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PUBLICATION

ON

OR

AFTER

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7, 2003

M

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ANNOUNCING

THE

2003

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RITZKER

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AUREATE

Photo Booklet

The photo booklet contains a photo of Jørn Utzon and a selection of full color

reproductions of his works. This does not represent a complete catalogue of the Laureate’s
work, but rather a representative sampling. They are all 200 line screen lithographs printed
on high gloss stock. These replace the need for using black & white continuous tone prints.
They may be re-photographed using 85 line screens for black & white newspaper
reproduction, and they can be re-sized, either 50% larger or smaller with no degradation
in the image quality or moire effect. The same holds true for the B&W images in the media
text booklet. For color reproduction, you may download high resolution images suitable
for printing from our web site at PritzkerPrize.com. If downloading is a problem, we have
a limited number of CD’s with hi-res images available.

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs/drawings are courtesy of Jørn Utzon/Utzon Architects.

Permission is granted for media use in relation to the Pritzker Architecture Prize. They may not be

used for any other advertising or publicity purpose without permission from the individual

photographers. Photo credit lines should appear next to published photos as indicated in these media

materials.

The Hyatt Foundation
Media Information Office
Attn: Keith H. Walker
8802 Ashcroft Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90048-2402

phone: [phone] or

310-278-7372

fax: [phone]

e-mail: [e-mail]

http:/www.pritzkerprize.com

M

EDIA

C

ONTACT

Note to Editors: For complete details on the history of the Pritzker Prize

and previous laureates, see www.pritzkerprize.com.

Media Text Booklet

Previous Laureates of the Pritzker Prize ............................................. 2-3
Media Release Announcing the 2003 Laureate ................................. 4-6
Drawings of Jørn Utzon ............................................................................ 7
Members of the Pritzker Jury ................................................................... 8
Citation from Pritzker Jury ....................................................................... 9
Comments from Individual Jurors ................................................... 10-11
About Jørn Utzon .............................................................................. 12-20
Drawings of Jørn Utzon .......................................................................... 20
Fact Summary – Chronology of Works, Exhibits, Honors ............ 21-22
Drawings and B&W Photographs of Utzon’s Works ...................... 23-24
2003 Ceremony Site .......................................................................... 25-26
History of the Pritzker Prize ............................................................. 27-28

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Philip Johnson of the United States of America

presented at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

1 9 8 0

Luis Barragán of Mexico

presented at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

1 9 8 1

James Stirling of the United Kingdom

presented at the National Building Museum,

Washington, D.C.

1 9 8 2

Kevin Roche of the United States of America

presented at The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois

1 9 8 3

Ieoh Ming Pei of the United States of America

presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

New York, New York

1 9 8 4

Richard Meier of the United States of America

presented at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1 9 8 5

Hans Hollein of Austria

presented at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical

Gardens, San Marino, California

1 9 8 6

Gottfried Böhm of Germany

presented at Goldsmiths’ Hall, London, United Kingdom

1 9 8 7

Kenzo Tange of Japan

presented at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

1 9 8 8

Gordon Bunshaft of the United States of America

and

Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil

presented at The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois

1 9 8 9

Frank O. Gehry of the United States of America

presented at the Todai-ji Buddhist Temple, Nara, Japan

3

1 9 9 0

Aldo Rossi of Italy

presented at Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

1 9 9 1

Robert Venturi of the United States of America

presented at Palacio de Iturbide, Mexico City, Mexico

1 9 9 2

Alvaro Siza of Portugal

presented at the Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago, Illinois

1 9 9 3

Fumihiko Maki of Japan

presented at Prague Castle, Czech Republic

1 9 9 4

Christian de Portzamparc of France

presented at The Commons, Columbus, Indiana

1 9 9 5

Tadao Ando of Japan

presented at the Grand Trianon and the Palace of Versailles, France

1 9 9 6

Rafael Moneo of Spain

presented at the construction site of The Getty Center,

Los Angeles, Calfiornia

1 9 9 7

Sverre Fehn of Norway

presented at the construction site of The Guggenheim Museum,

Bilbao, Spain

1 9 9 8

Renzo Piano of Italy

presented at the White House, Washington, D.C.

1 9 9 9

Sir Norman Foster (Lord Foster) of the United Kingdom

presented at the Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany

2 0 0 0

Rem Koolhaas of The Netherlands

presented at the The Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Israel

2 0 0 1

Jaques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Switzerland

presented at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia

2 0 0 2

Glenn Murcutt of Australia

presented at Michelangelo’s Campidoglio in Rome, Italy

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Los Angeles, CA—Danish architect Jørn Utzon, who designed what

has arguably become the most famous building in the world, the Sydney
Opera House in Australia, has been chosen as the 2003 Laureate of the
Pritzker Architecture Prize which marks its 25th anniversary this year.
The 84 year old Utzon has retired to a house he designed for himself on
the island of Majorca, but his two sons, Jan and Kim, continue the
practice of Utzon Architects in Haarby, Denmark.

In announcing the jury’s choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, president of

The Hyatt Foundation, said, “Jørn Utzon has designed a remarkably
beautiful building in Australia that has become a national symbol to the
rest of the world. In addition, in a most distinguished career, he has
designed several other significant works, including housing complexes,
a church, residences, and other commercial buildings. We are delighted
that the jury has seen fit to recognize this great talent as we celebrate our
first quarter of a century.”

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, Lord Rothschild, commented, “Jørn

Utzon created one of the great iconic buildings of the 20th century, an
image of great beauty known throughout the world. In addition to this
masterpiece, he has worked throughout his life fastidiously, brilliantly,
quietly and with never a false or jarring note. He is therefore a most
distinguished recipient of the Pritzker Prize.”

The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout

the world as architecture's highest honor will be held on May 20, 2003
in Madrid, Spain. At that time, a $100,000 grant and a bronze
medallion are bestowed. Utzon is the first Dane to become a Pritzker
Laureate, and the 27th honoree since the prize was established in 1979.
His selection continues what has become a ten-year trend of laureates
from the international community.

Bill Lacy, an architect, spoke as the executive director of the Pritzker

Prize, quoting from the jury citation which states, “Utzon has always
been ahead of his time. He rightly joins the handful of Modernists who
have shaped the past century with buildings of timeless and enduring
quality.”

Danish Architect Jørn Utzon
Becomes 2003 Pritzker
Architecture Prize Laureate

For publication on or after Monday, April 7, 2003

5

Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture critic and member of the jury,

commented further saying, “It has taken half a century to understand
the true path of architecture in our time, to pick up the threads of
continuity and the signposts to the future, to recognize the broader and
deeper meaning of 20th century work that has been subjected to
doctrinaire modernist criticism and classification, or tabled as history.
In this light, the work of Jørn Utzon takes on a particular richness and
significance.”

Another juror, Carlos Jimenez from Houston who is professor of

architecture at Rice University, said, “Singular is an attribute that
embodies the life and work of Jørn Utzon. The unique resolve and
erudition of this architect’s few but compelling works have captured the
imagination of architects and the public alike ever since his brilliant
debut in the international scene almost fifty years ago. ”

And from juror Jorge Silvetti, who chairs the Department of Archi-

tecture, Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, “Paradoxi-
cally, while the act of awarding in 2003 the Pritzker Prize to Jørn Utzon
may be perceived as long overdue, it comes at such a particular moment
in the development of architecture as to be timely and exemplary. In the
current frenzy of unbound personal expressionism and blind subordi-
nation to attention-grabbing production techniques, his explorations
remind us that both ‘expression and technique’ are servants and second-
ary to more profound and foundational architectural ideas. His work
shows us that the marvelous and seemingly ‘impossible’ in architecture
depend still on genial minds and able hands."”

The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is to honor annually

a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those
qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced
consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built
environment through the art of architecture.

The distinguished jury that selected Utzon as the 2003 Laureate

consists of its chair man, Lord Rothschild, for mer chair man ofthe
National Heritage Memorial Fund of Great Britain and formerly the
chairman of that country's National Gallery of Art; and alphabetically:
the late Giovanni Agnelli, chairman emeritus of Fiat from Torino, Italy;
Frank Gehry, architect and 1989 Pritzker Laureate; Ada Louise Huxtable,
author and architectural critic of New York; Carlos Jimenez, professor
at Rice University School of Architecture, and principal, Carlos Jimenez
Studio Houston, Texas; Jorge Silvetti, chair man, department of
architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

The prize presentation ceremony moves to different locations around

6

the world each year, paying homage to historic and contemporary
architecture. Last year, the ceremony was held in Michelangelo’s
Campidoglio in Rome, Italy. In 2001, Charlottesville, Virginia at
Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello was the venue. In 2000, the
ceremony was held in Jerusalem in the Archaeological Park surrounding
the Dome of the Rock.

Philip Johnson was the first Pritzker Laureate in 1979. The late Luis

Barragán of Mexico was named in 1980. The late James Stirling of
Great Britain was elected in 1981, Kevin Roche in 1982, Ieoh Ming Pei
in 1983, and Richard Meier in 1984. Hans Hollein of Austria was the
1985 Laureate. Gottfried Boehm of Germany received the prize in
1986. Kenzo Tange was the first Japanese architect to receive the prize
in 1987; Fumihiko Maki was the second from Japan in 1993; and Tadao
Ando the third in 1995. Robert Venturi received the honor in 1991, and
Alvaro Siza of Portugal in 1992. Christian de Portzamparc of France
was elected Pritzker Laureate in 1994. The late Gordon Bunshaft of the
United States and Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil, were named in 1988.
Frank Gehry was the recipient in 1989, the late Aldo Rossi of Italy in
1990. In 1996, Rafael Moneo of Spain was the Laureate; in 1997
Sverre Fehn of Norway; in 1998 Renzo Piano of Italy, in 1999 Sir
Nor man Foster of the UK, and in 2000, Rem Koolhaas of the
Netherlands. In 2001, two architects from Switzerland received the
honor: Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. Last year’s laureate was
Australian Glenn Murcutt.

The field of architecture was chosen by the Pritzker family because

of their keen interest in building due to their involvement with developing
the Hyatt Hotels around the world; also because architecture was a
creative endeavor not included in the Nobel Prizes. The procedures
were modeled after the Nobels, with the final selection being made by
the international jury with all deliberations and voting in secret.
Nominations are continuous from year to year with hundreds of
nominees from countries all around the world being considered each
year.

# # #

7

Sydney Opera House

(under construction)

Sydney, Australia 1957-1973

Photos this page by John Garth/Max Dupain

42

43

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8

T

HE

J

URY

C

HAIRMAN

The Lord Rothschild

Former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery

Former Chairman, National Heritage Memorial Fund

London, England

*Giovanni Agnelli

Chairman Emeritus, Fiat

Torino, Italy

Frank O. Gehry

A r c h i t e c t a n d P r i t z k e r L a u r e a t e 1 9 8 9

Los Angeles, California

Ada Louise Huxtable

Author and Architectural Critic

New York, New York

Carlos Jimenez

Professor, Rice University School of Architecture

Principal, Carlos Jimenez Studio

Houston, Texas

Jorge Silvetti

Chairman, Department of Architecture

Harvard University, Graduate School of Design

Cambridge, Massachusetts

E

XECUTIVE

D

IRECTOR

Bill Lacy

State University of New York at Purchase

Purchase, New York

*deceased

9

Citation from the Jury

Jørn Utzon is an architect whose roots extend back into history
— touching on the Mayan, Chinese and Japanese, Islamic
cultures, and many others, including his own Scandinavian
legacies. He combines these more ancient heritages with his
own balanced discipline, a sense of architecture as art, and
natural instinct for organic structures related to site conditions.

The range of his projects is vast, from the sculptural abstraction
of the Sydney Opera House to handsome, humane housing; a
church that remains a masterwork with its remarkably lyrical
ceilings; as well as monumental public buildings for government
and commerce.

His housing is designed to provide not only privacy for its
inhabitants, but pleasant views of the landscape, and flexibility
for individual pursuits — in short, designed with people in mind.

There is no doubt that the Sydney Opera House is his masterpiece.
It is one of the great iconic buildings of the 20th century, an
image of great beauty that has become known throughout the
world — a symbol for not only a city, but a whole country and
continent.

“I like to be on the edge of the possible,” is something Jørn Utzon
has said. His work shows the world that he has been there and
beyond — he proves that the marvelous and seemingly impossible
in architecture can be achieved. He has always been ahead of his
time. He rightly joins the handful of Modernists who have
shaped the past century with buildings of timeless and enduring
quality.

10

“Jørn Utzon created one of the great iconic buildings of the 20th century, an

image of great beauty known throughout the world. In addition to this

masterpiece, he has worked throughout his life fastidiously, brilliantly, quietly

and with never a false or jarring note. He is therefore a most distinguished

recipient of the Pritzker Prize.”

Lord Jacob Rothshild

Pritzker Jury Chairman

“It has taken half a century to understand the true path of architecture in our

time, to pick up the threads of continuity and the signposts to the future, to

recognize the broader and deeper meaning of 20th century work that has been

subjected to doctrinaire modernist criticism and classification, or tabled as

history. In this light, the work of Jørn Utzon takes on a particular richness and

significance. In a forty year practice, each commission displays a continuing

development of ideas both subtle and bold, true to the teaching of early

pioneers of a ‘new’ architecture, but that cohere in a prescient way, most

visible now, to push the boundaries of architecture toward the present. This

has produced a range of work from the sculptural abstraction of the Sydney

Opera House that foreshadowed the avant garde expression of our time, and

is widely considered to be the most notable monument of the 20th century, to

handsome, humane housing and a church that remains a masterwork today.”

Ada Louise Huxtable

Pritzker Juror

"Singular is an attribute that embodies the life and work of Jørn Utzon. The

unique resolve and erudition of this architect’s few but compelling works have

captured the imagination of architects and the public alike ever since his

brilliant debut in the international scene almost fifty years ago. Although few

and far apart each work startles with its irrepressible creativity. How else to

explain the lineage binding those indelible ceramic sails on the Tasmanian

Sea, the fertile optimism of the housing at Fredensborg, or those sublime

undulations of the ceilings at Bagsvaerd, to name just three of Utzon’s

timeless works. He is an architect’s architect, luminous in the clarity of his

expansive trace, wise in the serenity of his island life."

Carlos Jimenez

Pritzker Juror

Note to editors: The following are some additional comments
from individual Pritzker Prize Jurors:

11

"I believe that the choice of Jørn Utzon for this year’s Pritzker Prize is a very

important choice. It is important because Utzon made a building well ahead

of its time, far ahead of available technology, and he persevered through

extraordinary malicious publicity and negative criticism to build a building that

changed the image of an entire country. It is the first time in our lifetime that

an epic piece of architecture gained such universal presence. The trials and

tribulations suffered by Utzon did not, however, prevent him from continuing to

work and to produce superior, relevant, beautiful buildings. He has, by his own

choice, remained out of the limelight and did not seek this prize. It sought him.

His talents, his perseverance, and his honorable presence in the world of

architecture merits his choice as this year’s recipient of the Pritzker Prize.”

Frank Gehry

Pritzker Juror

"Paradoxically, while the act of awarding in 2003 the Pritzker Prize to Jørn Utzon

may be perceived as long overdue, it comes at such a particular moment in the

development of architecture as to be timely and exemplary. In the current frenzy

of unbound personal expressionism and blind subordination to attention-

grabbing production techniques, his explorations remind us that both

‘expression and technique’ are servants and secondary to more profound and

foundational architectural ideas. His work shows us that the marvelous and

seemingly ‘impossible’ in architecture depend still on genial minds and able

hands."

Jorge Silvetti

Pritzker Juror

“This year’s prize validates and celebrates the work of one of the Master

Architects of the 20th century, Jørn Utzon. He rightly joins the distinguished

company of a handful of Modernists who shaped the most notable buildings

of our time; buildings that stand for entire cities, and even continents, in our

collective memory.”

Bill Lacy

Executive Director

T h e b r o n z e m e d a l l i o n a w a r d e d t o e a c h L a u r e a t e o f t h e P r i t z k e r A r c h i t e c t u r e P r i z e i s b a s e d o n
d e s i g n s o f L o u i s S u l l i v a n , f a m e d C h i c a g o a r c h i t e c t g e n e r a l l y a c k n o w l e d g e d a s t h e f a t h e r o f t h e
s k y s c r a p e r. O n o n e s i d e i s t h e n a m e o f t h e p r i z e . O n t h e r e v e r s e , t h r e e w o r d s a r e i n s c r i b e d ,
“ f i r m n e s s, c o m m o d i t y a n d d e l i g h t , ” T h e s e a r e t h e t h r e e c o n d i t i o n s r e f e r r e d t o b y H e n r y Wo t t o n i n
h i s 1 6 2 4 t r e a t i s e , T h e E l e m e n t s o f A r c h i t e c t u r e , w h i c h w a s a t r a n s l a t i o n o f t h o u g h t s o r i g i n a l l y s e t
d o w n n e a r l y 2 0 0 0 y e a r s a g o b y M a r c u s V i t r u v i u s i n h i s Te n B o o k s o n A r c h i t e c t u r e , d e d i c a t e d t o
t h e R o m a n E m p e r o r A u g u s t u s. Wo t t o n , w h o d i d t h e t r a n s l a t i o n w h e n h e w a s E n g l a n d ’s f i r s t
a m b a s s a d o r t o Ve n i c e , u s e d t h e c o m p l e t e q u o t e a s : “ T h e e n d i s t o b u i l d w e l l . We l l - b u i l d i n g h a t h
t h r e e c o n d i t i o n s : c o m m o d i t y, f i r m n e s s a n d d e l i g h t . ”

12

Note to editors: It would be impossible in this brief media kit to provide a

complete biography or to outline and discuss all of Jørn Utzon’s work. Rather

an attempt is made to highlight some important aspects of his life, and some

of his projects and thoughts on architecture. A detailed chronological list of

his projects and honors is provided in another section of this kit. A selected

bibliography is also provided for anyone wanting further research.

…about Jørn Utzon

Jørn Utzon’s father was director of a shipyard in Alborg, Denmark, and

was a brilliant naval architect, many of whose yacht designs are still in production
today. Several family members were excellent yachtsmen, and the young Jørn,
who was born in 1918, became a good sailor himself. Until about the age of 18, he
considered a career as a naval officer. It was about this time, while still in secondary
school, that he began helping his father at the shipyard, studying new designs, drawing
up plans and making models. This activity opened another possibility — that of
training to be a naval architect like his father.

However, yet further influences were introduced during summer holidays

with his grandparents. There he met two artists, Paul Schrøder and Carl Kyberg,
who introduced him to art. One of his father’s cousins, Einar Utzon-Frank, who
happened to be a sculptor and was a professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts,
provided additional inspiration. Jørn took an interest in sculpting. At one point, he
indicated he might want to be an artist, but was ultimately convinced that
architectural school would be the best career path. Even though his final marks in
secondary school, particularly mathematics, were poor, his excellent freehand
drawing talents were strong enough to win his admission to the Royal Academy of
Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He was soon recognized as having extraordinary
architectural gifts.

When he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 1942, because of

World War II, he, like many architects of that time, fled to neutral Sweden where
he was employed in the Stockholm office of Hakon Ahlberg for the duration of the
war. Following that he went to Finland to work with Alvar Aalto. He had begun to
admire the ideas of Gunnar Asplund, as well as Frank Lloyd Wright while still in
school. Utzon acknowledges that Aalto, Asplund and Wright were all major
influences. Over the next decade, he traveled extensively, visiting Morocco, Mexico,
the United States, China, Japan, India, and Australia, the latter destined to become
a major factor in his life.

All of the trips had significance, and Utzon himself describes the importance

of just one: “As an architectonic element, the platform is fascinating. I lost my heart
to it on a trip to Mexico in 1949, where I found a rich variety of both size and idea,
and where many platforms stand alone, surrounded by nothing but untouched
nature. All the platforms in Mexico are placed very sensitively in the landscape,
always the creations of a brilliant idea. They radiate a huge force. You feel the firm

13

ground beneath you, as when standing on a great cliff. Let me give you an example
of the power in this idea. Yucatan is a flat lowland area covered by an impenetrable
jungle which everywhere attains a certain height. The Maya people used to live in
this jungle in villages surrounded by small cultivated clearings. On all sides, and
also above, there was the hot, humid, green jungle. No great views, no vertical
movements. But by building up the platform on a level with the roof of the jungle,
these people had suddenly conquered a new dimension that was a worthy place for
the worship of their gods. They built their temples on these high platforms, which
can be as much as a hundred metres long. From here, they had the sky, the clouds
and the breeze, and suddenly the roof of the jungle was transformed into a great,
open plain. By means of this architectonic device they had completely transformed
the landscape and presented their eyes with a grandeur that corresponded to the
grandeur of their gods. The wonderful experience of going from the denseness of
the jungle to the vast openness above the platform is still there today. It is like the
liberation you feel up here in the Nordic lands when, after weeks of rain, cloud and
darkness, you suddenly emerge into the sunlight again.”

The idea of the platform would manifest itself in many of Utzon’s designs

over the years, including that of the Sydney Opera House, where he described it as
follows: “...the idea has been to let the platform cut through like a knife and separate
primary and secondary functions completely. On top of the platform the spectators
receive the completed work of art and beneath the platform every preparation for
it takes place.”

Utzon continued, “To express the platform and avoid destroying it is a very

important thing, when you start building on top of it. A flat roof does not express
the flatness of the platform...in the schemes for the Sydney Opera House...you can
see the roofs, curved forms, hanging higher or lower over the plateau. The contrast
of forms and the constantly changing heights between these two elements result in
spaces of great architectural force made possible by the modern structural approach
to concrete construction, which has given so many beautiful tools into the hands of
the architect.”

The saga of the opera house actually began in 1957, when, at the age of 38,

Jørn Utzon was still a relatively unknown architect with a practice in Denmark
near where Shakespeare had located Hamlet’s castle. He was living in a small
seaside town with his wife and three childen — one son, Kim, born that year;
another son Jan, born in 1944, and a daughter, Lin, born in 1946 — all three would
follow in their father’s foosteps and become architects. Their home was a house in
Hellebæk that he had built just five years before, one of the few designs that he had
actually realized since opening his studio in 1945.

He had just entered an anonymous competition for an opera house to be

built in Australia on a point of land jutting into Sydney harbor. Out of some 230
entries from over thirty countries, his concept was selected — described by the
media at the time as “three shell-like concrete vaults covered with white tiles.”

It has become the most famous, certainly the most photographed, building

14

of the 20th century. It is now hailed as a masterpiece — Jørn Utzon’s masterpiece.

The Sydney Opera House is actually a complex of theatres and halls all

linked together beneath its famous shells. Since its opening in 1973, it has become
the busiest performing arts centre in the world, averaging some 3000 events a year
with audiences totaling some two million, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a
week closing only on Christmas and Good Friday.

Books have been written, and films made chronicling the sixteen years it

took to complete the Sydney Opera House. One such book is by Françoise Fromonot,
Jørn Utzon - The Sydney Opera House. Utzon, who is described as being an
intensely private person was unwittingly entangled in political intrigues and besieged
by a hostile press, which eventually forced him out of the project before it was
completed. But he was able to accomplish the basic structure, leaving just the interiors
to be finished by others.

As Pritzker Laureate and Juror Frank Gehry puts it, “Utzon made a building

well ahead of its time, far ahead of available technology, and he persevered through
extraordinary malicious publicity and negative criticism to build a building that
changed the image of an entire country. It is the first time in our lifetime that an
epic piece of architecture has gained such universal prescence.”

In the last year, plans were announced to refurbish the interiors, and Utzon,

now 84, has high hopes that the interior will be full of color rather than a black
hole. His son Jan is part of the new design team as Jørn Utzon’s representative.

Their firm, Utzon Architects, has an agreement with the Sydney Opera

House Trust and indirectly with the Australian government to work toward future
development and renovation of the building. One aspect is to develop a Design
Principles document, which will take a reader through the building explaining the
underlying principles for the design decisions that produced the end results. The
document will serve as a manual or guideline for future generations when alterations
or modifications to the building are contemplated. Another aspect is to provide
actual designs for a number of changes and modifications which are presently needed
if the building is to comply to today’s expectations. Current work is concentrating
on some of the interior spaces and access to the western foyer from the western
boardwalk.

Jørn Utzon has stated recently, “It is my hope that the building shall be a

lively and ever-changing venue for the arts. Future generations should have the
freedom to develop the building to contemporary use.”

But Jørn Utzon has contributed far more than one masterpiece in his lifetime.

As noted architectural author and critic Ada Louise Huxtable points out in her
Pritzker Jury comments, “In a forty year practice, each commission displays a
continuing development of ideas both subtle and bold, true to the teaching of early
pioneers of a ‘new’ architecture, but that cohere in a prescient way, most visible
now, to push the boundaries of architecture toward the present. This has produced
a range of work from the sculptural abstraction of the Sydney Opera House that
foreshadowed the avant garde expression of our time, and is widely considered to

15

be the most notable monument of the 20th century, to handsome, humane housing
and a church that remains a masterwork today.”

She refers to the Utzon’s church in Bagsværd, a community just north of

Copenhagen, where in the 16th century, the King of Denmark allowed an exisiting
church to be pulled down to provide bricks for the restoration of a building for the
university. The town was without a church building for 400 years, until their pastor
happened to see some of Utzon’s work.

“At an exhibition of my works, including the Sydney Opera House,” says

Utzon, “there was also a drawing of a small church in the centre of a town. Two
ministers representing a congregation that had been saving for 25 years to build a
new church, saw it and asked me if I would be the architect for their church. There
I stood, and was offered the finest task an architect can have — a magnificent time
when it was the light from above that showed us the way.”

The genesis of the design according to Utzon, went back to a time when he

was teaching at the University of Hawaii where he spent time on the beaches. One
evening, he was struck by the regular passage of clouds thinking they could be the
basis for the ceiling of a church. His early sketches showed groups of people on the
beach with clouds overhead. His sketches evolved with the people framed by columns
on each side and billowing vaults above, and moving toward a cross.

It’s not surprising that the end result provoked this comment from another

Pritzker Juror, Carlos Jimenez who is an architect and teacher himself: “...each
work startles with with its irrepressible creativity. How else to explain the lineage
binding those indelible ceramic sails on the Tasmanian Sea, the fertile optimism of
the housing at Fredensborg, or those sublime undulations of the ceilings at Bagsværd,
to name just three of Utzon’s timeless works.”

Both jurors Jimenez and Huxtable singled out “housing” in their comments.

There are two courtyard-style housing estates in Denmark designed by Jørn Utzon:
the Kingo Houses in Helsingør and the houses in Fredensborg. His interest in
courtyard-style housing was first shown in a competion for Skåne, Sweden in 1953.
He based his designs on his own experiences. His family home in Ålborg had a
nursery garden in front. The neighbors all had huts, sheds or some kind of shelters
for a variety of activities — raising rabbits, boat-building, or simply storing items
for family activities. Traditional Danish farmhouses had four sheltering sections set
around a central courtyard. Further, Utzon had studied Chinese architecture which
described their farm houses as being completely closed to the outside, but opening
onto a central court. And he learned of a Turkish building regulation that allowed
no one to block the view of existing houses. Designing with these tenets in mind, he
won the Swedish competition, but the project was never realized.

Not long after that, he took his Swedish plans to the Mayor of Helsingør

along with a study he had done on a poorly designed and executed housing
development that had been built in Denmark. He was able to convince the Mayor
that he could provide his Swedish design for the same cost as the poorly done one.
The Mayor put a tract of nine acres of land with a pond and rolling hills at his

16

disposal for his housing plan. Utzon commissioned a show house from a firm of
builders. The house was a success and eventually 63 houses were built within cost
restrictions set up by the government to keep the costs below a certain level for low
income workers. The 63 houses were built in rows following the undulations of the
site, providing a specific view for each house, as well as the best situation possible for
sunlight and shelter from the wind. Utzon likes to describe the arrangement of the
houses as “like flowers on the branch of cherry tree, each turning toward the sun.”
The individual houses are L-shaped with a living room and study in one section, and
the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom in the other. Walls of varying heights closed
the remaining open sides of the L.

The success of these houses at Helsingør led to another for the Dansk

Samvirke, a support organization for Danish citizens who have worked for long
periods abroad in business or the foreign service. They wanted a development for
retirees who had returned to Denmark and could live in a community and share
their experiences.

Utzon accepted the task of conceiving the program and designing the houses,

even though no site had been found, and without fee if the project was not built.
He helped find the site in Fredensborg, North Zealand, and developed a plan that
allowed each house to have a view of and direct access to a green slope. Since there
was no comparable society as this anywhere, Utzon had to invent the details of the
project and make them conform to his idea for the individual houses. One of the
things the committee wanted was a centre where the residents could meet, along
with a dining room and kitchen, a communal lounge and party area. Some office
space was needed as well as several guest rooms for the residents’ guests, which in
effect became a small hotel.

In the end, the Fredensborg development was designed with 47 courtyard

and 30 terraced houses. The terraced houses were grouped around a square in
staggered blocks of three, with all entrances from the square. A detailed account
of this project is available in a book titled Jørn Utzon - Houses in Fredensborg by
Tobias Faber with photographs by Jens Frederiksen.

In addition to these projects in Denmark and Australia, Utzon has

accomplished exceptional projects in Kuwait and Iran. In the former country, he
designed the building to house the National Assembly.

The invitation to compete for Kuwait National Assembly reached Utzon in

1969 while he was teaching at the University of Hawaii. There were few constraints
to the project. The site was along the ocean front, with “haze and white light and
an untidy town behind,” as Utzon describes it.

As a result of his travels, Utzon had developed an affinity for Islamic

architecture. In the definitive book by Richard Weston titled simply, Utzon, the
project is described as follows:

“The complex was conceived as an evolving fabric with, initially, ragged

edges but of uniform height save for the representative spaces — the covered square,

17

parliamentary chamber, large conference hall and mosque—which would rise as
visually dominant group. These four major elements formed the corners of an
incomplete but clearly implies rectangle, and the highest surfaces of their distinctive
roofs — as specified in a three-dimensional sketch — were to lie in the same plane
to create a ‘firm strong grouping’ to ‘hold the rest of the complex (which in its
nature is irregular as it grows) together. Dominate it’ as Utzon explained in a note
next to the sketch. The mosque was flat-roofed and anchored one corner of this
spatial core — it would later be angled slightly toward Mecca — and its autonomy
was stressed by making it independent of the office grid. The other roofs were sag
curves, reflecting Utzons’s interest in fabric as a metaphor for concrete — we may
recall it was shortly before this time that he had explored the Bagsværd Church’s
cloud-vaults with fabric models.”

It should be noted that in February of 1991, Iraqui troops, retreating before

the international alliance, set fire to the building. Since, a 70 million dollar restoration
was undertaken resulting in a number of departures from Utzon’s original design.

Back in 1947 when Utzon was still a struggling young architect, a relative

offered him an opportunity to supplement his meagre income by going to work in
Morocco preparing designs for factories there. The few months he spent there
provided his first experience with Islamic architecture, which, just as the trip to
Mexico had done, became another decisive influence on his work.

In 1958, he was approached to design a branch of the Iran National Bank

in the university area of Teheran, Utzon was delighted to take the job because of
his intense interest in Islamic architecture.

The client wanted the bank to stand out from its neighbors so, as described

by Richard Weston in his book, Utzon, “Utzon decided to set it back on a raised
platform framed by boldly projecting flank walls, thick enough to contain services.
To one side the flank wall was doubled to form a servant zone to accommodate an
office, private interview rooms and other support spaces; two additional
administrative floors spanned between the outer walls above the entrance. The
raised platform made for a dramatic entrance sequence: visitors pass through a low
dark space, roofed by V-shaped beams, andd then enter the open banking hall
which expands dramatically both up and down, affording a sight of the whole
interior.”

In 1985, Utzon’s practice included his two sons, Jan and Kim. Ole Paustian,

who headed one Denmark’s leading furniture companies, asked them to design a
new showroom in a waterfront area of Copenhagen Harbor that would be an
extension of one of Paustian’s existing warehouses. Utzon designed the showroom
and an adjacent restaurant with sketches and sent them to his two sons who executive
the final drawings and plans. Much later in 2000, Kim Utzon completed the complex
with an adjacent office building and yacht club.

Currently, Jørn Utzon lives in retirement with his wife Lis, on the island of

Majorca, where they originally began building a home in 1971 and completed it

18

two years later. It was almost twenty years later, that the Utzons decided to build
another house on Majorca, nestled on the side of a mountain. The decision to
build there was prompted by several reasons: the glare from the sea became very
tiring for eyes weakened by a lifetime of close work with drawings; the pounding
surf became more of a disturbance than a comfort; and there were more and more
intrusions by architecture buffs seeking to wander the site.

Can Feliz, as the new home is named in a site called “Paradise,” the design

harks back to Utzon’s love of the platform concept. The house has been described
as a miniature acropolis.

Jørn Utzon can be described as an artist and architect whose response not

only to ancient cultures, such as Islam, the Mayans, Japanese and Chinese, but also
his affinity for nature, and the use of natural materials, places him in a firmament
populated by only the most gifted of all the ages.

One unrealized project bears mentioning here — the Silkeborg Museum

of Fine Arts. A Danish artist named Asger Jørgensen (who later changed his name
to Asger Jorn) approached Utzon in 1961 to build an addition to the Silkeborg
Museum where a collection of his art work could be housed. He even volunteered
to pay the architect’s fees because he could not see anyone other than Utzon designing
the addition. The following is a portion of Utzon’s own description of the project,
which provides a closer look at the architect’s thought processes:

“The musuem, which lies in an old, well-stocked garden with a wing divided

into bays, is designed so that it does not disturb the surroundings, but concentrates
100% on the interior.

“A building of several storeys above the ground would be like a bull in a

china shop, and the respect for the existing calm wing of the museum calls for a
solution that will not dominate the surroundings on account of its size.

“It feels natural to bury the museum in the ground to a depth corresponding

to the height of a three-storeyed building and only to allow the upper part - the
roof lights taking up one storey - to appear above the ground level.

“The design of this buried museum has a character rather like a cave or an

oven. Because they are direct continuation of the walls of the museum, the visible
one-storey roof lights suggest this cave-like character and clearly demonstrate the
reason for their special design.

“In contrast to a square room, a cave has a distinct enclosed effect thanks to

its natural shape without right angles. Continuous shapes such as we have in the
museum express and emphasise the quadrilateral canvases and objects in the same
powerful way that a cyclorama on a stage emphasises the individual characters and
the flats.

“The floor, too, has been included in this continuous movement, and these

dramatic shapes also correspond well with the idea of digging the museum out
underground.

“The inspiration for the design of the museum comes from many different

experiences -including my visit to the caves in Tatung, west of Peking, where hundreds

19

of Buddha sculptures and other figures are carved in caves in the rocks by the bank
of the river. These sculptures appear in all shapes in contrast to or in harmony with
the surrounding space. The caves are all of varying sizes and shapes and with varying
illumination. The old Chinese sculptors haave experimented with all possibilities,
and the most fantastic thing is a cave that is almost filled with a Buddha figure with
c.7-metre-high face. Three platforms linked by ladders give the visitor the possibility
of walking around and coming to close quarters with this gigantic figure.

“Here, in this museum, it is possible to exhibit paintings and sculptures the

size of a three-storeyed building so that it is possible to walk around the objects on
all levels on the system of ramps, and perhaps the possibility of this kind of exhibition
leads to a new line of development in decorative art in place of the ordinary form
in public buildings today, which are merely easel paintings on a gigantic scale.

“The various works of art can also be exhibited individually or in groups in

every conceivable manner. It will also be possible in one of the large ovens to isolate
a single large painting or sculpture that must be viewed on its own.

“The continuous space in the museum provides surprising background effects

with varied light for paintings and sculpture - a background effect of the same
infinite character as a cyclorama on a stage.

“The chimneys give the museum a clean, but varied roof light. The amount

of light can be varied by means of blinds, and if it is so desired the roof light in the
chimneys can be replaced with direct spotlight directed on a single object. The
mullions supporting the roof lights are provided with suspension points so that they
act like rigging loft in a theatre, so there will be the possibility of placing an object
anywhere in the room.

“The light mainly falls in along the walls and on the floors without disturbing

shadow effects at the corners, and the irritation element from the direct light from
above is avoided.

“It will be with a sense of surprise and a desire to penetrate down into the

building that the visitor for the first time sees the three-storeyed building open beneath
him. Unconcerned - stairs and corridors which normally disturb - the viewer will
glide almost effortlessly down into the museum via the ramp, taking him through
the space.

“Strict geometry will form the basis for a simple constructional shape. The

visible curved external surfaces are to be clad with ceramics in strong colours so
that the parts of the building emerge like shining ceramic sculptures, and inside the
museum will be kept in white.

“In the work with the curved shapes in the opera house, I have developed a

great desire to go further with free architectural shapes, but at the same time to
control the free shape with a geometry that makes it possible to construct the building
from mass produced components. I am quite aware of the danger in the curved
shapes in contrast to the relative safety of quadrilateral shapes. But the world of the
curved form can give something that cannot ever be achieved by means of
rectanglular architecture. The hulls of ships, caves and sculpture demonstrate this.”

20

While Jørn Utzon has retired with his wife to one of the houses he designed

on Majorca, his sons, Jan who is 58 and has been working with his father since
1970, and Kim, who is 46, both carry on with Utzon Architects. A daughter, Lin,
who is an artist of giant porcelain murals and other decorative media, works closely
with architects. A third generation of Utzon’s, a son and daughter of Jan, have
both received their architecture degrees.

Project for a

Museum

at Silkeborg

Utzon designed the museum

addition to be underground so it

would not overpower the existing

buildings.

45

21

Jørn Utzon

2003 Laureate, Pritzker Architecture Prize

Biographical Notes

Birthdate and Place:

April 9, 1918

Copenhagen, Denmark

Education

Royal Academy of Arts

Copenhagen, Denmark

Awards and Honors

1942

Royal Academy of Arts Gold Medal awarded for

his project for a conservatorium in Copenhagen

1965

Elected Fellow - Royal Australian Institute of

Architecture

1966

Awarded the Plaque of Honor by the

Bunddeutscher Arkitekten, Germany

1973

Gold Medal - Royal Australian Institute of

Architecture

1978

Gold Medal - Royal Institute of British Architects

1981

Prize of the Danske Arkitektur Landsforbund

1982

Alvar Aalto Medal - Helsinki, Finland

1992

Wolf Prize, Israel

1994

Gold Medal - French Academy of Architecture

1998

Sonning Prize - University of Copenhagen

Additional honors:

Eckersberg Medallion - Denmark

CF Hansen Medallion - Denmark

Prince Eugen Medal - Sweden

BDA Gold Medal - Germany

Order of Australia

Townplanning award - Sydney, Australia

Keys to the City of Sydney

The Queen’s Gold Medal - England

Honorary Doctor - Honioris Causa - Lund

University, Sweden

Honorary Fellow - AIA - USA

Gold Medal - AIA - USA

Honorary Fellow, Scottish Chapter, RIBA - England

Member of the Academy - Italy

Member of the Academy - Sweden

Honorary Doctor of Science in Architecture -

University of Sydney, Australia

The Danish Precast Concrete Element Award

The Danish Furniture Prize

F

ACT

S

UMMARY

Chronological List of Selected

Projects and Built Works

(Description in italics indicates built work)

1945

Submission of Crystal Palace

Competition (with Tobias Faber)
Project for a crematorium

1946

Scheme for a water tower on Bornholm

1947

Project for Oslo Central Station (with

Arne Korsmo), Sweden

1948

Project for a commercial school in

Göteborg (with Arne Korsmo)
Management Plan for the Vestre Vika

district of Oslo (with Arne Korsmo)
Sketches for housing and factory in

Morocco

1952

Utzon House, Hellebæk, Denmark

1953

Wins Competition for economical housing

in Skåne, Denmark
Middleboe House, Holte, Denmark
Competition for the Langelinie Restaurant

(3rd Prize)

1954

Competition for a housing, school and

community centre complex at Elineberg,

Sweden (1rst Prize)

1956

Kingo Housing Project (63 houses) at

Helsingør (completed in 1958)

1957

On January 29, Utzon is declared the

winner of the competition for the Sydney

Opera House

1958

Competition for an education centre in

Højstrup (1rst and 3rd Prizes)
Project for a commercial centre
Competition for a school near Helsingør

(winner)
Villa Banck, Helsingborg, Sweden

1959

Competition for the Copenhagen

International Exhibition
Melli Bank in Teheran, Iran
Competition for a management plan for

Frederiksberg (winner)
Development project for housing complex at

Birkehøj
Housing Scheme at Fredensborg

(completed in 1962)

1960

Competition for a management plan for

Elviria, Spain

1963

First sketches for Utzon House at Bayview

1964

Competition for Opera House in Madrid, Spain
Competion for theatre in Zurich,

Switzerland (winner)

1965

Competition for University Art Museum

in Berkeley, Calfornia
Competition for Wolfsburg Theatre,

Germany

1966

Competition for Odense University Centre
Project for Farum town centre

1967

Stadium Project, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

1968

Utsep furniture project
Project for an underground theatre in a cave at

Jeita, Beirut, Lebanon

1969

Education Centre in Herning, Denmark

(partially completed)
Espansiva Catalogue Housing

1971

Second project for an Asger Jorn

Museum in Silkeborg
Utzon House, "Can Lis," in Majorca, Spain

(completed in 1973)

1972

Kuwait National Assembly (designed with

Jan Utzon and completed in 1982)

1973

Sydney Opera House officially

inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II
Bagsværd Church, Denmark (completed in

1976)

1978

Project for a leisure village and swimming

pool at Vendsyssel
Project for a national swimming stadium,

Copenhagen

22

Some Books on Jørn Utzon for additional research:
Utzon by Richard Weston - Edition Bløndal 2002
Jørn Utzon - Houses in Fredensborg by Tobias

Faber - Berlin, Ernst & Sohn 1991
Utzon and the Sydney Opera House by P. Drew -

Annandale, New South Wales, Inspire Press 2000
Jørn Utzon - The Sydney Opera House by

Françoise Fromonot - Corte Madera, California,

Gingko Press/Electa 1998
The Masterpiece: Jørn Utzon - A Secret Life by P.

Drew - South Yarra, Victoria, Hardie Grant Books 1999
Sydney Opera House by P. Drew - London, Phaidon

1995
Utzon Mallorca by Christian Norberg-Schulz and

Tobias Faber - Copenhagen, Arkitektens Forlag

1996.
It should be noted that there is an enormous body

of work written by and about Jørn Utzon. The

Weston book noted above has an extensive and

detailed bibliography that includes periodicals and

films as well as books.

Publications

1985

Paustian Showroom, Copenhagen

(completed in 1987)
Project for a 1 km long pier in the harbor at

Copenhagen, with offices, retail spaces, a hotel

and conference center. (Utzon Associates)

completed 1992

1986-89

Project for petroleum tanks, Herning, Denmark

(Utzon & Associates)
Project for a Scandinavian Centre for San Francisco

(a large scale project with cruise ship terminal,

exhibition centre, retail spaces, theme park and a

hotel, all to be located on a combination of piers in

San Francisco Harbor.

1987

Telephone boxes for KTAS
Kalkbranderihavnen - a large scale project for the

development of a northern free port in Copenhagen

(offices, residential, shopping mall, exhibition centre,

swimming stadium, and yacht club with related marina.

1988

Project for the Danish Museum of Modern Art

1992

Esbjerg Theatre and Concert Hall Complex

(Utzon Associates) completed 1997
Skagen Visitors Centre

(Utzon Associates) completed 2001

1994

Utzon House, "Can Feliz," Majorca, Spain

1998-

A continuing program of schools and teachers

colleges being erected in Zimbabwe, Mozambique,

Malawi and Angola. (Utzon Associates)

1999

Dunkers Cultural Centre - Halsingborg, Sweden.

(Utzon Associates) Completed in 2002.

Bagsværd Church

Denmark - 1973-76

above - two preliminary sketches by Jørn

Utzon, and below - a photo of the completed

building by Keld Helmer-Petersen

47

46

23

Paustian Showroom

Copenhagen, Denmark

Preliminary studies by Jørn Utzon

48

24

51

50

49

Kuwait National Assembly

top and bottom - original sketches by Jørn Utzon,

and in the center, a photo of the realized building

25

His Royal Highness King Juan Carlos I of Spain will preside over the

ceremony honoring Jørn Utzon of Denmark as the 2003 Pritzker Architecture Prize
Laureate. The ceremony will take place in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San
Fernando of Madrid on Tuesday, May 20.

The guests assembling from around the world for the Pritzker Prize will have

an opportunity to see some of the academy's fine art collection that compliments
those of the Prado and Thyssen-Bornemisza. There are five remarkable Zurbarán
life-size portraits of monks, as well as several still lifes. There are also works by
Velásquez, Rubens, and Goya to mention but a few. It is also Spain's most important
center for the study of art printing processes such as engraving and etching. Some
of Goya's copper plates (among some 8000 printing plates archived there) are
displayed in rotating exhibitions. This is also the home of the national print collection.

Following the ceremony, guests will be transported to La Quinta Palace for a

reception and dinner. Quinta del Pardo is a former royal hunting lodge in the vast
park that stretches from Madrid to a range of snow covered peaks that can be seen
in the distance. The land around the building was originally terraced as beautiful
gardens, some of which still exist today. The building was restored in 1973 when
then Prince Juan Carlos used it to hold his official audiences until Franco died in
1975.

The international prize, which is awarded each year to a living architect for

lifetime achievement, was established by the Pritzker family of Chicago through
their Hyatt Foundation in 1979. Often referred to as “architecture’s Nobel” and
“the profession’s highest honor,” the Pritzker Prize has been awarded to seven
Americans, and (including this year) twenty architects from fourteen other countries.
The presentation ceremonies move around the world each year paying homage to
the architecture of other eras and/or works by previous laureates of the prize.

Thomas J. Pritzker, president of T he Hyatt Foundation, in expressing

gratitude to the Royal Family for making it possible to hold the event in these historic
settings, stated, “This is the second time we have had the great pleasure to come to
Spain. The first was in 1997 when we went to Bilbao where the Frank Gehry designed
Guggenheim Museum was nearing completion. While that building is a celebration
of contemporary art, this year at the Fine Arts Academy, we will be paying homage
to a repository of historic masterpieces." The collection began with Spanish and
foreign artists working in Madrid. On being admitted to the academy, new members
contribute a piece of their own work. The collections have grown substantially from
private legacies until today it numbers over a thousand paintings and sculptures dating
from the 16th century.

The Pritzker Prize has a tradition of moving the ceremony to sites of historic

and/or architectural significance around the world. It was held twice in Italy, the
first being in 1990 at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice when the late Aldo Rossi received
the prize. As the sites are usually chosen each year before the laureate is selected,
there is no intended connection beyond the two. Retrospectively, buildings by
Laureates of the Pritzker Prize, such as the National Gallery of Art’s East Building
designed by I.M. Pei, or Richard Meier’s new Getty Center in Los Angeles have

2003 Pritzker Prize Ceremony Will Be Held

in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Madrid, Spain

26

been used. In some instances, places of historic interest such as France’s Palace of
Versailles and Grand Trianon, or Todai-ji Buddhist Temple in Japan, or Prague Castle
in The Czech Republic have been chosen as ceremony venues. Some of the most
beautiful museums have hosted the event, including the already mentioned Palazzo
Grassi: Chicago’s Art Institute (using the Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room
designed by Louis Sullivan and his partner, Dankmar Adler, which was preserved
when the Stock Exchange building was torn down in 1972. The Trading Room was
then reconstructed in the museum's new wing in 1977). New York’s Metropolitan
Museum of Art provided the setting of 1982 Laureate Kevin Roche’s pavilion for
the Temple of Dendur. In homage to the late Louis Kahn, the ceremony was held in
Fort Worth’s Kimbell Art Museum in 1987. California’s Huntington Library, Art
Collections and Botanical Gardens was the setting in l985. In 1992, the just-completed
Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago was the location where Alvaro Siza
of Portugal received the prize. The 20th anniversary of the prize was hosted at the
White House since in a way, the Pritzker Prize roots are in Washington where the
first two ceremonies were held at Dumbarton Oaks, where a major addition to the
original estate, had been designed by yet another Pritzker Laureate — in fact, the
very first, Philip Johnson. In 2000 in Jerusalem, the Herodian Street excavation in
the shadow of the Temple Mount provided the most ancient of the venues. Just two
years ago, the ceremony was held at Monticello, the home designed by Thomas
Jefferson, who was not only the third president of the United States, but also authored
the Declaration of Independence. The ceremonies have evolved over the years,
becoming, in effect, an international grand tour of architecture.

One of the founding jurors of the Pritzker Prize, the late Lord Clark of

Saltwood, as art historian Kenneth Clark, perhaps best known for his television series
and book, Civilisation, said at one of the ceremonies, “A great historical episode can
exist in our imagination almost entirely in the form of architecture. Very few of us
have read the texts of early Egyptian literature. Yet we feel we know those infinitely
remote people almost as well as our immediate ancestors, chiefly because of their
sculpture and architecture.”

# # #

27

The Pritzker Architecture Prize was established by The Hyatt Foundation in 1979 to honor

annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent,
vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity
and the built environment through the art of architecture. It has often been described as
“architecture’s most prestigious award” or as “the Nobel of architecture.”

The prize takes its name from the Pritzker family, whose international business interests are

headquartered in Chicago. They have long been known for their support of educational, religious,
social welfare, scientific, medical and cultural activities. Jay A. Pritzker, who founded the prize with
his wife, Cindy, died on January 23, 1999. His eldest son, Thomas J. Pritzker has become president
of The Hyatt Foundation.

He explains, “As native Chicagoans, it's not surprising that our family was keenly aware of

architecture, living in the birthplace of the skyscraper, a city filled with buildings designed by
architectural legends such as Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, and many
others. ” He continues, “In 1967, we acquired an unfinished building which was to become the Hyatt
Regency Atlanta. Its soaring atrium was wildly successful and became the signature piece of our
hotels around the world. It was immediatly apparent that this design had a pronounced affect on the
mood of our guests and attitude of our employees. While the architecture of Chicago made us
cognizant of the art of architecture, our work with designing and building hotels made us aware of
the impact architecture could have on human behavior. So in 1978, when we were approached with
the idea of honoring living architects, we were responsive. Mom and Dad (Cindy and the late Jay
A. Pritzker) believed that a meaningful prize would encourage and stimulate not only a greater
public awareness of buildings, but also would inspire greater creativity within the architectural
profession.” He went on to add that he is extremely proud to carry on that effort on behalf of his
mother and the rest of the family.

Many of the procedures and rewards of the Pritzker Prize are modeled after the Nobel

Prize. Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize receive a $100,000 grant, a formal citation
certificate, and since 1987, a bronze medallion. Prior to that year, a limited edition Henry Moore
sculpture was presented to each Laureate.

Nominations are accepted from all nations; from government officials, writers, critics,

academicians, fellow architects, architectural societies, or industrialists, virtually anyone who might
have an interest in advancing great architecture. The prize is awarded irrespective of nationality,
race, creed, or ideology.

The nominating procedure is continuous from year to year, closing in January each year.

Nominations received after the closing are automatically considered in the following calendar year.
There are well over 500 nominees from more than 47 countries to date. The final selection is made
by an international jury with all deliberation and voting in secret.

The Evolution of the Jury

The first jury assembled in 1979 consisted of the late J. Carter Brown, then director of the

National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; J. Irwin Miller, then chairman of the executive and
finance committee of Cummins Engine Company; Cesar Pelli, architect and at the time, dean of the
Yale University School of Architecture; Arata Isozaki, architect from Japan; and the late Kenneth
Clark (Lord Clark of Saltwood), noted English author and art historian.

The jury that selected Jørn Utzon as the 2003 laureate comprises the chairman, Lord

Rothschild, former chairman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and former chairman of the
board of trustees of the National Gallery in London; the late Giovanni Agnelli, chairman emeritus
of Fiat, of Torino, Italy; Frank Gehry, architect and 1989 Prtizker Laureate; Ada Louise Huxtable,
American author and architectural critic; Carlos Jimenez, a principal of Carlos Jimenez Studio and
professor at the Rice University School of Architecture in Houston, Texas; and Jorge Silvetti,
architect and chairman, Department of Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of
Design. Others who have served as jurors over the years include the late Thomas J. Watson, Jr.,

A Brief History of the Pritzker Architecture Prize

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former chairman of IBM; Toshio Nakamura, former editor of A+U in Japan; and architects Philip
Johnson, Kevin Roche, Frank Gehry, all from the United States, and Ricardo Legorreta of Mexico,
Fumihiko Maki of Japan,and Charles Correa of India.

Bill Lacy, architect and advisor to the J. Paul Getty Trust and many other foundations, as

well as a professor at State University of New York at Purchase, is executive director of the prize.
Previous secretaries to the jury were the late Brendan Gill, who was architecture critic of The New
Yorker magazine; and the late Carleton Smith. From the prize's founding until his death in 1986,
Arthur Drexler, who was the director of the department of architecture and design at The Museum
of Modern Art in New York City, was a consultant to the jury.

Television Symposium Marked Tenth Anniversary of the Prize

“Architecture has long been considered the mother of all the arts,” is how the distinguished

journalist Edwin Newman, serving as moderator, opened the television symposium Architecture
and the City: Friends or Foes? “Building and decorating shelter was one of the first expressions of
man’s creativity, but we take for granted most of the places in which we work or live,” he continued.
“Architecture has become both the least and the most conspicuous of art forms.”

With a panel that included three architects, a critic, a city planner, a developer, a mayor,

a lawyer, a museum director, an industrialist, an educator, an administrator, the symposium
explored problems facing everyone — not just those who live in big cities, but anyone involved in
community life. Some of the questions discussed: what should be built, how much, where, when,
what will it look like, what controls should be allowed, and who should impose them?

For complete details on the symposium which was produced in the tenth anniversary year

of the prize, please go the "pritzkerprize.com" web site, where you can also view the video tape of
the symposium.

Exhibitions and Book on the Pritzker Prize

The Art of Architecture, a circulating exhibition of the work of Laureates of the Pritzker

Architecture Prize, which has been touring for ten years, may find a permanent home in Palm
Springs, California. Watch for full information on this development on the web site.

The Art of Architecture had its world premiere at the Harold Washington Library

Center in Chicago in 1992. The European debut was in Berlin at the Deutsches Architektur
Zentrum in in 1995. It was also shown at the Karntens Haus der Architektur in Klagenfurt,
Austria in 1996, and in 1997, in South America, at the Architecture Biennale in Saõ Paulo,
Brazil. In the U.S. it has been shown at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College
in Ft. Myers, Florida; the Fine Arts Gallery at Texas A&M University; the National Building
Museum in Washington, D.C.; The J. B. Speed Museum in Louisville, Kentucky; the Canton
Art Institute, Ohio; the Indianapolis Museum of Art Columbus Gallery, Indiana; the Washington
State University Museum of Art in Pullman, Washington; the University of Nebraska, and
Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Its most recent showings were in Costa Mesa,
California; and museums in Poland and Turkey.

Another exhibition, designed by Carlos Jimenez, titled, The Pritzker Architecture

Prize 1979-1999, which was organized by The Art Institute of Chicago and celebrated the first
twenty years of the prize and the works of the laureates, was shown in Chicago in 1999 and in
Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum in 2000. It provided, through drawings, original
sketches, photographs, plans and models, an opportunity to view some of the most important
architects that have shaped the architecture of this century.

A book with texts by the late J. Carter Brown, Bill Lacy, British journalist Colin

Amery, and William J. R. Curtis, was produced to accompany the exhibition, and is still
available. Co-published by Abrams of New York and The Art Institute of Chicago, the 206
page book was edited by co-curator Martha Thorne. It presents an analytical history of the
prize along with examples of buildings by the laureates illustrated in full color. The book
celebrates the first twenty years of the prize and the works of the laureates, providing an
opportunity to analyze the significance of the prize and its evolution.

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