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COPENHAGEN (AFP) - - Joern Utzon, the Danish architect who conceived the Sydney Opera House, has died aged 90, the director of the Utzon art and architecture centre in Denmark said Saturday.

“He died overnight at a care centre north of Copenhagen after suffering a heart attack,” Adrian Carter told AFP, adding that Utzon had undergone “major surgery” earlier this year which left him in a weakened state.

Born on April 9, 1918 in Copenhagen, Utzon earned his architecture degree in 1942 at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.

During World War II, he fled to neutral Sweden, before moving to Finland to work with Finnish designer and architect Alvar Aalto.

In 1957, when he was still largely unknown, he entered an international competition to design Sydney’s new opera house. His drawings, with a roof that resembled 14 half-shells or sails, was unexpectedly selected as the winner.

But after a dispute with Australian authorities, Utzon quit the project halfway through in 1966. The landmark was ultimately completed by Peter Hall, David Littlemore and Lionel Todd in 1973.

Utzon, who also designed Kuwait’s parliament building, won a number of international awards, including the Alvar Aalto Medal for architecture, France’s Legion of Honour, and the Pritzker architecture prize.

source YAHOO