Jørn (Oberg) Utzon

Jørn Utzon was the son of a naval en­gi­neer, and grew up in Den­mark. In 1957 he won the com­pe­ti­tion for a new opera house in Syd­ney, Aus­tra­lia. In the fol­lo­wing years, Utzon gra­dually de­ve­l­o­ped a way to con­struct the large shells that cover the two halls.

He also had spec­ta­cu­lar plans for the in­te­rior of these halls, but due to po­li­ti­cal chan­ges, the newly elec­ted state go­vern­ment of New South Wales sud­denly stop­ped the pay­ments to Utzon and he had to leave the coun­try in 1966, lea­ving the un­fi­nis­hed project be­hind. He has never re­tur­ned to Aus­tra­lia since.

The Syd­ney Opera House was fi­nally com­ple­ted in 1973 and is one of the world's most re­co­gniz­able buil­dings.

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 come to Aus­tra­lia. It is ex­pec­ted that he will at­tend the house's 30th bir­th­day ce­le­bra­ti­ons. He is also now in­vol­ved in re­de­si­gning the house, and in par­ti­cu­lar, the re­cep­tion hall, fol­lo­wing an agree­ment made in 2000.

Among other of Jørn Utzon's projects are: Pla­net­sta­den hou­sing project - Lund, Swe­den (1958) - King­o­hu­sene hou­sing project - El­si­nore (1960), The Ku­wait As­sem­bly Hall (1972), Can Lis - Mal­lorca (1972), Bags­værd Church - Copen­ha­gen (1976), The Paus­tian Fur­ni­ture Store - Copen­ha­gen (1987), Can Feliz - Mal­lorca (1995).

Wi­ki­pe­dia