Jørn Utzon turns 90 this year and even though the architect probably would prefer to avoid too much fuss, we have taken the liberty of producing this publication.
And with good reason. As when one asks a number of Utzon's colleagues if they will send a sketch and a birthday greeting, they pour in from all over the world.
That's the way it goes when one thinks, draws and builds as Jørn Utzon has done.
The thought and the line are the chief concerns in this publication. The sketches and texts received meet Jørn Utzons own sketches, which the editors have selected among a great number of drawings that today have been scanned and registered at The Danish Architectural Press. Several of the sketches are published for the first time in this publication.
Assistant research professor Michael Asgaard Andersen writes about Utzon's sketches; from the early, first lines, which live their own lives, till the house, the chair or the boat takes form in the artist's head - and on paper.
The effect of Jørn Utzon's work, the ideas and the buildings' universal impact and importance today are interpreted by Steven Holl, Henning Larsen, Rafael Moneo, Lene Tranberg, Tadao Ando, Glenn Murcutt, Tobias Faber, Richard Leplastrier, Jan Søndergaard, Juhani Pallasmaa and Tony Fretton.
Congratulations Jørn Utzon!
Reviewed in The Architectural Review May 2008:
"... Delight ... Jørn Utzon´s 90th birthday is the subject of an elegant festschrift".