Peter Brian Hall was an Australian architect active in Sydney and elsewhere from the 1950s to the early 1990s. Schooled in the tenets of modernism his practice was also informed by a strong sense of the importance of function and context in design. During his early years Hall was the recipient of numerous education scholarships and bursaries, most notably a traineeship and then employment with the office of the New South Wales Government Architect, a source of highly creative architecture during the 1960s. However, Hall is best known for completing the Sydney Opera House after the resignation of its original architect, Jørn Utzon, in February 1966. At the age of 34, he was invited by the Government Architect to act as design architect in the newly formed consortium Hall Todd & Littlemore to resolve the issues which had led to Utzon's resignation, principally the design of all the interiors and the enclosing glass walls of the unfinished building. The Opera House opened in October 1973 and despite its subsequent success as Sydney's most popular performance venue, understanding of the work of Hall and his team has been coloured by the controversial circumstances of their appointment. For Hall, both personally and professionally, Utzon's legacy was a poisoned chalice – an unprecedented challenge to complete the building to a standard commensurate with its sublime exterior, but one that brought little recognition during his lifetime.
Sydney Opera House under construction as photographed by Hall in late 1965, shortly before he replaced Jorn Utzon as design architect on the building.
Peter Hall, Goldstein Hall refectory, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 1964. The Goldstein college complex won Hall the prestigious Sulman Medal in 1965.
Interior of Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, about 2017.
Sydney Opera House forecourt and concourse soon after completion in 1988. Hall worked on the project in conjunction with the New South Wales Government Architect's Office.
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture.
View from the west
The main Concert Hall
Joan Sutherland Theatre interior
The Bennelong Restaurant, located at the southernmost sail