36 C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 TIM MORRIS Jorn Utzon’s summer house The retirement home on the island of Majorca of the architect of the Sydney Opera House has been restored and is available for those interested in studying his work. Jorn Utzon conceived the dramatic curves and inspired the technical brilliance of the Sydney Opera House in 1956, and was involved in the project for the following 10 years. He won the competition against 233 other entrants, many of them celebrated architects. It was his first-ever design for a public building: previously he had only designed housing. His involvement in the project came to an unfortunate end when he was forced to resign from the project. Frank Gehry, one of the judges who awarded Utzon the Pritzker prize, stated that ‘Utzon made a building well ahead of its time, far ahead of available technology, and he persevered through extraordinarily malicious publicity and negative criticism to build a building that changed the image of an entire country’. In his early life Utzon was told that the only profession inwhich he stood a chance of succeedingwas architecture. After qualifying he met some of the other great architects of the time, Frank LloydWright, Le Corbusier and Alvar Alto,whom he worked for. He later travelled toMorocco, where he fell in love with the traditions of African farmers and the way in which their houses were not laid out in a uniform row but followed the path of the sun, the places of the trees and the natural relationship of the buildings. After his involvement in the Sydney Opera House had finished, Utzon designed his own summer home just outside Puerto Petro in the south eastern corner of Majorca. The town is a lively place,with bars and restaurants dotted around its harbour which maintain their vitality all year round.The area is known for its calas – small coves and beaches. Utzon’s house is located between Puerto Petro and the largest cala, that of Mondrago, and situated in the local nature park. In other areas the land falls dramatically into the sea. High vertical cliffs and shimmering views of the Mediterranean are punctuated by ships and boats criss-crossing. It is said that, having fallen in love with the island over successive visits, Utzon asked a local farmer if he had any land for sale. He was offered three sites, which he described as ‘beautiful, marvellous and paradise.’ He chose to build his first home just outside Puerto Petro. It was a long, thin site with a track at the front and a vertical cliff at the back, punctuated with pines and myrtles. Here he designed Can Lis, named after his beloved wife. He came up with the concept by placing sugar lumps on a plan of the site. Five staggered blocks along the cliff edge reflected his earlier influences from meeting the African farmers. Each block is individually adjusted to the contours of the land and the existing trees. Each block has its own function.There is a kitchen and dining block with a colonnaded outdoor eating and seating area; a separate living area; and two bedroom blocks, each with its own sitting area looking out to sea. One has to walk outside to move from one functional area to another, which is a perfectly acceptable experience in the Mediterranean climate, especially a summer house. The living room in particular is a breathtaking space, with a circular sitting area and carefully located windows giving carefully orchestrated views to the sea and bringing in shafts of light during different times of the day. The experience is heightened by the window frames not being visible from the inside of the room, and the views to the Mediterranean and the passing floating traffic being framed by deep stone walls.There is no furniture as we would know it. Everything is built in, including ceramic tiled arm chairs with white linen cushions, shelving, and beds formed of stone recesses. The cliff-edge site is covered with pines and myrtles. (Photo:Torben Eskerod)
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