Platform and receptacle: Musings of modernity arising from Utzon׳s own houses

Utzon throughout his life time designed and built three houses for himself and his family. A study of these houses shows the slow development of a doubt, albeit understated, on his early architectural belief that was much celebrated in his public buildings, such as the Sydney Opera House. But Utzon is not unique in this instance. Some other modern architects too had experienced a similar change, gradual or sudden, in their attitudes towards life and the world, hence the transformation of their architecture as a consequence. This change, on the surface and as represented in architecture, is from a building that boldly embraces outside vista to that of a more internalized receptacle. But unlike Corbusier, Utzon, instead of a complete transformation, showed an inner conflict arising from this doubt, which is between the modern urge to conquer the capacious space out there and a yearning for an interior life.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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