SYDNEY—Joern Utzon has been hailed internationally as a visionary, a genius, and ahead of his time, but political machinations within the NSW government meant he never saw the building for which he became world famous.
The Danish architect of the Sydney Opera House died of a heart attack in his sleep on Saturday, aged 90, sparking a flood of tributes from Australia and around the world.
Utzon was a "visionary", Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.
"Sydney's symbol to the world, Australia's symbol to the world, (was) owed in large part to this great man," he said.
"A son of Denmark, but I've got to say, in terms of his spirit, a son of Australia as well."
NSW Premier Nathan Rees called the World Heritage listed building, with its famous white sails, an "architectural masterpiece".
The Opera House Trust dubbed Utzon a creative genius.
The world has lost one of the finest, most visionary architects of the 20th century, the Australian Institute of Architects said.
However, Australia's treatment of the Pritzker Architecture Prize winner has always been an open sore.
Utzon, who has often been compared to architecture greats such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Alvar Aalto of Finland, drew up the design for the opera house in Sydney, Australia, in 1956.
But he was controversially forced off the project in 1966 - seven years before it was finished - after scandals about cost blowouts and design arguments saw the building caught in the hurley burley of state politics.
Commissioned by the Cahill Labor Government in the 50s, the Coalition, led by Robert Askin, promised tighter control of the project's finances before being elected in 1965.
With the Government taking greater control over the project, and with his funding cut, a frustrated Utzon resigned.
Government-appointed architects took over and the interior was not completed to Utzon's original plan.
Opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973, the architect was not even invited to the ceremony.
Utzon never saw the completed building, having refused repeated invitations because of his treatment by the state government.
By the time Australia had realised the error of its ways, and sought to restore the maligned interiors to his original designs, the architect was too old to travel to Australia.
Utzon, who in recent years had been suffering from a degenerative eye condition that made him virtually blind, declined several invitations to return to Australia, citing high blood pressure.
However, by 1998 the bitterness over his sacking had subsided.
"It's part of education - I can't be bitter about anything in life," Utzon told Associated Press.
Since 1999, Utzon had been working as the building's architect, overseeing renovations and new works, including designing the new Opera Theatre.
At the time of his passing, he and his son Jan were consulting with Australian firm Johnson Pilton Walker, who were working on improvements to the building's western foyers.
Born on April 9, 1918, in the Danish capital Copenhagen, Utzon graduated from the city's Academy of Arts in 1942.
He worked in the offices of Swedish architects Paul Hedquist and Gunnar Asplund and later with Aalto in Finland, before he established his own office in Copenhagen in 1950.
Utzon's earliest buildings were private homes. It came as a surprise to many when he won the competition for the Sydney Opera House in 1956.
Utzon received the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2003 for his Opera House design, which the jury singled it out as among the most iconic buildings of the 20th century.
In 2007, the Opera House was added to the 800-strong World Heritage List, putting it alongside monuments such as the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China.
The soft-spoken Dane lived in Mallorca, off Spain's eastern coast, with his wife Lis Utzon, for several years.
Utzon and his sons, Kim and Jan, designed several projects in partnership, including a furniture and design showroom, known as Paustian, in the Copenhagen harbour.
Utzon won several awards for his work, including the Order of Australia in 1985 and the Sonning Prize for contributing to European culture in 1988.
He is survived by his wife and their three children, Kim, Jan and Lin, and several grandchildren.
Funeral plans were not immediately announced.
