Luis Fernández-Galiano   To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Pritzk-er Prize goes to a great Dane who a quarter-century ago had already made history. In 1978 Jørn Utzon received the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects – a prestigious centenarian award

Richard Weston   The development of Utzon’s designs – perhaps of most good designs? – seems to have been characterised by moments of insight punctuating protracted periods of hard work to explore their implications. Nowhere was this truer than in Sydney. The vital sp

Marja-Riitta Norri   Jørn Utzon’s design method was hermeneutic and intuitive. His chief assistant Mogens Prip-Buus describes the team’s work method in Logbook 1 (the Courtyard Houses) as follows: “….we didn’t work on the basis or around theories, we merely tried to unde

Françoise Fromonot   Dear Jørn: A hundred years, it’s daunting. How to ‘wish you a happy birthday’? These words are pronounced many times in the course of a lifetime. If this greeting works, it’s because it expresses celebration and good wishes at the same time, because

Enrique Sobejano   Considering that Jørn Utzon’s architecture is based on a phenomenological and empirical experience that gravitates essentially around perceptive aspects like light, movement, topography, and materials, it may seem illogical to talk about projects whi

Kenneth Frampton   The illusory somewhat agricultural character of the Bagsværd Church, designed soon after Jørn Utzon’s return to Denmark from Australia, seems to confirm that in a secular age spiritual structures may be more effectively evoked through the evocation o

Rafael Moneo   Issue 5 of Zodiac, published in the spring of 1960, showed how Jørn Utzon’s winning the competition for the Sydney Opera House was not a mere stroke of luck, and that he was an architect to watch out for. Works like the water tower on Bornholm or the

Jørn Utzon   Denmark   Built in 1959 and in 1963 respectively, the Kingo and Fredensborg houses share one same system of organic growth based on the repetition of the same residential type. In both cases, the main idea is to combine the privacy of domestic life – through i

Jørn Utzon   Denmark   Built in 1959 and in 1963 respectively, the Kingo and Fredensborg houses share one same system of organic growth based on the repetition of the same residential type. In both cases, the main idea is to combine the privacy of domestic life – through i

Jørn Utzon   Australia   In 1957, when he was 38 years old, Utzon won the competition to build the Sydney Opera House at Bennelong Point, a small cape located at the center of the Bay, between the interior port and the coast. It was a moment of change in Australia, an optimi

Jørn Utzon   Denmark   In the 1960s, Herning – a small town in the center of Jutland – became a cultural reference for art, with an intense cultural life promoted by the rich textile industry. In this context, Utzon was commissioned to design an experimental school that sh

Jørn Utzon   Denmark   In 1538, after the Protestant reformation in Denmark, Bagsværd Church was demolished per order of the king to use its stones in the refurbishment of the bishop’s old palace, where Lutheran theology would be imparted. Four centuries later, in 1969, th

Jørn Utzon   Kuwait   Up to the 1930s, Kuwait was still a compact city with one and two-story buildings within the boundaries of the old city wall, but the discovery of oil spurred an explosive growth. When in 1961 it declared total independence from the British protector

Jørn Utzon   Spain   After leaving Australia in 1966, Utzon decided to build a getaway where he could spend time with his family, and in Mallorca he found the ideal place. However, as time went by Can Lis became, as happened with his other few works, a pilgrimage site fo

Jørn Utzon   Spain   After leaving Australia in 1966, Utzon decided to build a getaway where he could spend time with his family, and in Mallorca he found the ideal place. However, as time went by Can Lis became, as happened with his other few works, a pilgrimage site fo