El sol del navegante

Abstract

308

The naval world was present in Utzon’s life from his childhood, not only for being born in a country in which the most distant point from the coast is sixty kilometres away and in which almost every family has a boat to sail at leisure time, but also because he lived so close to his father’s engineering profession, and the shipyard boisterous atmosphere. The way he pays attention to sun and horizon is inevitable as the sailor he was. This is the reason why Utzon looks curiously to the place in a broad way, looking for relations between place and architecture. Architecture was one of his passions, maybe the most powerful, but only one more. Architecture channelled the other concerns about navigation, nature, cosmos... His well known travels around the world to Mexico, USA, Morocco, Middle East and Japan, contribute to his knowledge about the importance of the place in architecture, as well as knowing cultures adaptation mechanism to the specific environment, for instance this is the case of Morocco desert cities: “ But all the building complexes that have really inspired me –the desert cities in Morocco, for example– have been pushed into position in relation to the place, and in relation to the sun. Then they take on the character that the old cities or Greek temples have” Jørn Utzon.
The sun as a place element, that hasn’t been researched the Utzon’s projects, is a transcendent element in his houses. His two houses in Spain, and several built in Denmark, are oriented in an accurate way in relation to the sun. This paper explores the relationship between Jørn Utzon and the sun, through his vocation as a sailor.

Keywords

Utzon, houses, sun, sailor