Jan Gehl Interview: On Jørn Utzon

“I thought, it’s incredible that an architect can make something that is so good for humanity.” The influential 81-year-old Danish architect Jan Gehl here describes his first meeting with the Sydney Opera House in 1976, and talks about its incredible symbolic significance: “The Opera House and a kangaroo, then you’re bang on.” Gehl was still attending architecture school in the late 1950s when Jørn Utzon had won the competition in Sydney and gave lectures about it at the school. Many years later, in 1976 when Gehl was in Australia for the first time as a guest lecturer, he saw the Sydney Opera House and was extremely moved: “It’s a sublime building, and it’s been amazingly influential. It’s become the symbol, not just for Sydney, but for all of Australia. If you show the Opera House, everyone knows you’re talking about Australia.” When Gehl got the opportunity to work with town planning in Sydney, it furthermore became clear that he was working in a city, where Utzon left a strong Danish heritage