Jorn Utzon, Sydney Opera House architect, died of a heart attack at 90. It seems there was a bit of Howard Roark in him. Not so much Roark that he blew the place up, but enough so he never visited it.
Mr Utzon, an award-winning architect, put “Denmark on the world map with his great talent,” said Danish Culture Minister Carina Christensen.
Having won a competition in 1957 to design the building, he left the project before it opened in 1973.
Mr Utzon never visited the completed landmark, after disputes about costs.
He had quarrelled with the Australian client and the costs overran by 1,000%.
Even decades later he declined invitations to return to Australia, but did design, with his son, a new wing which opened in 2006.
In 1998 he told Associated Press news agency: “It’s part of education – I can’t be bitter about anything in life.”
Most of the interior of the opera house was not completed according to his plans after government-appointed architects took over the job.
