Jorn Utzon: photo and biography of the architect, his most famous projects

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:46

The person who will be discussed in the article is better known in circles related to architecture. This is Jorn Utzon. Few people think that the Sydney Opera House was built according to the project of an unknown Dane. Let's get acquainted with the biography and famous projects of the architect.

From the biography of Utzon

Jorn was born into an architect's family in 1918 in Denmark. Therefore, I have been familiar with architecture since childhood. Father - a naval architect, had an engineering education and worked as a director in a local shipyard. The desire to follow his father led Jorn to become an architect as well.

After enrolling in an architecture school in Copenhagen, Jorn learns from renowned teachers and architects of the time: Steen Eler Rasmussen and Kai Fisker. The skills acquired at school could not but be reflected in the work of the future architect.

Creative activity

After receiving a diploma in architecture in 1942, Utzon worked in Sweden until 1946. This was followed by a trip to the US, where Yorn met with Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1946 heworks in the workshop of Alvar A alto in Helsinki, then another three years with Gunnar Asplund in Stockholm. Gaining knowledge and experience from world-famous architects, Jorn Utzon revealed the principles of organic architecture more for himself.

1946 was an eventful year for Jorn. The young architect participates in competitions announced in the country, creates new architectural projects. At this time, he had the idea of creating the Crystal Palace project in London, work continues with the architects Tobias Faber and Mogens Irming. Participating in local Swedish competitions, in the 50s of the XX century, Utzon received a number of awards, including the award he received for the designed residential building in Elinberg.

In 1949, Jorn received a grant that allowed him and his wife, Lis, to travel extensively throughout the United States and Mexico, where they interacted with some of the most influential architects and designers of the time. These meetings were held at the Frank Lloyd Wright School in Talisin, where Yorn was "introduced" to the floating view of space, which impressed him greatly.

First architectural buildings

Jørn Utzon projects for the construction of simple atrium-type brick houses carried out in 1950, and two years later he created his own house in Hellebeck. It was a building of large size, divided by functionality, it was based on the principles of organic architecture. The flat roofed house is the first of its kind in Denmark.

Introduction toarchitecture of the countries of the East

Utzon went to the East in 1957 to get acquainted with the architecture of China and Japan. The young architect met with Professor Liang, the man who translated into modern (from ancient Chinese) the building laws that were in force 800 years ago. This work consisted of 7 volumes. Jorn on this trip discovered for himself the differences in Chinese and Japanese architecture, was surprised by the differences in measuring instruments in these countries. What is measured in China with a rigid scale, in Japan is measured with a flexible cable. All the knowledge gained during the trip, Jorn embodied in the projects he created.

International competition

In 1956, the Prime Minister of New South Wales, the Honorable Joe Cahill, announced an international competition for the architectural design of the Sydney Opera House. More than two hundred projects from architects from all over the world were submitted for consideration by the competition commission. After winning a number of small architectural awards, Jorn Utzon also offered his vision for the Sydney Opera House. The building was presented to him as curved, which radically destroyed the cube and rectangular shapes of modernist architecture.

The judging panel, which considered the submitted projects, rejected Jorn's work. But his project was destined to be realized. One of the judges included in the jury of the competition came late to the beginning of the discussion of the projects, so he decided to review the work rejected by his colleagues. This jury member was the American architect Jero Saarinen. He was struck by the designbuilding, he persuaded the international jury to give preference to the work of Jorn Utzon, as he immediately understood its significance.

Perhaps it will be surprising that Jorn was not in Australia, he did not even see the place where the construction was supposed to be. But the project he submitted was the best fit for this area and corresponded to the spirit of Sydney.

Construction of the Opera House

In 1957 Yorn won the international competition for the building of the century - the construction of the Sydney Opera House with a concert hall and foyer in Sydney. In cooperation with the engineering company Ove Arup & Partners, led by the Danish designer Ove Arup, the design of an impressive sculptural body up to 60 m high on a platform was developed. Prefabricated ribbed elements were assembled at the construction site in 1961.

Construction took 14 years instead of the planned four. In 1973, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain attended the opening of the building. The interior of the theater strikes the imagination no less than the exterior. There are halls under the roof: a concert hall for 2,500 spectators, an opera hall for 1,500 people, and two halls for dramatic performances. The building houses a restaurant and a cinema.

Public opinion and international fame

It is worth noting that not everyone was ambivalent about Jorn's project for the construction of the theater. What was incomprehensible (even for designers) was the need for an arbitrary intersection of huge vaults, in whichthere are no tangible connections between the internal and external space of the theatre. The question involuntarily arose: "What is all this for?"

But for Jorn Utzon, architecture was about more than just functional content. They won the right to fully express their own ideas. The idea of a soaring arch was embodied in the project. The architect went beyond mere utility, demonstrating the independence of architectural expression, opening up new possibilities in modern urban architecture. His object became a masterpiece.

Utzon achieved international fame as the architect of the Sydney Opera House (1957-73). The building is rightfully considered a masterpiece of the 20th century, the main attraction of Sydney. Jorn Utzon received an award for this work - a gold medal from the Royal Institute of Architects of Australia.

Other architectural objects

After such a landmark object, Jorn received several more orders for the design of buildings, exhibition complexes, churches, theaters. An impressive work was done in 1960 for an international exhibition in Copenhagn. Among the projects was a church in Bauswerde, which is located on the outskirts of Copenhagen (pictured above). In 1964, Jörn Utzon receives the first prize for the design of the theater building in Zurich.

Yorn's foreign works include another major project - the building of the National Assembly of Kuwait (1982), which in 1991 was damaged during Iraq's attack on Kuwait. After its restoration, the buildingdiffers from the original intention of the architect. In 1994, Utzon designs his own house "Ken Feliz" in Mallorca, Spain.

In 2003, Jorn was awarded the Pritzker Prize (equivalent to the Nobel Prize in architecture). The Sydney Opera House was declared a World Heritage Site during the lifetime of the architect in 2007.

On December 1, 2008, the famous Danish architect Jorn Utzon died at the age of 90 in a hospital in Copenhagen from heart failure.