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Jørn Utzon

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The Sydney Opera House

Jørn Utzon AC (born April 9, 1918) is a Danish architect best known for his groundbreaking design for the Sydney Opera House.

Biography

Utzon was born in Copenhagen as the son of a naval engineer, and grew up in Denmark. In 1957 he unexpectedly won the competition for a new opera house in Sydney, Australia, despite the fact that it was his first non-domestic design and his entry did not meet the contest criteria because the designs he submitted were little better than preliminary drawings. Judge Eero Saarinen, who called it a Genius and declared he could not endorse any other choice. (In contrast, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe turned his back when introduced to Utzon, then 39.)

Over several years Utzon gradually made major changes from his original concept designs and gradually developed a way to construct the large shells that cover the two halls, replacing the original elliptical shells with a design based on complex sections of a sphere. Architect Utzon says his design was inspired by the simple act of peeling an orange: the 14 shells of the building, if combined would form a perfect sphere.[citation needed]

Although Utzon had spectacular plans for the interior of these halls, he was unable to realize 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 secretly 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 Sydney Opera House was finally completed, and opened in 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II, and is one of the world's most recognizable buildings[citation needed]. The architect was neither invited to the ceremony, nor was his name mentioned. To this day, he has never returned to Australia and has never set eyes on his masterpiece. Time Publishment, Great Buildings of the World.

In March 2003, Utzon was awarded an honorary doctorate for his work on the opera house by the University of Sydney. Utzon's son accepted the award on his behalf as he himself was too ill to travel to Australia. Utzon has also been made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) and the Keys to the City Of Sydney. He has also been involved in redesigning the opera house, and in particular, the reception hall, following an agreement made in 2000. Also, in 2003, he received the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honor.

In March 2006, Queen Elizabeth II opened the western colonnade addition to the building that was constructed by Utzon in the last years without his having been to Australia since 1966. His son, Jan, took his place in the opening ceremony instead, saying his father "is too old by now to take the long flight to Australia. But he lives and breathes the opera house, and as its creator he just has to close his eyes to see it."

On the 29th of June, 2007, the Sydney Opera House was declared a World Heritage site.

Architectural works

Major built projects:

Major unbuilt projects:

Literature

  • Arkitektur (magazine), Copenhagen 1947 #7-9, essay Tendenser i nutidens arkitektur by Jørn Utzon and Tobias Faber
  • Arkitektur (magazine), Copenhagen 1970 #1, essay Additiv arkitektur by Jørn Utzon
  • Zodiac 5 (magazine), Milan 1959
  • Zodiac 10 (magazine), Milan 1962, essay Platforms and Plateaus: Ideas of a Danish Architect by Jørn Utzon
  • Zodiac 14 (magazine), Milan 1965
  • Sigfried Gideon: Space, Time and Architecture. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1967
  • Kenneth Frampton: Studies in Tectonic Culture. Cambridge, Mass. & London: MIT-Press, 1995. ISBN 0262561492
  • Françoise Fromonot: Jørn Utzon, The Sydney Opera House. Corte Madera, California: Gingko Press, 1998. ISBN 3927258725
  • Richard Weston: Utzon - Inspiration, Vision, Architecture. Denmark: Edition Bløndal, 2002. ISBN 8788978982
  • J.J. Ferrer Forés: Jørn Utzon. Obras y Proyectos. Works and Projects. Spain: GG 2006. ISBN 9788425220609

Template:Pritzker Prize Winners 2001-2025

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