Translating Site to a Regional Architecture Study on the works of Peter Muller and Glenn Murcutt
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Introduction Since the late 1800’s, the issues of nationalism and regionalism in Australian architecture have been topic of much discourse. From early Queen Anne buildings to the works of the Sydney School architects in the 1960s and onward, the responses to nationalism and regionalism have been varied over time. International influences, notably from America, coupled with Australia’s then emerging traditional history, have formed, and sometimes confused, these responses. In his essay “Regional Identity”, Rory Spence identifies that a regional architecture needs to be: “… a conscious, personal response”1 and that Australia’s lack of established traditions and architectural confidence had led to a confused appropriation of international influences creating an unclear Australian regional identity. Focusing on the Australian landscape and climatic conditions, the Architectural works of Peter Muller and Glenn Murcutt have been recognised for their contribution to a regional response. This essay will summarise a selection of their architectural works and how they achieved regional designs through the use of international influences. 2
Peter Muller The architects of the Sydney School were recognised as having designed a “distinct style”2 of regional architecture around Sydney3 in the 1950s and 60s. Milo Dunphy branded Peter Muller as a member of this School in his article “The Growth of an Australian Architecture” in 19624. Muller’s use of organic geometries and natural materials such as wood and stone5 link him with the School, although the architect himself denies the existence of the School. 6 Professor Stanislaus Fung also cautions the School’s existence in his article “The ‘Sydney School’?”, 7 whilst architects and historians such as Robin Boyd and Jennifer Taylor write of its presence. Taylor even identified Peter Muller as one of the earliest influences of the School when she began her chapter on “Organic Architecture” in An Australian Identity, noting the designs of the Audette House of 1953 and Wale Beach House of 19558 as key examples of a regional architecture. Noted influences on Muller’s work include Frank Lloyd Wright and Japanese architecture. These influences are also common to numerous Architects identified by the Sydney School9. It is the philosophical studies of these international sources that influenced Muller, not their pragmatic relationships10, 11. Adrian Snodgrass introduced Muller to Wrights philosophies12, and, as Taylor identifies: “It was the compatibility of Wright’s theories on building with his own already developed ideas that attracted Muller.”13 Wright’s appreciation of nature, the relationship between a site and architecture, and the simplicity of his material palette, resonated with Muller14. Philip Drew also supports that Wright’s philosophies influenced Muller, and that Muller’s own developing thoughts and principles allowed him to create a regional response, as opposed to a neo-Wrightien imitation. 15 Wrights influence on Muller is evident in the Audette House at Castlecrag, where affinities are drawn to Wright’s Taliesin West and Falling Water projects.16 When describing the Audette House, Taylor and Drew write of: “Sweeping horizontals and inter-penetrating volumes”17, and “exposed timber frames”,18evoking imagery indicative of Wrightien form. Drew also notes the formal influence of the use of untreated and natural materiality with “Falling Water”, whose palette allowed it to harmoniously sit within its landscape19. Taylor comments that “the exterior hardwood was left unpainted [and]… sympathetic weathering qualities and rugged nature of stone were … desirable.”20 Drew also writes on Muller’s more successful attempt at an integrated architecture with the landscape in his own “Whale Beach House”. Here the planar and material influences from Wright are met with Muller’s understanding of Japanese philosophy and Asian doctrines.21 The result is a “complementary balance of shelter and site”22; an architecture
1. The “sweeping horizontals” of the Peter Muller’s Audette House as described by Jennifer Taylor. 2. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. The light weight roof hovering over the stone wall accentuates the horizontal planes of the Architecture. It is this horizontality that Muller tried to achieve in the Audette house, but, as Jennifer Taylor writes in An Australian Identity: Houses for Sydney 1953-63, economic restraints prevented Muller’s use of stone for construction. Substitute brickwork was used.
Sadina Tursunovic, z3461731
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Assignment 1, Architectural History and Theory 3, Arch1322, Semester 2, 2015