Los Angeles, CA—An Australian architect, Glenn Murcutt,
who works as a sole practitioner, primarily designing environmentally
sensitive modernist houses that respond to their surroundings and
climate, as well as being scrupulously energy conscious, has
been named to receive the 2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The 66
year old Murcutt lives and has his office in Sydney, but travels the
world teaching and lecturing to university students.
In announcing the jury’s choice, Thomas J. Pritzker,
president of The Hyatt Foundation, said, “Glenn Murcutt is a stark
contrast to most of the highly visible architects of the day — his
works are not large scale, the materials he works with, such as corrugated
iron, are quite ordinary, certainly not luxurious; and he works alone.
He acknowledges that his modernist inspiration has its roots in the
work of Mies van der Rohe, but the Nordic tradition of Aalto, the
Australian wool shed, and many other architects and designers such
as Chareau, have been important to him as well. Add in the fact that
all his designs are tempered by the land and climate of his native
Australia, and you have the uniqueness that the jury has chosen to
celebrate. While his primary focus is on houses, one of his
public buildings completed in 1999, the Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education
Centre, has achieved acclaim as well, critics calling it ‘a masterwork’.”
Pritzker Prize jury chairman, J. Carter Brown, commented,
“Glenn Murcutt occupies a unique place in today’s architectural firmament.
In an age obsessed with celebrity, the glitz of our ‘starchitects,’
backed by large staffs and copious public relations support, dominate
the headlines. As a total contrast, our laureate works in a one-person
office on the other side of the world from much of the architectural
attention, yet has a waiting list of clients, so intent is he to give
each project his personal best. He is an innovative architectural
technician who is capable of turning his sensitivity to the environment
and to locality into forthright, totally honest, non-showy works of
art. Bravo!”
The formal presentation of what has come to be known
throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be made
at a ceremony on May 29, 2002 at Michelangelo’s Campidoglio in the
heart of Rome. At that time, Murcutt will be presented with
a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion. Murcutt is the first Australian
to become a Pritzker Laureate, and the 26th honoree since the
prize was established in 1979. His selection continues what has become
a ten-year trend of laureates from the international community.
In fact, architects from other countries chosen for the prize now
far outnumber the U.S. recipients, nineteen to seven.
Bill Lacy, who is an architect spoke as the executive
director of the Pritzker Prize, quoting from the jury citation which
states, “His is an architecture of place, architecture that responds
to the landscape and the climate. His houses are fine tuned to the
land and the weather. He uses a variety of materials, from metal to
wood to glass, stone, brick and concrete — always selected with a
consciousness of the amount of energy it took to produce the materials
in the first place.”
Lacy elaborated, “Murcutt’s thoughtful aproach to
the design of such houses as the Marika-Alderton House in Eastern
Arnhem Land; the Marie Short House in New South Wales; and the Magney
House at Bingie Bingie, South Coast, New South Wales, are testament
that aesthetics and ecology can work together to bring harmony to
man’s intrusion in the environment.”
Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture critic and member
of the jury, commented further saying, “Glenn Murcutt has become a
living legend, an architect totally focused on shelter and the environment,
with skills drawn from nature and the most sophisticated design traditions
of the modern movement.”
Another juror, Carlos Jimenez from Houston who is
professor of architecture at Rice University, said, “Nurtured by the
mystery of place and the continual refinement of the architect’s craft,
Glenn Murcutt’s work illustrates the boundless generosity of a timely
and timeless vision. The conviction, beauty and optimism so evident
in the work of this most singular, yet universal architect remind
us that architecture is foremost an ennobling word for humanity”
And from juror Jorge Silvetti, who chairs the Department
of Architecture, Graduate School of Design at Harvard University,
“The architecture of Glenn Murcutt surprises first, and engages immediately
after because of its absolute clarity and precise simplicity—a type
of clarity that soon proves to be neither simplistic nor complacent,
but inspiringly dense, energizing and optimistic. His architecture
is crisp, marked and impregnated by the unique landscape and by the
light that defines the fabulous, far away and gigantic mass of land
that is his home, Australia. Yet his work does not fall into
the easy sentimentalism of a chauvinistic revisitation of the vernacular.
Rather, a considered, serious look would trace his buildings’ lineage
to modernism, to modern architecture, and particularly to its Scandinavian
roots planted by Asplund and Lewerentz, and nurtured by
Alvar Aalto”
The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is
to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates
a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment,
which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity
and the built environment through the art of architecture.
The distinguished jury that selected Murcutt as the
2002 Laureate consists of its founding chairman, J. Carter
Brown, director emeritus of the National Gallery of Art, and chairman
of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts; and alphabetically: Giovanni
Agnelli, chairman emeritus of Fiat from Torino, Italy; Ada Louise
Huxtable, author and architectural critic of New York; Carlos Jimenez,
professor at Rice University School of Architecture, and principal,
Carlos Jimenez Studio Houston, Texas; Jorge Silvetti, chairman, department
of architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design; and
Lord Rothschild, former chairman of the National Heritage Memorial
Fund of Great Britain and formerly the chairman of that country's
National Gallery of Art.
The prize presentation ceremony moves to different
locations around the world each year, paying homage to historic and
contemporary architecture. Last year, the ceremony was held in Charlottesville,
Virginia at Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello, which the former
president and author of the Declaration of Independence, as
well as accomplished architect, designed. In 2000, the
ceremony was held in Jerusalem in the Archaeological Park surrounding
the Dome of the Rock.
Philip Johnson was the first Pritzker Laureate in
1979. The late Luis Barragán of Mexico was named in 1980. The
late James Stirling of Great Britain was elected in 1981, Kevin Roche
in 1982, Ieoh Ming Pei in 1983, and Richard Meier in 1984. Hans Hollein
of Austria was the 1985 Laureate. Gottfried Boehm of Germany received
the prize in 1986. Kenzo Tange was the first Japanese architect
to receive the prize in 1987; Fumihiko Maki was the second from Japan
in 1993; and Tadao Ando the third in 1995. Robert Venturi received
the honor in 1991, and Alvaro Siza of Portugal in 1992. Christian
de Portzamparc of France was elected Pritzker Laureate in 1994. The
late Gordon Bunshaft of the United States and Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil,
were named in 1988. Frank Gehry was the recipient in 1989, the
late Aldo Rossi of Italy in 1990. In 1996, Rafael Moneo of Spain
was the Laureate; in 1997 Sverre Fehn of Norway; in 1998 Renzo Piano
of Italy, in 1999 Sir Norman Foster of the UK, and in 2000, Rem Koolhaas
of the Netherlands. Last year, two architects from Switzerland received
the honor: Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron.
The field of architecture was chosen by the Pritzker
family because of their keen interest in building due to their involvement
with developing the Hyatt Hotels around the world; also because architecture
was a creative endeavor not included in the Nobel Prizes. The procedures
were modeled after the Nobels, with the final selection being made
by the international jury with all deliberations and voting in secret.
Nominations are continuous from year to year with over 500 nominees
from more than 40 countries being considered each year.
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Citation from the Jury
Glenn Murcutt is a
modernist, a naturalist, an environmentalist, a humanist, an economist
and ecologist encompassing all of these distinguished qualities in
his practice as a dedicated architect who works alone from concept
to realization of his projects in his native Australia. Although his
works have sometimes been described as a synthesis of Mies van der
Rohe and the native Australian wool shed, his many satisfied clients
and the scores more who are waiting in line for his services are endorsement
enough that his houses are unique, satisfying solutions.
Generally, he eschews
large projects which would require him to expand his practice, and
give up the personal attention to detail that he can now give to each
and every project. His is an architecture of place, architecture that
responds to the landscape and to the climate.
His houses are fine
tuned to the land and the weather. He uses a variety of materials,
from metal to wood to glass, stone, brick and concrete — always selected
with a consciousness of the amount of energy it took to produce the
materials in the first place. He uses light, water, wind, the sun,
the moon in working out the details of how a house will work — how
it will respond to its environment.
His structures are said
to float above the landscape, or in the words of the Aboriginal people
of Western Australia that he is fond of quoting, they "touch the earth
lightly." Glenn Murcutt’s structures augment their significance at
each stage of inquiry.
One of Murcutt’s favorite
quotations from Henry David Thoreau, who was also a favorite of his
father, "Since most of us spend our lives doing ordinary tasks, the
most important thing is to carry them out extraordinarily well." With
the awarding of the 2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the jury finds
that Glenn Murcutt is more than living up to that adage.
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# # #
The 2002 Jury
Chairman
J. Carter Brown
Director emeritus, National Gallery of Art
Chairman, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
Washington, D.C.
Giovanni Agnelli
Chairman emeritus, Fiat
Torino, Italy
Ada Louise Huxtable
Author and Architectural Critic
New York, New York
Carlos Jimenez
Professor, Rice University School of Architecture
Principal, Carlos Jimenez Studio
Houston, Texas
Jorge Silvetti
Chairman, Department of Architecture
Harvard University, Graduate School of Design
Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Lord Rothschild
Former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery
Former Chairman, National Heritage Memorial Fund
London, England
Executive Director
Bill Lacy
State University of New York at Purchase
Purchase, New York
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# # #
Additional Comments from Individual
Pritzker Prize Jurors
"Glenn Murcutt occupies a unique place
in today's architectural firmament. In an age obsessed with celebrity,
the glitz of our `starchitects,' backed by large staffs and copious
public relations support, dominate the headlines. As a total contrast,
our laureate works in a one-person office on the other side of the
world from much of the architectural attention, yet has a waiting
list of clients, so intent is he to give each project his personal
best. He is an innovative architectural technician who is capable
of turning his sensitivity to the environment and to locality into
forthright, totally honest, non-showy works of art. Bravo!"
J. Carter Brown
Chairman, Pritzker Jury
"Glenn Murcutt has become a living legend, an architect
totally focused on shelter and the environment, with skills drawn
from nature and the most sophisticated design traditions of the modern
movement."
Ada Louise Huxtable
Pritzker Juror
"Nurtured by the mystery of place and the continual
refinement of the architect's craft, Glenn Murcutt's work illustrates
the boundless generosity of a timely and timeless vision. The conviction,
beauty and optimism so evident in the work of this most singular,
yet universal architect remind us that architecture is foremost an
ennobling word for humanity."
Carlos Jimenez
Pritzker Juror
"The architecture of Glenn Murcutt surprises first,
and engages immediately after because of its absolute clarity and
pecise simplicity—a type of clarity that soon proves to be neither
simplistic nor complacent, but inspiringly dense, energizing and optimistic.
His architecture is crisp, marked and impregnated by the unique landscape
and by the light that defines the fabulous, far away and gigantic
mass of land that is his home, Australia. Yet his work does not fall
into the easy sentimentalism of a chauvinistic revisitation of the
vernacular. Rather, a considered, serious look would trace his buildings'
lineage to modernism, to modern architecture, and particularly to
its Scandinavian roots planted by Asplund and Lewerentz , and nurtured
by Alvar Aalto."
Jorge Silvetti
Pritzker Juror
"Glenn Murcutt's buildings embrace both simplicity
and elegance, but with a social and environmental conscience. Although
most of his work is small in scale, it is remarkable for its purity
and adherence to the guiding principles of modern architecture.
Bill Lacy
Executive Director
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Michelangelo's Campidoglio in Rome
Will Be the Setting for the 2002
Pritzker Prize Ceremony
"Michelangelo
is often thought of principally as a sculptor and painter, rather
than as an architect," says J. Carter Brown, chairman of the jury
that selects the Pritzker Laureate each year. "But right in the religious
and political center of Rome, he was commissioned to design a remarkable
architectural project at the top of the Capitoline Hill, the Campidoglio,
Rome's ancient Capitol Hill. It is a place spanning more than 2000
years of history. In 1471, Pope Sixtus IV donated large bronze statues
to the Campidoglio, creating what is now arguably the oldest
public museum in the world. The She-wolf suckling the two traditional
founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, was placed inside the Palazzo
dei Conservatori, and became the symbol of the city. With Papal
authority, Michelangelo moved the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius
to the center of the plaza, and created a magically beautiful star-shaped
pavement design. (His design was not in fact actually completed until
1940; and to conserve the statue, one of the great monuments of antiquity,
the original has been moved into the adjoining museum, and a faithful
replica installed in the center of the plaza, following Michelangelo's
design.)"
The guests assembling
from around the world for the Pritzker Prize on May 29, will walk
up the monumental ramp (cordonata) to the top of the Capitoline
Hill, where chairs will be placed on the piazza facing the
central building (the Palazzo Senatorio which today houses
the offices of the mayor and the city council chambers), where, in
front of the fountain, the ceremony will take place to present the
$100,000 Pritzker Architecture Prize to Australian architect Glenn
Murcutt. On either side of the piazza is the Palazzo dei
Conservatori and the Palazzo Nuovo, both of which comprise
the Capitoline Museum.
Following the
ceremony, guests will be transported to the Palazzo Colonna
for a reception and dinner. The first historical information on the
Colonna family residence dates from the 13th century. Since that time,
the family has provided numerous princes of the Catholic Church, including
several Cardinals and Popes. Today, the family home doubles as a private
art gallery for the art collections that span six centuries.
The international
prize, which is awarded each year to a living architect for lifetime
achievement, was established by the Pritzker family of Chicago through
their Hyatt Foundation in 1979. Often referred to as "architecture’s
Nobel" and "the profession’s highest honor," the Pritzker Prize has
been awarded to seven Americans, and (including this year) nineteen
architects from thirteen other countries. The presentation ceremonies
move around the world each year paying homage to the architecture
of other eras and/or works by previous laureates of the prize.
Thomas J. Pritzker,
president of The Hyatt Foundation, in expressing gratitude to the
Mayor of Rome, Honorable Walter Veltroni, for making it possible to
hold the event in this remarkable setting, stated, "Last year, we
were in Monticello, the home designed by one of the fathers of our
country, Thomas Jefferson. It is relevant that Jefferson's American
architecture talents owed a primary debt to Italy. He was very much
inspired by the 16th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio's book,
I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura; and the dome of Monticello
was modeled after the ancient temple of Vesta in Rome, just as the
dome of the library of his University of Virginia was inspired by
Rome's Pantheon." Pritzker went on to describe how Jefferson wrote
to a friend,, "Roman taste, genius, and magnificence excite ideas."
"This year," Pritzker continued, "we will be in Rome, virtually the
cradle of much of our western civilization, and more specifically,
in a space designed by Michelangelo in the 16th century that is still
functioning today as the seat of government for this great city. And
this magnificent setting overlooks the heart of the ancient city,
the Roman Forum."
Coinciding with
the Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony being held in Rome, the American
Academy in Rome will host a Pritzker Symposium on New Century,
New World, The Globalization of Architecture.
The co-chairs
of the event are Bill Lacy, executive director of the Pritzker Architecture
Prize and Adele Chatfield-Taylor, president of the American Academy
in Rome. Participants will include: J. Carter Brown, Charles Correa,
Rolf Fehlbaum, Anthony Grafton, Zaha Hadid, Dogon Hasol, Ricardo Legorreta,
and Karen Stein.
The Pritzker
Prize has a tradition of moving the ceremony to sites of architectural
significance around the world. This is the second time the ceremony
has been held in Italy, the first being in 1990 at the Palazzo Grassi
in Venice when the late Aldo Rossi received the prize. As the sites
are chosen each year before the laureate, there is no intended connection
beyond celebrating architectural excellence. Retrospectively, buildings
by Laureates of the Pritzker Prize, such as the National Gallery of
Art’s East Building designed by I.M. Pei, or Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim
Museum in Bilbao, Spain, or Richard Meier’s new Getty Center in Los
Angeles have been used. In some instances, places of historic interest
such as France’s Palace of Versailles and Grand Trianon, or Todai-ji
Buddhist Temple in Japan, or Prague Castle in The Czech Republic have
been chosen as ceremony venues. Some of the most beautiful museums
have hosted the event, including the already mentioned Palazzo Grassi:
Chicago’s Art Institute (using the Chicago Stock Exchange Trading
Room designed by Louis Sullivan and his partner, Dankmar Adler, which
was preserved when the Stock Exchange building was torn down in 1972.
The Trading Room was then reconstructed in the museum's new wing in
1977). New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art provided the setting
of 1982 Laureate Kevin Roche’s pavilion for the Temple of Dendur.
In homage to the late Louis Kahn, the ceremony was held in Fort Worth’s
Kimbell Art Museum in 1987. California’s Huntington Library, Art Collections
and Botanical Gardens was the setting in l985. In 1992, the just-completed
Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago was the location where
Alvaro Siza of Portugal received the prize. The 20th anniversary of
the prize was hosted at the White House since in a way, the Pritzker
Prize roots are in Washington where the first two ceremonies were
held at Dumbarton Oaks, where a major addition to the original estate,
had been designed by yet another Pritzker Laureate, the very first,
Philip Johnson. In 2000 in Jerusalem, on the Herodian Street excavation
in the shadow of the Temple Mount was the most ancient of the venues.
The ceremonies have evolved over the years, becoming, in effect, an
international grand tour of architecture.
One of the founding
jurors of the Pritzker Prize, the late Lord Clark of Saltwood, as
art historian Kenneth Clark, perhaps best known for his television
series and book, Civilisation, said at one of the ceremonies,
"A great historical episode can exist in our imagination almost entirely
in the form of architecture. Very few of us have read the texts of
early Egyptian literature. Yet we feel we know those infinitely remote
people almost as well as our immediate ancestors, chiefly because
of their sculpture and architecture."
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# # #
...about Glenn Marcus Murcutt
|
Note: It would be
impossible in this brief media kit to provide a complete biography
or to outline and discuss all of Glenn Murcutt’s work. Rather
an attempt is made to highlight some important aspects of his
life, and some of his projects and thoughts on architecture.
A detailed chronological list of his projects and honors is
provided in the PDF file of the media kit. A selected bibliography
is also provided for anyone wanting further research.
|
Glenn Murcutt is either
one of Australia’s best kept secrets, or one of the world’s most influential
architects. Perhaps, both. On the other hand, we should temper "secret"
somewhat since he has been the subject of numerous books and magazine
articles throughout the world. One of the first definitive works was
Glenn Murcutt Works and Projects by Françoise Fromonot,
first published in 1995. In that book, she describes Murcutt as the
"first Australian architect whose work has attracted international
attention."
His relatively low profile
can best be explained by the fact that he works alone, primarily for
clients who want houses that are not only environmentally sensitive,
but provide privacy and security in a structure that pleases all the
senses. In stark contrast to many of his contemporaries, Murcutt has
declared, "I am not interested in designing large scale projects.
Doing many smaller works provides me with many more opportunities
for experimentation. Our building regulations are supposed to prevent
the worst; they in fact fail to stop the worst, and at best frustrate
the best — they certainly sponsor mediocrity. I’m trying to produce
what I call minimal buildings, but buildings that respond to their
environment."
"I have had to fight
for my architecture. I have fought for it right from the outset because
councils have clearly found the work a threat. For many designs I
put to council, we either had to resort to a court for the outcome
or better, negotiate a satisfactory result, always trying to avoid
a compromise. I have had the greatest trouble with planning, building
and health department staff, many of whom have backgrounds unrelated
to architecture, but offer very conservative judgments in taste and
aesthetics."
What manner of man and
architect is this who could so openly state his opposition to the
people who exercise so much control over what and how things should
be built? A look at his colorful family, as well as how and where
he was raised is a partial explanation. And "colorful" is a mild adjective
in this application; Murcutt’s life is the stuff of which movies are
made.
Glenn Murcutt today
readily credits his father as being a strong influence toward his
architectural career. This brief reflection of family history further
explains some of the influences that have shaped his work.
His father, Arthur Murcutt
was born in Melbourne in 1899. By the time he was thirteen, he ran
away from home, seeking something more than what he would describe
later to his son, "the ugliness of life." He worked at odd jobs, from
station hand to well sinker to sheep shearer before shipping off to
Port Moresby, New Guinea, which had just been declared an Australian
Mandated Territory at the end of World War I. There he worked as a
bootmaker and saddler, as well as learning carpentry, before setting
off with a partner on an adventure to prospect for gold in New Guinea.
When they failed to find the precious metal, he landed work as superintendent
of a plantation and builder of houses, and even had time to indulge
his interest in music, buying a gold-plated saxophone.
When he returned to
Port Moresby, he teamed up with another of his mates to build a yacht
in which the two of them would sail across the Pacific. The mate was
a fellow Australian, Errol Flynn, before he achieved his movie stardom
in the United States. Their cruise was canceled when the boat sank
shortly after being launched. As his father related the story, it
sank due to sabotage to prevent Flynn from leaving the country owing
money.
By the time 1932 arrived,
Arthur Murcutt was operating a sawmill in Wau (still in New Guinea),
but gold lured him and another partner into a second venture in prospecting,
this time with enough success that it made him a fairly wealthy man.
Two years into his gold mining days, he met and married Daphne Powys,
the daughter of a photographer from Manly, Australia.
In 1936, with things
going well in the gold business, Arthur Murcutt and his pregnant wife
decided to go to the Berlin Olympics. During a stopover in London,
their first son, Glenn Murcutt, was born. Their return to Australia
was via the Aquitania to New York, and then a cross-country car trip
to Los Angeles where they sailed the Pacific to reach home. With such
round-the-world travels under his belt before the age of one, it’s
no wonder that Glenn Murcutt would later visit nearly every continent
as a lecturer or visiting professor at leading universities. Of this,
he says, "Teaching has proved a wonderful way to learn. Not only have
my students provided challenges, but they are sounding boards for
ideas, and my association with other teachers has provided great stimulus."
But back to 1937, when
the Murcutt family go into the wilds of New Guinea where they remained
until the approaching Japanese at the outset of World War II drove
them back to Australia in 1941. Those first five years of life in
New Guinea had a profound influence on Glenn, whether actual memory
or family recollections. That family now included a brother and sister
for Glenn, Douglas and Nola.
Glenn’s mother recounted
to him how his father would take several books with him each day when
he went up to the gold mining area, and his father confirmed that
when Glenn was older, telling him, "I got my education in the forests
of New Guinea because I had time to read." Jung, Freud and particularly
Henry David Thoreau were his father’s favorites, and the latter became
one of Glenn’s as well. "There is no doubt my father was a compulsive
reader. He had many of Freud’s first publications."
Glenn quotes a passage
from Thoreau, "But the civilized man has the habits of the house.
His house is his prison, in which he finds himself oppressed and confined,
not sheltered and protected. He walks as if the walls would fall in
and crush him, and his feet remember the cellar beneath. His muscles
are never relaxed. It is a rare thing that he overcomes the house,
and learns to sit at home in it, and the roof and the floor and walls
support themselves, as the sky and trees and earth."
Murcutt wanted to experience
his Marie Short house for a 24-hour period, which he did starting
after the evening meal and every two hours going to a different part
of the house to see what was happening. Says Murcutt, "It was wonderful
to be there. I was in command. I was able to say if I wanted the wind
to come in or not. I wasn’t enslaved by the building. I could hear
the frogs, the crickets; I could tell the day was coming by the sounds
of the birds waking. The moon came through the skylight — patches
of blue light entered the room. You can’t experience that easily in
the forest because you would be eaten by mosquitoes. Here I was in
a man-made environment that is insect meshed, but able to experience
ninety per cent of the outside environment. I could open up the house
and freeze or close it and stay warm. That’s what a house should do
— to operate the building like sailing a boat."
He continues, "I also
say that we should, as architects, observe how we dress according
to our different climates. We layer our clothing, put more on when
its cold, take more off when its hot — and I think our buildings should
equally respond to their climates. Very few of my buildings have air
conditioning. To my very good Finnish friends, I point out that they
tend to put on more clothes, and we in Australia think more about
taking them off — that’s of course what most of my buildings do."
Glenn remembers their
home in New Guinea, built by his father, with a roof of light weight
corrugated iron, and perched on stilts a full story above ground to
keep water and reptiles out, as well as affording some protection
from quite dangerous local people, who at least once were discouraged
from attacking when his mother fired a rifle over their heads. He
elaborates, "The local people were very angry about our living in
their land; we simply occupied it and took from it. Yes, they were
dangerous. They were known as the Kukuku people, feared also by other
national New Guineans, and even today, they are still feared."
Another childhood memory
is that of aviation, which was a primary means of transportation,
as well as the delivery of mail and materials. Glenn quotes the statistic
that in the 1930’s, the Wau and Bulolo airports in New Guinea had
three times the number of passengers and cargo arriving and departing
as any other airport in the world. Many of the planes were Junker
G/31 and W/34 models whose wings and fuselage were covered with corrugated
duralumin.
At one point, Glenn
says he was concerned that he was becoming known as the "corrugated
Gal Iron King." He points out that he hasn’t used galvanized iron
just to be using it as a gimmick. He says, "I use it because it’s
an important material for the things I want to do. It’s capable of
giving me that thinness, that lightweight quality, an edge, a fineness,
economy and strength and profile. I’m able to bend it and curve it
in two dimensions. I love it because it reflects the quality of the
light of the day and surrounding colors. On a dull day, the building
dulls down; on a bright day, the building is bright. When laid with
the ribs horizontal, the upper surface of the corrugation picks up
the sky light and the lower surface, the ground light — accentuating
the horizontal. That’s a material which responds to its environment."
Speaking further about
his use of corrugated iron, Murcutt says, "Horizontal linearity is
an enormous dimension of this country, and I want my buildings to
feel part of that. Take the iron sheeting on outside walls, for example,
generally it runs vertically, and I believe it should run horizontally.
It’s not only logical in terms of the material itself, but it’s logical
in terms of a stud frame to fix it horizontally. If it runs vertically,
it competes with the trees. I don’t want to compete with trees, let
them complement the horizontality of the man-made iron sheets."
But to return to earlier
history, his father, Arthur Murcutt, proved to be an astute business
man, investing his gold earnings in land in Sydney, Australia, so
when World War II was over, he established a joinery shop in Manly
Vale, having learned carpentry from his work in New Guinea and in
the Royal Australian Air Force. He became increasingly interested
in architecture, subscribing to Architectural Forum, where
he saw Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth house, and was so impressed
by it that he made it required reading for Glenn, who studied the
article three times before being quizzed by his father about the design.
This Miesian influence
on the architecture of Glenn Murcutt would prove to be long-lasting.
He whole-heartedly adheres to the well-known principle "less is more,"
and another that "form is not the aim of our work, but only the result."
In 1974, when designing the Marie Short house in Kempsey, Murcutt
protected the house from insects, snakes and large lizards during
floods when they would swim to the high ground. He says, "A house
set on the ground would see frogs, snakes, etc. inside; being off
the ground provided a place below the floor for these creatures and
dry, reptile free platform for human habitation." There is a similarity
to the way Glenn suspended the wooden floor above ground for this
house to the way Mies had done with Farnsworth house to protect it
from floods of the Fox River in Illinois. His father also introduced
him to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Gordon Drake, the Keck brothers,
Harry Weese, Edward Larrabee Barnes, Schindler, Philip Johnson and
Charles Eames, as well as some of Australia’s post-war modernists
such as Sydney Ancher and Arthur Baldwinson.
Murcutt senior designed
and built several houses for his family (as well as several speculative
houses) over the years — all of which are evidence of his interest
in modern architecture. When Glenn was 13, his father assigned him
the task of making of a model house of where they lived at the time,
and then photographing it. Anyone looking at the model could see further
evidence of his father’s efforts to design in what would now be called
a modernist idiom.
Glenn remembers that
his father had a keen awareness of the environment, saying, "He would
take me up the hillside and analyze a plant with me. We’d do that
with all manner of species of plants and trees. He tried to stop people
from cutting the trees, and when he couldn’t stop them, he’d go out
and plant seeds for more."
"There were lessons
to be learned from dad every day," continues Glenn, "whether it was
the landscape, nature, music, swimming, woodworking, and household
chores. I had learned to swim by the time I was two and a half. Dad
taught us to be disciplined, and how to accomplish a lot in every
day. Yes, he scared all five children, but he was also very warm."
Glenn admits to doing
rather badly in elementary school and the early years in high school,
but later on in high school, he had what he describes as some really
great teachers, singling out one particular piano teacher as being
the best and most gentle in Sydney. "I became quite reasonable at
performances and started to play some really interesting classical
compositions by Bach, Liszt and Beethoven."
At university, he remembers
"the most grueling experience" he’d ever had. "Sixty students," he
recalls, "undertook the final year five-day design exam. At the end
of the third day, three fourths of them had ‘designed’ and completed
some beautiful final drawings. By day four, only six of us were still
there. By the end of that day, only three of us remained. On the fifth
day, I found a worthwhile idea and went on to complete seven large
freehand drawings."
Murcutt continues, "What
I learnt from that experience was that architecture often requires
time to evolve if it is to be of any consequence. I recall that those
who completed the design examination quickly, presenting some beautiful
drawings, were somewhat short on thinking!"
With a diploma awarded
in December of 1961, he took a walking tour of Tasmania with a school
friend before starting work. A year later, he was able to take a trip
to Europe where he visited Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, France, Holland,
Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland over a two year period.
It was on this journey that he saw his first Alvar Aalto building,
a cultural centre in Wolfsburg, Germany. He found it "remarkable in
its sections, planning, use of materials, detail and form." He went
on to Bremen to see Aalto’s 22-story high-rise apartments. Glenn’s
reaction: "Everything Aalto did started from first principles and
had a quality of being thoroughly thought through." Little did he
know that in 1992 he would be presented with the seventh Alvar Aalto
Medal.
The jury for that award,
specifically praised Murcutt’s work for "the convincing synthesis
of regional characteristics, climate-conditioned solutions, technological
rationality and unconstrained visual expression." Glenn has since
commented that he thought it significant that Jørn Utzon, Alvaro
Siza and Tadao Ando were all previous winners of the Aalto Medal,
and in his words, "all of them sought to marry modern architecture
to the place, the territory, the landscape."
Following that trip
to Europe, Glenn returned to Sydney to work in the firm of Ancher,
Mortlock, Murray & Wooley, until 1969 when he founded his own
architectural firm. He had long ago decided when he was still at university
that he would prefer to work at his profession as a sole practitioner,
which he has done ever since. He feels that by working alone, figuring
where that next dollar is coming from is far less pressing than in
a large firm. "When the need arises," he says, "such as a very good
project offered requiring more input than one person is able to do
alone, I work in association with other architects whom I greatly
respect. This rather than employing staff — that way, we share an
equality. Further, as a one-man office, I have been able to experiment
with wind patterns, materials, light, climate, spaces, and the characteristics
of the site."
As a result of a travel
grant awarded to him by Royal Australian Institute of Architects for
"a degree of creativity in upgrading older houses using new techniques
without destroying them," he made a second tour of Europe in 1973.
It was on that trip that he first saw the Maison de Verre by Pierre
Chareau and Bernard Bijvoët in Paris. Murcutt describes his visit
there as "a liberating experience." On the way to Europe, a stopover
in Mexico afforded him the opportunity to see Mies van der Rohe’s
Bacardi office building, which he described as "beautifully put together."
He notes, "I saw some beautiful sculpture, water gardens in Mexico
City, but didn’t find out that they were by Luis Barragán until
I returned home." Barragán has been another continuing influence
on Murcutt. Another highlight of that trip was a visit to Chicago
where he saw Robie house (by Frank Lloyd Wright) and a trip to Racine,
Wisconsin to see the Johnson Wax administration building and research
tower. He also saw more of Mies’ and Louis Sullivan’s works.
Visiting Boston, he
had the opportunity to visit Walden Pond, and the site of Henry David
Thoreau’s home. "I lived 25 years in one day, in terms of memory and
what my father had talked about concerning Thoreau," says Glenn. "I
was so excited, I was tearful." His father had read Thoreau and responded
positively to his philosophy, passing much of that on to Glenn.
In New York City, which
he found incredibly exciting, but somewhat frightening, he was, to
quote him, "really impressed with the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller
Centre and the Ford Foundation Headquarters by Kevin Roche and John
Dinkeloo; to produce that environment in an office building was terrific."
His travels have continued
over the years, particularly as he has become a much in demand lecturer
and visiting professor in architecture schools all over the world,
visiting some twenty countries. In 1997, Murcutt married Wendy Lewin,
a fellow architect with whom he has worked on a number of projects.
He has two sons by a previous marriage: Nicholas, 37, who is an architect;
and Daniel, 35, who is an assistant library technician; and a step-daughter,
Anna Lewin-Tzannes, 13.
Some seventeen years
ago, in the foreword to a book by Philip Drew, titled Leaves of
Iron and sub-titled Glenn Murcutt: Pioneer of an Australian
Architectural Form, Murcutt wrote: "Landscape in Australia is
remarkable. I have learned much from scrutinizing the land and its
flora. There is an over-riding horizontality. The flora is tough.
It is in addition, durable, hardy and yet supremely delicate. It is
so light at its edges that its connection with the deep sky vault
is unsurpassed anywhere. The sunlight is so intense for most of the
continent that it separates and isolates objects. The native trees
read not so much as members of a series of interconnected elements,
but as groupings of isolated elements. The high oil content of so
many of the trees combined with the strong sunlight results in the
foliage shimmering silver to weathered greys with an affinity towards
the pink browns to olives. The foliage is not dense generally and
the shadows are therefore a dappled light. This distinguishes our
landscape from that of most other countries where the soft light serves
to connect the elements of the landscape, rather than separate them.
My architecture has attempted to convey something of the discrete
character of elements in the Australian landscape, to offer my interpretation
in built form."
And further, "When I
consider the magic of our landscape. I am continually struck by the
genius of the place, the sunlight, shadows, wind, heat and cold, the
scents from our flowering trees and plants, and, especially the vastness
to the island continent. All these factors go to make a land of incredible
strength combined with an unimaginable delicacy."
So it is not surprising
when his words go on: "I am stirred to the point of anger when I see
what continues to be done by so called progress. The destruction of
the flora, the displacement of the fauna and all of it with the blessing,
if not active collusion of our subdivision regulations. I am not rejecting
urbanization. I am not seeking a kind of utopia in the bush — far
from it. I am involved with and recognize the importance of a varied
milieu. I am opposed to the total taming of this land and the loss
of the wildness of the native scene. The land appeals for care and
we need to become friends with the landscape and not be threatened
by it."
But his design decisions
are not simply based on aesthetics, his houses are designed using
materials that have consumed as little energy as possible in their
manufacture, and will consume as little as possible in the operation
of the house. His houses respond to all manner of climatic conditions,
producing their own shade, ventilation and in most cases function
without air conditioning or heating other than a fireplace. Some houses
in the colder regions have back-up under-floor heating which is not
often used.
The Aboriginal people
in Western Australia have a saying, "to touch this earth lightly,"
which is a plea for man not to disturb nature any more than necessary.
Because Glenn Murcutt’s architecture conveys that thought with his
houses that float above the land, if not on stilts a full story high,
but on footings that disturb the land minimally. It is not surprising
to find another book authored by Drew in 1999, titled Touch This
Earth Lightly, and subtitled Glenn Murcutt in His Own Words.
A typical passage from
that book about the Marie Short farm house illustrates his passion
for fitting the architecture to the site: "It gave me the opportunity
to really begin to understand what Australia was like. What its climate
was like, the humidity level, the amount of shade we require, the
wind pattern, the sort of evaporative factor we require in order to
be comfortable in shade, in a climate such as ours. One of the main
discoveries was that anything less than a fully opening wall was inadequate
in our climate (at Kempsey). In my opinion, an opening wall for summer
conditions is essential to cooling all spaces. In summer and the change
of season, everyone, without exception, has commented on what a delightfully
temperate building it is, even on the most extreme days."
The Australian bush
fires are world-famous, and while Murcutt acknowledges fire is important
in his country especially for the propagation of many plants, he has
to plan ways to save his structures if they encounter fire. In the
Simpson-Lee house at Mt. Wilson, there is a pool alongside the entrance
walkway that holds part of the water necessary for the built-in sprinkler
system in case of fire. (It also provides a reflective medium for
the sunlight that bounces onto the ceiling of the interior of the
house.) In the Munro farm house at Bingara, he devised a plan that
had two wells to collect the roof water. These supplied enough recirculated
water to sprinkle the house for 5-6 hours a day during the hottest
season.
Controlling how much
sunlight penetrates his houses and manipulating the breezes at various
times of the year and the day is another important facet to his design
process. He’s re-introduced in Sydney storm blinds, a version of Venetian
blinds for outside that are made of metal. He had learned in his school
days that once the heat entered a building, there was little else
one could do but air-condition the building so the sensible solution
was to provide a system of screens or blinds that prevents the sun
from reaching the glass in the first place. Murcutt has developed
forms of slatted timber and metal screens for sun control which also
achieve privacy yet maintain the movement of air.
He also uses slats set
at particular angles as screens above glass not only as sun control,
allowing the entry of winter sunlight and excluding it in the summer,
but also to allow for the appreciation of the sky from within the
house day and night and seasonally. Even the pitch of the roof is
variable according to the latitude and climate of the region. In some
areas, he does overlapping layers of roofs so that the air can move
between the layers, extracting roof space summer heated air.
Murcutt says, "A building
should be able to open up and say, ‘I am alive and looking after my
people,’ or instead, ‘I’m closed now, and I’m looking after my people
as well.’ This to me is the real issue, buildings should respond.
Look at the gills of a fish, or animals when they become hot. When
we get hot, we perspire. Buildings should do similar things. They
should open and close and modify and re-modify and blinds should turn
and open and close, open a little bit without complication. They should
do all these things. That is a part of architecture for me, the resolution
of levels of light that we desire, the resolution of the wind that
we wish for, the modification of the climate as we want it. All this
makes a building live."
One of Glenn’s favorite
quotations, which he is not quite sure whether it comes from his father
or from Thoreau, whom his father was so fond of quoting: "Since most
of us spend our lives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing
is to carry them out extraordinarily well."
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