Canberra House » Architects

A short biography of Laurie Virr

martin — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:59:46 +0000

Back in August I posted about a little known late twentieth century organic style house in Kambah. The house is a fine example of that style of architecture. Along with its massing, use of geometric forms, deep roof overhang for shade and energy efficient design, it is also a successful implementation of a complex geometric plan based on a hemicycle—unusual if not unique for a mid-century Canberra house. Little known locally, perhaps—but not overseas. It has been widely published and visited by students, scholars and architects over the past three decades.

That house was designed and built by the Canberra architect Laurie Virr, who has had a fascinating career in engineering and architecture in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia spanning five decades. In between all of that, he trained with Herb Elliott at Portsea under Percy Cerutty and had a serious tilt at the 1960 Olympic team.

While Laurie has based himself in Canberra and produced important work here, he has largely worked interstate during the past thirty years. He has remained outside the system and gone unrecognised (in this country at least) by the mainstream—that is, the Australian Institute of Architects. Laurie’s idiom has mostly been the single residential dwelling, with an ongoing exploration of solar housing, geometric designs and planning for small spaces. It seems to me that, together with Enrico Taglietti, he has been one of the most original and important practitioners of the late twentieth century organic style of architecture working in Canberra.

I’ve now prepared a short biography of Laurie Virr which gives a brief outline of his career and work. I’m also working on a profile of Laurie’s other important Canberra work—his first house, the Andrews House, in Aranda, which remains as fresh and interesting today as it was when it was built in 1969.

Read the biography of Laurie Virr.

Laurie Virr

martin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 06:53:11 +0000

Laurie Virr is a Canberra-based architect who has designed work in the United States, New South Wales and Victoria, along with a number of houses in Canberra. Throughout a career spanning over fifty years, his primary concerns have been the design of energy efficient, solar houses on rural sites and efficient planning for small spaces. Together with Enrico Taglietti, he has been one of the most original and important practitioners of the late twentieth century organic style of architecture working in Canberra.

Early years

Laurie Virr has qualifications in both architecture and engineering. From 1950 to 1958 he gained formal qualifications in civil engineering in England and was employed on large scale projects including bridges, water storage reservoirs, major storm water drainage works, high rise buildings and turbine installations. In Canberra, he played a role in the development of engineering infrastructure for the Russell Hill Defence complex.

From 1962 to 1966 Laurie Virr studied Architecture, graduating from the University of Melbourne with Honors in Design. This time included a period (1963-64) in the studio of American architect Malcolm Wells, in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. It was during this period that he designed and supervised the construction of his first passive solar house, and began to experiment with the idea of earth sheltered buildings. Examples of his work formed part of the Australian exhibits at The Commonwealth Institute, London, U.K. in 1972, and the Paris Biennale in 1982.

Laurie Virr in his studio.

Work in Canberra

In January 1967 he established his own practice in Canberra, where he has remained since. His practice has been based on commissions for custom residences, with occasional forays into the design of workshops for light industrial processes. The majority of the residences have been at rural sites, and all of them have been either solar houses in cool temperate climates, or of low mass, as is required in tropical locations. Spasmodically, he has also been involved in the planning and design of a scheme for the establishment of solar precincts in areas of cities and towns subject to urban renewal. This work has attracted the attention of local authorities in New South Wales, and of a private developer in Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Laurie Virr’s first house in Canberra was built in the new bush suburb of Aranda in 1969 for Mr and Mrs Andrews. It demonstrates the themes he would explore in his residential projects over the next three decades: the use of massing, geometric forms and deep roof overhangs in an energy efficient, solar house.

The house, at Kambah, ACT, in which he lives, and which was constructed substantially with his own hands, has been widely published. It has achieved a minimum night temperature in winter of 12° Celsius without artificial heating, when the minimum temperature outdoors was -9° Celsius.

The house is an outstanding example of the late twentieth century organic style with its massing, use of geometric forms, deep roof overhang and energy efficient design. The successful implementation of a complex geometric plan based on a hemicycle is unusual if not unique for a mid-century Canberra house. The house has been published many times, in the United States, Europe and Australia. Inexplicably, it is relatively unknown in Canberra.

Teaching

Throughout his career Laurie Virr has been invited to conduct classes in Architectural Design and the Theory of Architecture, at a number of universities. Recently he was nominated for the Bruce Goff Chair of Creative Architecture at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma. He has been a guest lecturer at universities in Australia, including the University of Canberra, and the United States of America. These latter include the:

Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, Spring Green, Wisconsin
College of Architecture, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
University of Washington, Spokane
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
University of Idaho, Moscow

Houses profiled on this site

5 Juad Place, Aranda (1969)
‘Rivendell’, 17 Meredith Circuit, Kambah (1975)

Other works in Canberra

14 Fergusson Crescent, Deakin (1982)

Other works

House at Barragga Bay, New South Wales (1973)
House at Valla Beach, New South Wales (1998)

Source

Conversations with and information provided by Laurie Virr
M. Parnell and G. Cole Australian Solar Houses (1983)

Enrico Taglietti

martin — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:34:54 +0000

Enrico Taglietti is recognised as an important architect and a leading practitioner of the late twentieth century organic style of architecture. His unique sculptural style draws upon Italian free form construction and post-war Japanese architecture. He has designed many houses, schools, churches and commercial buildings in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne and his projects have won numerous RAIA awards. In March 2007 Enrico was awarded Australia’s most prestigious architecture prize—the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Gold Medal for Architecture.

Arrival in Australia

Enrico Taglietti was born in 1926 in Milan, Italy and educated at the Milan Polytechnic, earning his doctorate there in 1953. Enrico came to Australia from Italy in 1955 to design an Italian promotional display for a Sydney department store. He was then invited by the Italian Government to design their embassy in Canberra, which was to be the first of his major concrete buildings. Unfortunately that commission took nearly 20 years to materialise and in the early years complete building projects were relatively scarce. During this period interior work, commissions for motels and several houses sustained the practice—three early examples being the Gibson House at 12 Scarborough Street, Red Hill (1963), the McKeown House, 109 Irvine Street, Watson (1965) and 19 Downes Place, Hughes (1965).

Enrico’s early buildings used what he called a “calligraphy” of elements, with long horizontal flat roofs and balconies that cast deep shadows, sloping, banded fascias and balustrades, battered walls and unpainted surfaces for texture and low maintenance. A notable example of this is the Dickson Library, his most important early building. Designed in 1964, the library is symmetrical, outlined by Enrico’s trademark deep, banded, upswept fascias. A central mezzanine and corner gardens add variation to the plan. Enrico designed a companion building for the library in 1981, the Dickson Health Centre.

Experimentation with concrete

After 10 years in Canberra, Enrico’s practice had established itself and began to obtain some larger commissions. This provided the opportunity to give expression to his Italian heritage through the use of concrete as a material to create striking visual and spatial effects. Some of his domestic work from this period made use of concrete to great dramatic effect: houses such as the Smith House, Sydney (1965) and the fortress-like Paterson House at 7 Juad Place, Aranda (1970).

The use of concrete in a domestic setting allowed Enrico’s houses to blend with their natural bushland setting—the house at 7 Juad Place being perhaps the best example. This union of building and site was also achieved through the use of retaining walls and fences, often in the same material, and is an ongoing feature of Enrico’s work. The effect is to extend the composition of the building into the landscape.

Abstract and sculptural forms

Through the 1970s Enrico continued to use the creation of forms and spaces to add adventure and visual interest to structures. His school projects at Latham (1971), Flynn (1972) and Giralang (1975) demonstrate this, where his central concern for the inhabitants of his buildings produced complex yet fun and engaging environments for primary-aged children. His imaginative use of abstract forms and colour in some larger buildings allowed them to achieve a monumental scale, a good example being the Australian War Memorial Annex (1979) at Mitchell.

Central themes

There are a number of important and recurring ideas present in Enrico’s architecture.

Arrival. His buildings, particularly the houses, place great importance on the arrival, but where the qualities of a building are revealed subtly after moving through a space or series of spaces, much like a Japanese house. The house at Aranda is a good example, with the approach and entry not obvious from the fortress-like appearance from the street.

The central space. Most of Enrico’s houses have a large central space that serves as a social hub for the inhabitants, containing the entrance, living and cooking areas. Enrico’s philosophy is that this is a place where the public and private needs of individuals can come together.

Phillips Fox building, 54 Marcus Clarke Street, Civic (1985).

Interlocking volumes. The idea of interlocking internal volumes is central to many of Enrico’s houses. The interconnected and overlapping internal volumes create interest and spatial drama; the idea also constitutes the rejection of a single level plan.

Walls and windows. Enrico’s use of battered and stepped or curved walls and window reveals to achieve a balance between privacy and human interaction—as well as to create attractive sculptural forms—is a distinctive characteristic of his architecture.

Deep overhanging eaves. Enrico’s use of the deep, overhanging timber lined eaves with timber boarded fascias for shelter and protection from the harsh Australian light is one of his most recognisable elements.

Walls and courtyards. Finally, Enrico has made extensive use of walled gardens and courtyards in his work. They can project from the house (Juad Place, Aranda), form the entry to it (Mijuscovic House, Waniassa) or be enclosed by it (Gibson House, Red Hill).

What is certain is that Enrico is a true original and has made a lasting and important contribution to Canberra’s development and built environment over a period of nearly 50 years. Enrico continues to design and his Sea Residence at Lilli Pilli, NSW won an RAIA award in 1996. In March 2007 Enrico was awarded the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Gold Medal for Architecture.

Houses profiled on this site

McKeown Houses, 109 Irvine Street, Watson, 1965 and 1994
19 Downes Place, Hughes, 1965
7 Juad Place, Aranda, 1970
Apostolic Nunciature, 2 Vancouver Street, Red Hill, 1977
61 Sullivan Crescent, Wanniassa, 1980

Other works in Canberra

Town House Motel, 60 Marcus Clarke Street, Civic, 1961 (demolished)
Gibson House, 12 Scarborough Street, Red Hill, 1965
Dickson Library, Antill Street, Dickson, 1964
Center Cinema, Bunda Street, Civic, 1966
Italian Embassy, National Circuit, Deakin, 1967
ACMA Conference Centre, 26 Brisbane Avenue, Barton, 1967
Killen House, 311 Majura Road, 1970
Latham Primary School and Pre School, O’Loghlen Street, Latham, 1971
Evans House, 62 Skinner Street, Cook, 1971
Flynn Primary School and Pre School, Bingle Street, Flynn, 1972
Holt Medium Density Housing, Mockridge Crescent, Holt, 1973
Wood House, 43 Mayo Street, Weetangera, 1973
Green House, 78 Couvreur Street, Garran, 1975
Giralang Primary School, Canopus Crescent, Giralang, 1975
Gentle House, 7 Niblo Place, Chapman, 1977
Australian War Memorial Annex, 4 Callan Street, Mitchell, 1978-79
Nitrate Film Vaults, 16 Vickers Street, Mitchell, 1978
Dickson Health Centre, Antill Street, Dickson, 1981
Gowrie Primary School and Pre School, Jeffries Street, Gowrie, 1983
Phillips Fox Building, 54 Marcus Clarke Street, Civic, 1985
Woden Youth Centre, Callam Street, Phillip, 1988
Real Estate House, 16 Thesiger Court, Deakin, 1989-93
Saudi Arabian Ambassadors Residence, 88 Brereton Street, Garran, 1996

Other works

Osborne House, “Grantham Park”, Currandooley, NSW, 1961 (his first house in Australia)
Church of St Anthony’s, Marsfield, NSW, 1968
Smith House, 25-27 Glenhope Road, West Pennant Hills, Sydney, 1968-70
St Kilda Library, 150 Carlisle Street, St Kilda, VIC, 1969
Dunmore Lang Apartments, 159 Herring Road, Marsfield, Sydney, 1971
Sea Residence, Lilli Pilli, NSW, 1996

Sources and further reading

Jennifer Taylor, Australian Architecture Since 1960, RAIA, 1990
K Charlton, B Jones and P Favaro, The Contribution of Enrico Taglietti to Canberra’s Architecture, RAIA, 2007
The RAIA Jury Citation for the 2007 Gold Medal

Harry Seidler

martin — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:32:21 +0000

Harry Seidler was born in Vienna in 1923, arriving in Australia in 1948 from the United States. He is recognised as one of Australia’s leading architects of the modern movement and the first architect in Australia to fully express the principles of the Bauhaus. In Australia and overseas he has designed many important residential and commercial buildings, introducing new ideas and construction techniques and making a major contribution to the architecture of Sydney. He was awarded the RAIA Gold Medal in 1976 and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Gold Medal in 1996. Seidler died on 9 March, 2006.

Background and training

His background and training was unlike that of local architects: he had studied under Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer at the Harvard School of Design and at Black Mountain College in North Carolina with Joseph Albers. He also worked with Breuer at his New York practice and briefly with Oscar Niemeyer in Rio de Janeiro. Seidler decided to establish himself in Sydney in 1948 after visiting his parents, who had moved there.

Early residential work

Seidler’s first house was the Rose Seidler House at Turramurra (1948). The glass walled, elevated cubiform house was revolutionary and introduced the Bauhaus principles of Gropius and Breuer into Australia for the first time. Seidler continued to present these concepts to the Australian public over the following years with a series of extremely well detailed houses, executed either in the box-like form of Le Corbusier or the bi-nuclear plan of Marcel Breuer, with living and sleeping areas separated by an entry hall. Along the way many important battles were fought and won with councils over issues relating to design (the butterfly roof), planning and zoning regulations. Experimentation with different forms was made possible with the introduction of advanced structural techniques. Since the early 1960s the geometric curve has been a recurring theme in Seidler’s work, with the quadrant being a favoured form. This can be seen to good effect in the later houses detailed on Seidler’s website.

With his apartment building projects, Seidler introduced ideas new to Sydney and Australia. Based largely on European and American apartment types, the split access, interlocking units with a divided plan, double height living rooms and mezzanine floors, took advantage of Sydney’s spectacular views from all main rooms. The Arlington Apartments at Edgecliff are a good example. The carefully composed facades of these buildings display abstract, asymmetrical, balanced patterns and are influenced by the European art movements of the 1920s and 1930s.

Larger developments

Seidler’s office building developments in Australia and overseas are significant. In Sydney they were, in a number of instances, the first major buildings to contribute usable, public spaces back to the city, with the integrated development of office and retail space, parking and a public plaza. One of the first and most important of these was Australia Square (1961), which also saw the start of a fruitful partnership with the Italian engineer Pier Luigi Nervi. It represented an advanced use of concrete, with the tower constructed of a poured in place concrete core with pre-cast units serving as both formwork and finish for the surrounding concrete frame.

Canberra examples

There are good examples of Seidler’s residential and commercial work in Canberra. His first commission outside Sydney (the Bowden House) exhibits his design philosophy of the early period. Medium density housing at Campbell is representative of his post-war international style apartment block developments, while the Lakeview townhouses are a good later example of his emphasis on the geometric curve and quadrant. The large, pre-cast concrete Barton Offices is an important office building located near the Parliamentary Triangle in Barton.

Edmund Barton Building, Harry Seidler, 1973.

Houses profiled on this site

Bowden House, 11 Northcote Crescent, Deakin (1951-52)
Campbell Group Housing, Blamey Crescent, Campbell (1964)
Garran Housing, Gilmore Crescent, Garran, 1968 (demolished 1999)
Lakeview, 127 Hopetoun Circuit, Yarralumla (1982)

Other works in Canberra

12 Yapunyah Street, O’Connor, 1956
Canberra South Bowling Club, Austin Street, Griffith, 1959
Ethos House, Ainslie Avenue, City, 1970
Barton Offices, Kings Avenue, Barton, 1973

Other notable works in Australia

Rose Seidler House, Turramurra, NSW, 1948
Rose House, Turramurra, NSW, 1949
Waks House I, Northbridge, NSW, 1949-51
Meller House, Castlecrag, NSW, 1950
Lowe House, Mosman, NSW, 1950
Williamson House, Mosman, NSW, 1951
Hutter House, Turramurra, NSW, 1952
Ithaca Gardens apartments, Elizabeth Bay, NSW, 1960
Lend Lease House, Macquarie St, Sydney, NSW, 1961
Australia Square, Sydney, NSW, 1961
Blues Point Tower apartments, North Sydney, NSW, 1961
Muller House, Port Hacking, NSW, 1963
Arlington apartments, Edgecliff, NSW, 1965-66
Harry and Penelope Seidler House, Killara, NSW, 1966-67
Gissing House, Wahroonga, NSW, 1971-72
MLC Centre, Sydney, NSW, 1972
Seidler Offices and Apartments, Milsons Point, NSW, 1973
Ringwood Cultural Centre, Ringwood, VIC, 1978
Grosvenor Place, Sydney, NSW, 1982
Waverley Civic Centre, Waverley, VIC, 1982
Hannes House, Cammeray, NSW, 1983
Capita Centre, Sydney, NSW, 1984
Shell Headquarters, Melbourne, VIC, 1985
QVI Office Tower, Perth, WA, 1987
Hamilton House, Vaucluse, NSW, 1989
Horizon Apartments, Darlinghurst, NSW, 1990
Meares House, Birchgrove, NSW, 1994
Gilhotra House, Hunters Hill, NSW, 1995
Berman House, Joadja, NSW, 1996

Sources and further reading

Peter Blake, Architecture for the New World: The Work of Harry Seidler, Sydney, 1973
Jennifer Taylor, Australian Architecture Since 1960, RAIA, 1990
Seidler and Associates website
The Bauhaus
Walter Gropius
Marcel Breuer
Joseph Albers
Oscar Niemeyer
Le Corbusier

Kenneth Oliphant

martin — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:29:03 +0000

Kenneth Oliphant (1896-1975) is recognised locally as an important architect in the development of private residential architecture in Canberra, particularly the inner south. He was the first privately practising architect in Canberra and specialised in domestic work. Many of his early designs were in the Forrest and Red Hill area in a variety of traditional styles, including Mediterranean and tudor. He also designed a small number of houses in the inter-war functionalist style.

Early career

Oliphant was born in Bendigo, Victoria and served with the 1st Field Co. Engineers in France in the 1914-18 War. Upon his return to Australia he was articled to the Melbourne architectural firm of Oakley and Parkes. In 1926 at the age of 30 he was posted to Canberra by the firm to supervise the construction of the first 26 houses that are in what is now known as the Forrest Urban Conservation Area. Oakley and Parkes won a nationally advertised competition to design the houses, for senior public servants and their families being transferred from Melbourne to the new capital.

Incidentally, after the Canberra work, the firm of Oakley and Parkes continued to practice for over thirty years. They designed a number of important modernist buildings in Melbourne, including Yule House (1932, 309-311 Little Collins Street), possibly the first Australian example of a moderne-style commercial building; and the moderne, curtain-walled Kodak House (1934-35, 252 Collins Street), the first Melbourne commercial building to use polished stainless steel in its facade.

Private commissions

Oliphant contributed to the final designs for some of the firm’s early private commissions in 1925-26 and began to design houses himself while he was still with Oakley and Parkes. The first was Calthorpe’s House (1927). Calthorpe and Woodger were Canberra’s first real estate agents and the house is now a museum, preserved in its original condition. He then branched out on his own, establishing the practice that was to continue in Canberra until his retirement in the late 1960s. His first office was in the Hotel Canberra and then above the Commonwealth Bank premises in Civic. The first house he designed independently was at 29 Mugga Way, Red Hill (1927-28) for the Head of Hansard, George Romans.

Oliphant designed a small number of inter-war functionalist style houses during the 1930s. Besides 24 Arthur Circle, Forrest, there were houses at 13 Evans Crescent, Griffith (now modified beyond recognition), the corner of Evans Crescent and Hann Street, Griffith (demolished in 1981) and in Dampier Crescent, Forrest.

Houses profiled on this site

24 Arthur Circle, Forrest, 1939

Other works

Calthorpe’s House, 24 Mugga Way, Red Hill, 1927
29 Mugga Way, Red Hill, 1927-28
Brackenreg, 18 Monaro Crescent, Red Hill, 1928
The Alcorn House, cnr of National Circuit and Sorrell St, Forrest, 1928
The Fraser House, cnr of Bougainville and Furneaux St, Manuka, late 1920s
The Dial House, 2 Moresby Street, Red Hill, early 1930s

Sources

Verona Burgess, The Capital’s First Private Architect, Canberra Times, 23 April 1995
Peter Freeman (ed), The Early Canberra House, Canberra, 1996
Philip Goad, Melbourne Architecture, Sydney, 1999