Sydney Opera House

It's pretty hard to get a dud shot of the Opera House. An amazing piece of engineering and architecture.

From wikipedia

Although [Jørn] Utzon had spectacular plans for the interior of these halls, he was unable to realise this part of his design. In mid-1965 the state Liberal government of Robert Askin was elected and Utzon soon found himself in conflict with the new Minister of Works, Davis Hughes. Attempting to rein in the escalating cost of the project, Hughes began questioning Utzon's designs, schedules and cost estimates, and he eventually stopped the payments to Utzon, who was forced to resign as chief architect in February 1966. He secretely left the country days later, never to return.

In an article in Harvard Design Magazine in 2005 [1], professor Bent Flyvbjerg argues that Utzon fell victim to a politically lowballed construction budget, which eventually resulted in a cost overrun of 1,400 percent. The overrun and the scandal it created kept Utzon from building more masterpieces. This, according to Flyvbjerg, is the real cost of the Sydney Opera House.

The old tart really sparkles on Sydney Harbour. Here's a pic from under her petticoats. The concrete formwork and reinforcing is still amazing some 30 years later.