UTZONIA: BOOK EXPLORES LINKS BETWEEN WELFARE STATE AND UTZON

The book ‘Utzonia’ explores the economic, cultural, and political influences by the Danish welfare state on Jørn Utzon’s architectural production.

19.01.2022

The publication presents and analyzes a series of projects carried out by Utzon during the second half of the twentieth century. Each of these is interpreted through a set of infographics that offer a critical perspective on “welfare state architecture” and its politico-ideological implications. These materials are finally accompanied by a series of critical texts that frame Utzon’s work from various points of view.

The book is both a contribution to the existing knowledge of Jørn Utzon’s legacy and an experiment in architectural pedagogy at Aarhus School of Architecture and at DIS Copenhagen, Denmark. It also gives recognition to recent research of international influences on Utzon’s architecture such as Chinese, Arabic and middle Eastern architecture.

”There was a postcolonial situation where wealthy nations were providing “hard aid” after World War II to erect new constructions from the use of new building techniques involving prefab concrete elements. This would, however, develop into the export of a “softer aid” of values and culture coming from the Danish welfare society – and Utzon contributed to this development”, says Troels Rugbjerg, teaching associate professor at The Aarhus School of Architecture and co-author of Utzonia.

Critical thinking as a priority

The experimental courses predating the book took place at The Aarhus School of Architecture and DIS Copenhagen respectively. The aim was a pedagogy that sought to free the students of potential a priori positions and/or perspectives offered by their teachers, instead letting them explore more freely in search of their own critical perspectives.

”It was an experiment, a very free approach that the students really appreciated. So, being more precise, all the drawings were made by students enrolled at DIS while all the models by students enrolled at AAA. And that’s how we experimented and found one possible alternative to a way of teaching and education of the “old schools” of architecture. We don’t want to impose any positions on others, we don’t have any gospel to preach them. It is up to the students to develop their own critical perspectives and learn from what the course and our experience might offer. We strive to create a framework where students can grow as critical thinkers first of all”, says Angela Gigliotti, postdoc and PhD at The Aarhus School of Architecture.

Utzonia is published by ListLab and available from their webshop.

Ressources

The authors have been interviewed for the Finnish architecture blog bookm-ark.fi – the quotes in the above article was lifted from that interview (with permission). Read it here.

You can also read interviews with the authors at artwort.com, koozarch.com and newgenerationsweb.com.

Facts

Editors: Angela Gigliotti and Troels Rugbjerg
Graphic Design by: OFFICE U67 ApS
Funded by: Statens Kunstfond, DIS – Study Abroad in Scandinavia and the Aarhus School of Architecture
Published by: ListLab