Jorn Oberg Utzon

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Jørn Utzon, Danish architect best known for his dynamic, imaginative, but problematic design for the Sydney Opera House in Australia. • Utzon studied at the Copenhagen School of Architecture and then spent three years in Stockholm, where he came under the influence of the Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund. He also studied in the United States, and, for a six-month period in 1946, he worked in the office of the Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto. Among his important early works were two houses in Denmark, his own at Hellebæk and another at Holte. • Born: Jørn Oberg Utzon 9 April 1918, Copenhagen, Denmark • Died: 29 November 2008 (aged 90), Helsingør, Denmark • Alma mater: Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts • Occupation: Architect • Awards: Pritzker Prize • Buildings: Sydney Opera House, • Bagsværd Church, • Kuwait National Assembly Building • Note: • In 1957 Utzon won the design competition for a new opera house at Sydney with a dramatic design that brought him international fame. Construction, however, posed a variety of problems, many resulting from the innovative nature of the design, a series of sail-like shells. He resigned from the project in 1966, but construction continued until September 1973. The completed Opera House is now Sydney’s best-known landmark. • In 1999 Utzon agreed to return as the building’s architect, overseeing an improvement project. He redesigned the reception hall—the only interior space that had been true to his plans—and it opened in 2004 as the Utzon Room. Two years later a new colonnade was completed, marking the first alteration to the Opera House’s exterior since 1973. • In 2007 the Opera House was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. • • Design philosophy: • Utzon emphasized on the synthesis of form, material, and also social function, thus his fascination and openness to world architecture emphasized and progressed his architectural design process. • “His housing is designed to provide not only privacy for its inhabitants, but pleasant views of the landscape, and flexibility for individual pursuits—in short, designed with people in mind.” • “Utzon has always been ahead of his time. He rightly joins the handful of Modernists who have shaped the past century with buildings of timeless and enduring quality.” • Architectural approach: • Utzon has created a style marked by monumental civic buildings. • He transcends architecture as art and develops his forms into poetic inventions that possess thoughtful programming, structural integrity and sculptural harmony. • • Utzon had a Nordic sense of concern for nature which, in his design, emphasized the synthesis of form, material and function for social values. • His fascination with the architectural legacies of the ancient Mayas, the Islamic world, China and Japan enhanced his vision. • This developed into what Utzon later referred to as Additive Architecture, comparing his approach to the growth patterns of nature. • A design can grow like a tree, he explained: “If it grows naturally, the architecture will look after itself.” • Awards: • 1967 C. F. Hansen Meda • 1973 RAIA Gold Medal from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects • 1978 RIBA Royal Gold Medal • 1980 The Daylight and Building Component Award • 1982 Alvar Aalto Medal • 1987 Nykredit Architecture Prize[72] • 1992 Wolf Prize • 1998 Sonning Prize • 2000 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement • 2003 Pritzker Prize • Notable works: • Water tower in Svaneke, Bornholm, Denmark, 1952 • Architect's own house, Hellebæk, Denmark, 1952 • House in Holte, Denmark, 1953 • Kingo Houses, Helsingør, Denmark 1956–59 • Elineberg Housing, Helsingborg, Sweden, 1966 • Planetstaden housing project in Lund, Sweden, 1957–58 • Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, 1973 • Fredensborg Houses, courtyard housing in Fredensborg, Denmark, 1965 • Melli Bank, University of Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran, 1962 • Hammershøj Care Centre, Helsingør, Denmark, 1966 • Espansiva building system, pre-fabricated single-family houses, Denmark, 1960s • Bagsværd Church, Bagsværd, Denmark, 1976 • Can Lis, Architect's own house, Majorca, Spain, 1971 • National Assembly of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait, 1982 • Paustian Furniture Store, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1987 • Can Feliz, Majorca, Spain, 1994 • Skagen Odde Nature Centre, Skagen, Denmark, 1989 • (completed by his son Jan Utzon in 1999–2000) • Esbjerg Performing Arts Centre, Esbjerg, Denmark, 1997 • Utzon Centre, Aalborg, 2008 (with Kim Utzon) • Quotes: • “I like to be on the edge of the possible.” • “There is a rumour that I can't draw and never could. This is probably because I work so much with models. Models are one of the most beautiful design tools, but I still do the finest drawings you can imagine.” • “I have made a sculpture … you will never be finished with it – when you pass around it or see it against the sky… something new goes on all the time… together with the sun, the light and the clouds, it makes a living thing.” • TAG • #Towfiq_Hasan • #Jorn_Oberg_Utzon • #highlights

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