Sydney Opera House designer Joern Utzon dies

DANISH architect Joern Utzon who designed the Sydney Opera House has reportedly died.

Mr Utzon's son Kim says his father died in his sleep early yesterday, Associated Press has reported. He was 90.

Mr Utzon drew up the design for the Opera House in 1957 but quit seven years before it was finished after scandals about cost blowouts and design arguments.

Government-appointed architects took over and the interior was not completed to Mr Utzon's original plan.

He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for the sculptural building that the jury singled out as among the most iconic buildings of the 20th century.

Mr Utzon was born in Copenhagen as the son of a naval engineer, and grew up in Denmark.

From 1937 he studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and worked for Alvar Aalto and Frank Lloyd Wright.

He started his own office in 1950 in Copenhagen.

In 1957 he unexpectedly won the competition to design the Sydney Opera House with designs which were little more than preliminary drawings.

Over several years Mr Utzon gradually made major changes from his original concept designs and gradually developed a way to construct the large shells that cover the two halls.

The Opera House was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007.

The building is situated on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, near the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
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As well as many touring theatre, ballet, and musical productions, the Opera House is the home of Opera Australia, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony.

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