Utzon, Jørn

Utzon, Jørn, << OOT suhn, yawrn >> (1918-2008), a Danish architect, designed the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia. The opera house, begun in 1957 and completed in 1973, stands on the southern side of Sydney Harbour. The building is designed as a series of giant white shells that resemble billowing sails, an effect spectacularly enhanced by its location. The opera house became one of the most famous buildings created in the second half of the 1900’s. In 2003, Utzon was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the most prestigious international award in architecture (see Pritzker Architecture Prize).

Utzon’s career was primarily divided between monumental civic buildings and more restrained housing projects. His major civic projects include the Bagsvaerd Church (completed in 1976) near Copenhagen and the National Assembly complex (1985) in Kuwait. His best-known housing projects include two in Denmark, the Kingo Houses (1960) in Elsinore and the Fredensborg Terraces (1963) in Fredensborg.

Jørn Oberg Utzon was born on April 9, 1918, in Copenhagen. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and briefly worked with the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Utzon received a scholarship to study in the United States in 1949. There, he was exposed to the work of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. All these architects influenced Utzon’s later work. After 1970, Utzon spent a number of years living in isolation on the island of Majorca, practicing through his sons, Jan and Kim Utzon. Jørn Utzon died on Nov. 29, 2008.

See also Sydney Opera House.