Utzon was accorded international recognition late in life, reflecting a growing appreciation of the merit of his Sydney Opera House design. Notable later works by Utzon and his two sons, Jan and Kim, include the Bagsvaerd Church near Copenhagen (1968-76), the Kuwait National Assembly (1971-83) and two more of his own houses on the Mediterranean island of Majorca (19), where he spent much of his later life. In 1966 he was forced out of the project by the New South Wales state government, leaving his extraordinary work to be finished by others. In 1957 Utzon was appointed to his most challenging and remarkable commission, the Sydney Opera House. Work was scarce, however, and he entered many architectural competitions. In 1945 Utzon established his own practice in Copenhagen and in 1952 designed his own house in Hellebaek. In Paris he met and held discussions with artist Fernand Leger and architect Le Corbusier. He worked with Alvar Aalto in Finland and in his travels met Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Eames and the Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, who was later to be a member of the judging panel that selected Utzon's entry in the design competition for the Sydney Opera House. He entered the Royal Academy of Denmark in 1937 to study architecture, and was influenced by many leading figures of the Modern Movement, the dominant tendency in twentieth century architecture. Jørn Utzon, whose name is bound to his greatest, and perhaps one of the world's best-known post-World War II pieces of architecture, the Sydney Opera House, died in his sleep aged 90 on Saturday, November 29.

Sydney opera house architect