Legends of North European Architecture: Frei Otto & Jørn Utzon

June 10, 2019

Today, CovetED pays homage to two legends of North European Architecture: Frei Otto & Jørn Utzon. These two giants of Architecture are no longer with us, but their design legacy will leave forever and that’s why today we remember the life and work of these top architects that help shape the world of architecture.

Frei Otto

Frei Otto was a German Architect that’s considered, alongside with Buckminster Fuller and Santiago Calatrava, as one of the main founding fathers for the biomorphic architecture (organic architecture). He died in 2015 in the same year he won the prestigious Prize Pritzker, the most significant world prize of architecture. After Gottfried Böhm, Otto became the second German Citizen to win the coveted award that, according to the organization, was awarded to Otto to celebrate “his lifetime of work as a visionary, utopian, ecologist, pioneer of lightweight materials, protector of natural resources and a generous mind of the industry”.

Munich Olympic Stadium

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The biggest and most popular project of his prestigious career is the Olympic Stadium of Munich that was built for the 1972 Summer Games. This stadium was one of the first large-scale tensile structure on the planet and is well known as an extraordinary monument of modern architecture! Other notable works include the Mannheim Multihalle and the Diplomatic Club Heart Tent.

Jørn Oberg Utzon

Jørn Oberg Utzon was a Danish architect, most notable for designing the Sydney Opera House in Australia, an iconic building that was later declared a World Heritage Site on 2007. This honour led Utzon to became only the second person to have received such recognition for one of his works during his lifetime, after Oscar Niemeyer.

Sydney Opera House

Bagsværd Church

Utzon later died in 2008 after receiving that top honour but left a strong and important legacy that will last forever. In 2003 he received the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honour for his life work and devotion to the architectural field. A well-deserved award for his noteworthy works like the Bagsværd Church near Copenhagen and the National Assembly Building in Kuwait. Most of his works can be found in Scandinavia, namely in Denmark, his home country, but the truth is told, Utzon’s Influence and Work has a Global Impact.