The idea of the competition is for young creative talents to examine, interpret and creatively visualise Jørn Utzon’s working drawings for some of his unbuilt works.
Each entrant should interpret a selected Utzon project by merging Utzon’s own vision for the project with something they see in the project.
The selected project chosen for the competition in 2019 is Utzon’s theatre in Zurich (1964).
House of Ten Tubas
There was a house that swallowed a tuba.
Not just one tuba, but ten tubas.
The house there after reflected its hunger for tubas for a lifetime in that they were only partially digested. The house needed to, because the neighboring houses were talking, to decide on how to turn the oddities of the tubas into a new precedent/paradigm for the neighborhood. The other option for the house was to move to another neighborhood. The latter was chosen, in that ten tubas need room to breathe. The House of Ten Tubas found a neighborhood to move to, but there weren’t any other single family houses there. The neighborhood was at the center of the city, more of a district for business, with a large, open square/plaza. The house of ten tubas, thought maybe it could occupy the square/plaza, but not as a single family house, but as a public house, one for all the citizens of the city, including their extended families and guests as well. A house, with ten tubas, one which would need to transform itself, its size, its use, its appearance as a symbol, a stage which would be available to all the citizens of the city.
The House of Ten Tubas would be a playhouse, a theatre in the round, times ten. In practicality, there would be ten different size theatres. The ten theatres would vary in size according to audiences which each could hold for a performance. A single theatre could contain ten or a hundreds of audience members as actors/politicians recited their lines/dialogues. The house of ten tubas, would be held together, united, under a single pitched roof, supported by the theatres, one that shelters the square/plaza from the weather conditions, but open, door less, twenty-four hours, seven days a week, including holidays. This singular super roof’s deformations act as the analogous stage curtain, one in the process of either being opened or closed, depending on which theatre, which performance, which perspective one has on the city, or within the city. Hopefully, the House of Ten Tubas has only one real talent, the ability to change one’s mind, through performances in a constant state of flux, a condition each citizen or guest of the city can personally decide for themselves.
Part II
As the House of Ten Tubas became commonplace, the citizens of the city thought of her as a precedent for other buildings/structures. The city and its citizen’s minds had been changed, not only by the performances held, but in the idea that difference would/could become the standard. In other words, the voices of the city and its citizens would/could be directly reflected in its’ architecture. An architecture not conforming to one style or even a color palette. Variation, iteration, exaggeration, etc. all can be inclusive to an architectural language the city would/could now speak, in volumes.
Ten tubas?...enough or too little, who knows? The public houses of the city had internal voices, now those would be represented in physical form. The geometries of past centuries would/could be rethought, not by and through technology, but with language. The formatting/structure of narratives would/could act as diagrams/maps describing ever changing and adapting architectures. The House of Ten Tubas would/could have offspring. A new population of methodologies and typologies assembling the city into a density unforeseen. The city’s growth, via new narratives, became one which any citizen/guest, young or old could read, interpret and imagine as a living landscape. The ecology of the landscape would/could reflect and represent generational effects/histories. A city both old and new, articulating these conditions, just as the House of Ten Tubas operates door less. The physical key turning barriers, traditions of formal interiors and exteriors once removed, create a city of solely public property. This ideal is needed, its realization may or may not be possible. The ideal, is a mental condition first, a physical possibility second. The third frontier is up to its citizens to construct. The house of Ten Tubas is awaiting, anticipating the birth of an architectural vocabulary of languages or narratives, yet to be spoken and uttered by all willing.
The story/myth of the House of Ten Tubas part III is in production...
Each entrant should interpret a selected Utzon project by merging Utzon’s own vision for the project with something they see in the project.
The selected project chosen for the competition in 2019 is Utzon’s theatre in Zurich (1964).
House of Ten Tubas
There was a house that swallowed a tuba.
Not just one tuba, but ten tubas.
The house there after reflected its hunger for tubas for a lifetime in that they were only partially digested. The house needed to, because the neighboring houses were talking, to decide on how to turn the oddities of the tubas into a new precedent/paradigm for the neighborhood. The other option for the house was to move to another neighborhood. The latter was chosen, in that ten tubas need room to breathe. The House of Ten Tubas found a neighborhood to move to, but there weren’t any other single family houses there. The neighborhood was at the center of the city, more of a district for business, with a large, open square/plaza. The house of ten tubas, thought maybe it could occupy the square/plaza, but not as a single family house, but as a public house, one for all the citizens of the city, including their extended families and guests as well. A house, with ten tubas, one which would need to transform itself, its size, its use, its appearance as a symbol, a stage which would be available to all the citizens of the city.
The House of Ten Tubas would be a playhouse, a theatre in the round, times ten. In practicality, there would be ten different size theatres. The ten theatres would vary in size according to audiences which each could hold for a performance. A single theatre could contain ten or a hundreds of audience members as actors/politicians recited their lines/dialogues. The house of ten tubas, would be held together, united, under a single pitched roof, supported by the theatres, one that shelters the square/plaza from the weather conditions, but open, door less, twenty-four hours, seven days a week, including holidays. This singular super roof’s deformations act as the analogous stage curtain, one in the process of either being opened or closed, depending on which theatre, which performance, which perspective one has on the city, or within the city. Hopefully, the House of Ten Tubas has only one real talent, the ability to change one’s mind, through performances in a constant state of flux, a condition each citizen or guest of the city can personally decide for themselves.
Part II
As the House of Ten Tubas became commonplace, the citizens of the city thought of her as a precedent for other buildings/structures. The city and its citizen’s minds had been changed, not only by the performances held, but in the idea that difference would/could become the standard. In other words, the voices of the city and its citizens would/could be directly reflected in its’ architecture. An architecture not conforming to one style or even a color palette. Variation, iteration, exaggeration, etc. all can be inclusive to an architectural language the city would/could now speak, in volumes.
Ten tubas?...enough or too little, who knows? The public houses of the city had internal voices, now those would be represented in physical form. The geometries of past centuries would/could be rethought, not by and through technology, but with language. The formatting/structure of narratives would/could act as diagrams/maps describing ever changing and adapting architectures. The House of Ten Tubas would/could have offspring. A new population of methodologies and typologies assembling the city into a density unforeseen. The city’s growth, via new narratives, became one which any citizen/guest, young or old could read, interpret and imagine as a living landscape. The ecology of the landscape would/could reflect and represent generational effects/histories. A city both old and new, articulating these conditions, just as the House of Ten Tubas operates door less. The physical key turning barriers, traditions of formal interiors and exteriors once removed, create a city of solely public property. This ideal is needed, its realization may or may not be possible. The ideal, is a mental condition first, a physical possibility second. The third frontier is up to its citizens to construct. The house of Ten Tubas is awaiting, anticipating the birth of an architectural vocabulary of languages or narratives, yet to be spoken and uttered by all willing.
The story/myth of the House of Ten Tubas part III is in production...
Location: Zurich Switzerland
Surjan - design scientist
S. H. F. Surjan - project architect
Luca Surjan - creative director
Surjan - design scientist
S. H. F. Surjan - project architect
Luca Surjan - creative director