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Revealing the mysteries behind a misunderstood masterpiece
Can Lis
Gerard Reinmuth was co-author in a series of books published by the Aarhus School of Architecture on Can Lis.
The books are the result of a three year study into the house, consisting of a number of visits, interview with Utzon’s three children and others associated with the house and research in archives.
The result is a series of evidence-based essays that demystify much of the conjecture around the house and in doing so, puts forward a more concrete and rigorous view regarding Utzon’s design process at Can Lis, and more generally, than has been previously understood.
Co-authors are Rasmus Grønbaek Hansen, , Lars Holt, Niels Park Nygaard and Aida Espanol Vilanova.
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APPROACH
This project commenced with a visit to Can Lis, invited by colleagues from the Aarhus School of Architecture. All had practiced, and perhaps it can be said all bought a practitioners eyes to the building. Throughout the visit, we kept uncovering strange details, be it the gap in the famous semi-circular table, remnants of earlier glazing configurations, and strange level changes hidden in the corner of the living room.
Working in partnership with Kim Utzon at the time - and sharing an office with him and Jan Utzon’s son, Jeppe - it was quickly organised that we could interview all three of Utzon’s children. We interviewed Kim and Jan in Copenhagen, and Lin on a later visit to Mallorca. Triangulating these interviews and revisiting the house revealed twelve strange details in all, along with other information such as the early image of the house with a pillow stuffed in the famous sidelight window. These details tell perhaps a truer story of Can Lis than that recorded in journals to date. A subsequent publication collated these discoveries alongside the interview and essays by the original group who visited the house together in 2012.
GALLERY
DRAWINGS
