Can Lis, Jørn Utzon

‘When an architect designs and builds for himself, he has the opportunity to go to the edge of his own imagination’.

—Line Nørskov Davenport

Enamoured with the light of the Mediterranean sun, Can Lis, Jørn Utzon is a visual ode to one of the most iconic homes of the 20th century. An early ideal for design inspired by place, Can Lis rests on a Mallorcan cliff, nearly concealed by the marés stone from which it was made. Photographs by Simon Watson chart the movement of light along the compound that served as Utzon’s family home for over two decades, his first permanent residence following his work on the Sydney Opera House. A curated selection of archival photographs, sketches, and blueprints mined from Utzon’s private collection guide readers from early plans for Can Lis to the everyday ways the home was inhabited.

A seminal essay by the late Utzon himself explores his relationship to nature, while the architect’s son, Jan Utzon, recalls his family’s connection to Mallorca in conversation with Apartamento editorial director Robbie Whitehead. Conjuring the island’s endless horizon, Line Nørskov Davenport, director of exhibitions at the Utzon Center, reflects on Utzon’s departure from the Opera House and the sanctuary he eventually found in Mallorca. ‘Is this paradise?’, she wonders of an initial sketch that inspired Can Lis, a dream ultimately realised in the house’s meditative vistas, stirred only by the salt breeze of the sea.

Can Lis, Jørn Utzon is sponsored by Ferm Living and features an exclusive foreword by Phillipp Materna, head of brand and design.

Apartamento Publishing S.L., 2025
English
Hardcover, 120 pages
240 x 285mm