Born in Copenhagen in 1918, Jørn Utzon grew up in Ålborg and graduated from Ålborg Katedralskole in 1936. In 1942 he moved from Nazi-occupied Germany to Stockholm where he studied the buildings of Gunnar Asplund. Utzon won a Danish Royal Academy Gold Medal in 1944, and in 1945 worked briefly in Alvar Aalto’s office in Helsinki. In the late 1940s Utzon travelled widely in Morocco, Mexico and the United States (where he met Eero Saarinen) before returning to Denmark in 1950 to establish his practice. Jørn Utzon occupies a unique position in 20th-century architecture, blending influences from Danish, German Expressionist, and Scandinavian traditions with a sculptural quality and a focus on external contexts. These influences distinguish him from contemporaries like Arne Jacobsen, aligning Utzon more closely with the vernacular modernism and innovations by figures like Le Corbusier and Kay Fisker. Core concepts for Utzon, like his platform motif and exploration of the courtyard house, emerged in his 1953 Skaanske competition win for "Scania" house types, leading to the Kingohusene Housing Estate (1960) and a Fredensborg project (1963). His commitment to housing innovation is further shown in his "Espansiva" timber system (1969) and Utsep Mobler Flexible Furniture (1968), both designed to simplify housing using industrial materials. Utzon gained fame from the Sydney Opera House, won in 1957 and completed in 1973, which became an instantly recognisable symbol of Sydney and its harbour.

Robin Boyd wrote extensively about Jørn Utzon following his victory in the Opera House competition. Boyd’s records don’t contain any direct correspondence with Utzon, but he took great interest in the saga of the Opera House’s design and construction. Boyd’s daughter Mandie, who was living in Sydney during this period, researched the project and transcribed news articles and news clippings on the Opera House for Boyd, possibly in aid of a future writing project. Boyd sketched the Opera House in The Puzzle of Architecture and used a scale model of the project in his exhibition design for Expo 70 in Osaka.

More information about Boyd and the Opera House.