1.0 Introduction of Organic Structure.

More than green, beyond individual, Organic Architecture describes a way of thinking about design that transcends the common, everyday buildings around us. ecological + individual = organic While Organic Architecture does describe environmental concerns, it also embodies the human spirit, transcending the mere act of shelter into something which shapes and enhancesour lives. While Organic Architecture does describe an expression of individuality, it also explores our need to connect to Nature. Using Nature as our basis for design, a building or design must grow, as Nature grows, from the inside out. Most architects design their buildings as a shell and force their way inside. Nature grows from the idea of a seed and reaches out to its surroundings. A building thus, is akin to an organism and mirrors the beauty and complexity of Nature.

Understanding the systems of Nature, Eric Corey Freed regards each design as an organism and each component as an interrelated extension of that organism. He designs the proper organism for its environment in accord with the relationships of each piece to the whole, and the whole to the surroundings. Through an extensive interviewing process, Eric begins to shape this new creature and provides the biology. The clients are an integral piece of this development as they are the the true

designers of their building. Through this process we feel our clients are "designing their autobiography." The result produces unique and original forms that reflect the personality and needs of the client that also happen to be environmentally friendly. With a tendency toward natural forms and materials, these buildings often resemble organic creatures or plants, but are wholly new and inventive. This creative approach to design results in the opportunity to create an autobiography for yourself which lives in harmony with its surroundings and the environment. Organic architecture can in many ways be very similar to the previously discussed blobitecture. Instead of emulating nature like blobitecture, organic architecture attempts to integrate with nature so that the building and the surroundings can be one. Instead of believing the regular design styles that form follows function, most organic architects believe that form and function are one. The design is to build the entire structure from the inside, similar to how a tree grows from the inside of a seed.

1.1 Origin and Inspiration

Primitive vernacular architecture was innately organic, based on natural forms, structures and simple, local materials. The rectilinear, perpendicular form of architecture that came to dominate the 20th century was the reflection of an industrially driven age. However In the new millennium the designers are awakening to a new world inspired by the creative forces of nature and biological organisms.

It was in the USA that organic architecture began its great modern journey when Architect Louis Sullivan described his famous proverb that form follows a key concept for organic design. Frank Lloyd Wright would often choose sites close to woods, rock formations, or even waterfalls and his buildings would become part of

nature.

1.2 Characteristics
-The design approach is inspired by nature and the built form grows out of the site, emerging like an organism from the seed of the nature. -It is poetic, radical in design, multifaceted and surprising, distinctive but flexible and environmentally conscious -Organic architecture is said to be the mother of all architecture-sustainable or bio architecture, alternative architecture or any other.

1.3 Approach
-A respect for natural materials ( wood should look like wood) -Blend into the surroundings ( a house should look part of the hill,not perched on it) -An honest expression of the function of the building

2.0 Organic Architecture based on Frank Lloyd Wright

In Examining the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright it is only natural to concentrate on the three dimensional, on the masterful articulation of solids and voids. After all, as one of his early students put it, Wright's main concern was obviously not mechanical delineation, but "that immeasurably greater thing, the large scale manipulation of spaces and masses into a vital, intrinsic architecture."' With this observation in mind it is not surprising to learn that much of the detailed drawing and drafting was left to student assistants. It is also not unusual for those who analyse Wright's architecture to become preoccupied with the dynamics of a plan or elevation. To describe spatial continuity writers search for adjectives suggesting constant movement: "hovering roofs," "embracing rooms," "rhythmic patterns of sliding lines and planes," and so on. In Spite of the movement inherent in Wright's architecture, however, none of his buildings is extremely mobile in spirit. They are in fact substantially monumental in their earth-bound stability.Among the houses the one possible exception,Falling Water,is securely entrenched in its hillside and only the dramatic down-slope view,so often photographed,gives the impression of cantilevered mobility.Thus, as a significant adjunct to a balanced combination of mobility and monumentality,an ornamental effect,including in the first half of his career surface patterns,was of main concern to Wright.It Is to this comparatively neglected aspect of his work that the following paragraphs are devoted.Wright undoubtedly learned much about Sullivan's notion of "organic ornament" during his years in the offices of Adler and Sullivan. The importance of "living structure" as a phrase in his discussions of architecture is equivalent in emphasis to that which Sullivan places on the term "growth" in explaining the organic principle.In his Kindergarten Chats the older man points out the lack of growth or change in the ornament of contemporaneous architecture.One solution is to remove all ornament momentarily in order to allow the "decayed" matter to be forgotten. Then architects could start a new with a fresh ornament of the times, for a building without any

ornament was as unthinkable to Sullivan as a summer tree without leaves.In his Autobiography,Wright seems to agree with this conclusion and goes so far as to state the meaning of ornament as the "imagination giving natural pattern to structure itself.'"'In order to be "natural" a pattern must be as integrated to the structure as spots are to a leopard,or a patterned shell is to the turtle.These are the identifying characteristics of nature.In a similar way a building would not be fulfilled or identifiable as an individual structure without its ornament, something particularly suited to itself-its "natural pattern." Organic Architecture can take many forms. It can be designed of varied materials. It can be anywhere. With consideration of site, and respect of materials, Wright created masterpiece after masterpiece. These ideas were not originally his, and he never claimed to own them. He simply advocated for upholding principles of Organic Architecture in a cultural climate he felt had lost these principles. Wright had a strong disdain for historical revivalism and was revolted with the previous half a millennium of the world's architecture preceding his career. He was aghast at the reuse and feeble imitation of ancient architecture. Wright said that the architecture of the Renaissance was nothing but a facade -pilasters, arches, this, that, and the other -to paint a picture. But Wright held sacred the architecture of times before that, because ancient architecture was Organic Architecture. Wright so admired the indigenous architecture of the Mayans, Native Americans, Asians, and so on, because they all built by these principles -the nature of the land, the materials of the land. They built shelter that would accommodate their basic needs, without unnecessary ornaments and features, and made them beautiful. Wright loved even the architecture of Greeks and Romans, but because it was their own. He didn't feel it was necessary, or right to take the skins of those buildings and recreate them today, but rather take those principles behind their beauty, and create a natural architecture with modern materials and engineering, without creating a carbon copy.

CASE STUDY: Sydney opera house

3.0 Introduction of Sydney opera house

The Sydney Opera House is a masterpiece of late modern architecture and an iconic building of the 20th century. It is admired internationally and treasured by the people of Australia. Created by an architect who had been an avid sailor and understood the sea, the Sydney Opera House inhabits the world-famous maritime location on Sydney Harbour with such grace that it appears that the building belongs there naturally. The massive concrete sculptural shells that form the Sydney Opera Houses roof appear like billowing sails filled by the sea winds with the sunlight and cloud shadows playing across their shining white surfaces. As its Danish architect John Utzon envisaged, it is like a Gothic cathedral that people will never tire of and never be finished with.The Sydney Opera House represents a rare and outstanding architectural achievement: structural engineering that stretched the boundaries of the possible and sculptural architectural forms that raise the human spirit. It not only represents the masterwork of Utzon but also the exceptional collaborative achievements of engineers, building contractors and other architects. The Sydney Opera House is unique as a great building of the world that functions as a worldclass performing arts centre, a great urban sculpture and a public venue for community activities and tourism. This monumental building has become a symbol of its city and the Australian nation. The Sydney Opera House is not a simple entity but alive with citizens and urbanity. The outstanding natural beauty of the setting of the Sydney Opera House is intrinsic to its significance. The Sydney Opera House is situated at the tip of a prominent peninsula projecting into Sydney Harbour (known

as Bennelong Point) and within close proximity to the Royal Botanic Gardens and the world famous Sydney Harbour Bridge. Bennelong Point is flanked by Sydney Cove, Farm Cove and Macquarie Street.(refer to picture) These sites saw the first settlement, farming and governing endeavours of the colony in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Known as Jubgalee by the traditional Aboriginal custodians (the Cadigal

people), Bennelong Point was a meeting place of Aboriginal and European people during the early years of the colony. The Sydney Opera House is an exceptional building composition. Its architectural form comprises three groups of interlocking vaulted shells, set upon a vast terraced platform and surrounded by terrace areas that function as pedestrian concourses. The shells are faced in glazed off-white tiles while the podium is clad in earth-toned, reconstituted granite panels. The two main halls are arranged side by side, oriented north-south with their axes slightly inclined. The auditoria are carved out of the high north end of the podium so that they face south, towards the city, with the stage areas positioned between them and the entrance foyers. The north and south ends of the shells are hung with topaz glass walls that project diagonally outwards to form foyers, offering views from inside and outside. The tallest shell reaches the height of a 20-storey building above the water. The shell structures cover nearly two hectares and the whole site is nearly six hectares.(picture below)

3.1 The podium with its concourses, steps and forecourt

The podium, with its origins in the ancient architectural idea of the raised platform, becomes in Sydney a continuation and evocation of the local natural terrain, building as landscape, in a manner similar in intention to that of other great Nordic architects, notably Asplund, Aalto and Pietil (Carter 2005). The base of the Sydney Opera House rises up as a massive monolith of reinforced concrete, a grand granite-clad podium. Its monumental scale forms an artificial promontory that offers continuity with the harbour-side landscape. The podium measures 183 metres by 95 metres rising to 25 metres above sea level and was the largest concrete form in the southern hemisphere in the 1960s. The podium lends a ceremonial aspect to the site and has been likened to a great stage or an altar of a majestic church. The inspiration for Utzons design came from Mayan monuments, Chinese temples and Islamic mosques. Just as the stone platform of Mayan temples allowed worshipers to escape the jungle, the podium of the Sydney Opera House invites patrons and visitors to escape the city to a vantage point where they can explore the magnifi cent

vistas and experience the building. Utzons visits to the Mayan ruins on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico inspired his design for the podium and the wide stairs leading up to it: The Mayan platform gave a new, cosmic dimension to the terrace by placing the Indians in touch with the sky and an expanded universe above the jungl. It was Utzons conclusion that such stone jungle platforms were instruments for the podium and the wide stairs leading up to it.

3.2 The vaulted roof shells (the shells)

The audience and the performance itself, all taking place on top of the plateau, should be covered with a light sculptural roof, emphasising the heavy mass of the plateau below. The vaulted roof shells with their glistening white tiled skin set amidst the grand waterscape setting of Sydney Harbour are an exceptional architectural element. Utzon originally conceived them as single layer, rib-reinforced parabolic shells but they had to be refined during the design, engineering and construction process. The eventual design solution turned the shells into arched vaults. The established usage continues to refer to them as shells. The fi nal shape of the shells was derived from the surface of a single imagined sphere, some 75 metres in diameter. This geometry gives the building great coherence as well as allowing its

construction to benefit from the economies of prefabrication. Constructed ingeniously and laboriously by the Hornibrook Group, each shell is composed of precast rib segments radiating from a concrete pedestal and rising to a ridge beam. The ribs of the shells are covered with chevron-shaped,

precast concrete tile lids the shallow dishes clad with ceramic tiles. The main areas of the shells are covered in white

glossy tiles with matt tiles edging each segment.

This creates a beautiful and ever-changing effect so that the building

shines without creating a mirror effect. The tiles change colour according to the light and the perspective and can be anything from salmon pink, ochre, the palest of violets and cream or ghostly white. The white glazed shells draw attention to their identity as a freestanding sculpture. The two main shell structures cover the two main performance venues, known as the Concert Hall and Opera Theatre. The third set of shells that overlooks Sydney Cove was designed specially to house a restaurant.

3.3 The glass walls

Utzon wanted the walls to be expressed as a hanging curtain, a kind of glass waterfall that swings out as it descends to form a canopy over the lounge terraces and foyer entrances. Indeed, the north terraces are really great verandas with a glass canopy cover overlooking the harbour. The glass walls of the Sydney Opera House are a special feature of the building. They were constructed according to architect Peter Halls modified design. The open end and sides of the shells are filled by hanging glass curtain walls. The topaz glazed infill between the shells and the podium was built as a continuous laminated glass surface with facetted folds tied to a structure of steel mullions. A special feature is the canting out of the lowest sheets, which allows views out without reflections. The glass walls flood the building with sunlight and open it to the evening views of the city and harbour. Visitors often stand in the foyers under the shells mesmerised by the towering glass walls and intrigued at how the walls are held upright.

3.4 Performance halls

The Sydney Opera House has two main performance halls, the Concert Hall and the Opera Theatre. Utzon likened the relationship between the performance spaces and the shells to the structure of a walnut: the walnuts hard shell protects the kernels slightly wobbled form. His original design conceived constructed the of halls as being and largely hanging

plywood

independently within the vaulted shells so that their forms could be adapted to create the best acoustical performance. During the final design and construction of the halls after Utzons departure in 1966, plywood was used in only one of the halls. The Concert Hall is the largest performance space of the Sydney Opera House and accommodates up to 2700 people. Fitted high on the southern wall behind the stage is one of the largest

mechanical-action pipe organs in the world (Murray 2004: 135). Birch

plywood, formed into radiating ribs on the suspended down hollow the raft to ceiling, meet

extends

walls

laminated brush-box linings that match the floor. The Opera Theatre is the Sydney base for Opera Australia and the Australian Ballet, and a regular venue for the Sydney Dance Company. Its walls and ceiling are painted black and the floor is brush-box timber. The Drama Theatre, the Playhouse and the Studio were developed as new performance spaces after Utzons departure. They are located in the podium.

3.5 Public and back of house interiors

Peter Halls design for the interiors used different finishes to distinguish the various spaces in the building. Utzon regarded the foyers as outside spaces, designed to be seen clearly through the glass walls. In keeping with Utzons vision the foyer fabric was designed with the same natural palette of textures and colours as the exterior. Off-form concrete painted white was used for the internal podium walls. Other spaces that were to be used heavily by patrons, visitors, artists and staff were finished in the same white birch veneer as the Concert Hall. The veneer, which was applied to ply panels moulded to a shallow U shape, was used in various forms to conceal services, absorb sound and accommodate the changing geometry in the building. Affectionately known as wobblies, the panels were used throughout the complex, most notably in the Drama Theatre and the Playhouse and their foyers, the major corridor systems and toilet facilities. The white birch veneer in its various forms brought visual unity to the performers and staff spaces within the podium.

Upper floor plan of Sydney opera house

Lower floor plan

Elevation

4.0 Conclusion

By study the structure of Sydney Opera House,I can conclude that, an organic structure need a deep and lot of work. All of the element in the building and also around the building need to be include as consideration, because an organic structure is a big word and need to be as it should. The interior of the structure also need to be organic. The Sydney Opera House itself show how unique of the organic architecture. From the faade to the interior of the structure. The structure is directly connect to its surrounding.. The skyline of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the blue water of the harbour and the Sydney Opera House, viewed from a ferry or from the air, is dramatic and unforgettable. Besides, Utzon's design was, arguably, beyond the capabilities of engineering of the time. Utzon spent a couple of years reworking the design and it was 1961 before he had solved the problem of how to build the distinguishing feature - the 'sails' of the roof.

5.0 Bibliography
http://www.architecture411.com/notes/note.php?id_note=9 http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/assessments/bilateral/pubs/sohutzondesignprinciples.pdf http://ashet.org.au/images/Opera-House.pdf http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/166

Art Journal,vol 25,Autumn 1995,ornamentation and the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd wright, by james M.Dennis and L.B.Wenneber, College Art Association

http://architecturehomedesignz.com/search/sydney-opera-house-organic-architecture/

CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction of Organic Structure - 1.1 Origin and Inspiration - 1.2 Characterictics. - 1.3 Approach 2.0 Organic Architecture based on Frank Lloyd Wright. 3.0 Introduction of Sydney Opera House - 3.1 The podium with its concourses,step and forecourt - 3.2 The vaulted roof shells - 3.3 The glass wall - 3.4 Performance hall.. - 3.5 Public back of house interiors - 3.6 Plan and Section... 4.0 Conclusion. 5.0 Bibliography