Weeks after receiving, along with Professor Romaldo Giurgola, an honorary degree from Sydney University, Jorn Utzon, the designer of the Sydney Opera House has been announced as the winner of the 2003 Pritzker prize, the world’s most prestigious architecture award.
In the prize announcement for the Pritzker, jury member Frank Gehry noted: “Utzon made a building well ahead of its time, far ahead on 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 presence.”
Commenting, Graham Jahn, president of the Royal Australia Institute of Architects said: “This is the ultimate recognition of Jorn Utzon and his masterpiece and marks an heroic moment in Australia’s cultural development - where the seemingly impossible was made possible.
“The Sydney Opera House has shown us the power of architecture at its most potent level - demonstrating how buildings can add to environmental experience rather than detract from it - a spiritual value independent of function.
“It also illustrates the great difficulty that architects face in bringing new dreams to cities that elevate them beyond the norm and the mundane - our timeless tribal markers.”
Utzon’s son Jan, also an architect, will represent his father at a ceremony in Madrid on May 20. Jan Utzon, who is presently working on the Opera House refurbishment, also received the honorary award from Sydney University on his father’s behalf. The other architect honoured at that ceremony, Professor Romaldo Giurgola, created one of the world’s leading architecture firms, Mitchell/Giurgola - with offices in many parts of the world including Mitchell/Giurgola and Thorpe Architects in Sydney and Canberra. In 1980 Professor Giurgola won the open competition for Australia’s new Parliament House from 329 entries, and came to Australia at the invitation of the Federal Government, he has remained here,. becoming a citizen.
Source: Building Products News.