane.
 
Construction
Models of shells. © State Records NSW
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