Jorn Utzon - Houses [Hardcover]

Henrik Sten Moller (Author), Vibe Udsen (Author), Per Nagel (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006

Jørn Utzon is best known as the architect of the Sydney Opera House, probably the world's most famous modern building and arguably the 20th-century's boldest, most important and impressive work of architecture. All his works – both the large and famous and the small and private – with their brilliant simplicity and honest originality, are masterpieces of 20th-century architecture.This book presents all of Utzon's buildings in more than 400 outstanding color photographs taken by architecture photographer Per Nagel over a period of 25 years. Architect Vibe Udsen reviews each building and architecture critic Henrik Sten Møller presents a portrait of Jørn Utzen the man and the architect. Photographer Per Nagel has collaborated with architect Vibe Udsen for many years in publishing the architectural annual Living Architecture, which is distributed worldwide.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8798759736
• ISBN-13: 978-8798759737
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 8.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #578,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Four out of the ten houses illustrated are non-residential "houses", February 22, 2007

By 

Gerald L. Maffei "Registered Architect" (College Station, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jorn Utzon - Houses (Hardcover)

I love Utzon's work, especially his own residence in Majorca. The man is a genius. From the title "Jorn Utzon Houses", I was looking forward to a book on houses that people live in. Four of the ten "Houses" in the book were 1) the Sidney Opera House, 2) the Bagsvaerd Church, 3) the Herning School Complex and 4) the Kuwait National Assembly. There are many beautiful, period color photographs by Per Nagel, a nice long "Conversation" between Utzon and Moller and clear, well printed glossy pages. Many of the high quality photos I have not seen reproduced before. I especially liked seeing the Bagsvaerd Church and the Majolica house in greater detail. The diagram of Utzon's "additive architecture" was informative, but most plans and sections were too reduced in size. There is a little information about each project, but not as much as an architect would like to have. This is a beautiful coffee table book and given the fact that there is little of Utzon's residential work in book form, Utzon lovers have no choice but to buy this photo collection. I would suggest coupling this book with the Utzon chapter in Kenneth Frampton's "Studies in Tectonic Culture".

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Waiting for the definitive book on Utzon's houses, December 21, 2007

By 

Andre Fontaine (Glenelg, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jorn Utzon - Houses (Hardcover)

Utter disappointment given the cost! Of the ten projects featured within this book six are actual houses as we define them today. The rest could be considered houses in the sense of being an opera house, a government house and a church house. The title is misleading, although much of the interiors of the institutional projects have a definite residential scale and detailing. Twenty-two pages of explanatory text in the form of an interview, and 98 pages of the remaining 220 covering residences. However, in the case of The Fredensborg Houses, all of the interior photographs, with the exception of one small photograph, are of the complexes club centre, restaurant and lounge. The books balance leans heavily towards the photographs and is lean on drawings. When there are floor and site plans they lack north arrows or scales. The photographs are labeled sporadically and given the small drawings it is sometimes difficult to understand where the photographs where taken. The book verges on being more a style book than a book on architecture. However, since very little has been published on this architect's work, except for the Sydney Opera House, it may have a place in one's library.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars L. Mark Taylor (Kingston, Jamaica), March 3, 2007

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L. Mark Taylor (Kingston, Jamaica) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jorn Utzon - Houses (Hardcover)

What a beautiful book! You feel that it is a labour of love with every photo on every page speaking to you about the specialness of each building.
Utzon is a brilliant architect, one of that small group of twentieth century achitect's who speaks directly to our soul both through his few humanist writings and built work (people like Louis Kahn, Aldo van Eyck and Alvaro Siza among others).
Apart from the 20 page illustrated introduction called 'Conversations', the book is a large format book of exquisite full-colour architectural photographs. Ten buildings are covered each with basic plans and the occasional elevation, sketch or section which remain very subsidiary to the photos.
Unfortunately very little published work exists in English on the complete body of Utzon's output, and the few tend to be out-of-print, very expensive or difficult to get. This is unfortunate because the book under review needs such a supplementary text to give this overview of Jorn Utzon's architecture.
The best book for this currently available at a reasonable price is "Jorn Utzon: Works & Projects" by Jaime J. Ferrer Fores, published by GG in 2006, in their small format bilingual edition. Again unfortunately this is not presently available through Amazon. Each book is excellent but if you get both books you should feel satisfied. Separately they are like a meal without the wine.