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Australian architecture
Being good or being different

In the world of contemporary design, there is a conflict between the desire to be "good" and the desire to be "innovative." To be good involves working with existing styles and creating something that is better than others. Due to the commonality of the work, comparisons of quality are easy to make. Being innovative involves disregarding existing styles to create something unique. Due to the uniqueness, comparisons of quality are difficult to make.

Prior to World War 2, Australian architectural styles followed the "good" philosophy that reined in Europe. Australian architecture had very clear styles that reflected social values and the local environment. After World War 2; however, innovation took over. As a consequence, Australian city streets might have four different buildings with no commonality at all.

On the positive side, the lack of a common style provides the freedom to experinment and create in a way that just isn't possible in Europe. On the negative side, some of the buildings they create show that perhaps too much freedom sometimes produces a dog's breakfast.

The Bush

Early bush architecture was always understated. This was largely because the harsh Australian environment made it difficult to construct buildings of grandeur. Unlike the straight-grained trees of the northern hemisphere, Australian eucalypts are wonky. Any builder using them just had to accept that there would be gaps in their walls, their roof would not be straight, and prestige would not be a feature of their house.

To cope with poor building materials, early pioneers imported corrugated iron sheeting. Light but strong, the sheeting was the perfect roof that could be transported from steel factories on the coast to the isolated interior.

Another feature of bush architecture was that homes were never built with an invasion in mind. In Europe, many farmers lived in a fortified village and commuted to their farms during the day. Villages and houses were designed in such a way because European farmers traditionally suffered from raiding parties. Australian farmers never had such concerns. Consequently, farm houses were located in the middle of properties, away from the village, and not designed with defensive features.

The combination of corrugated iron sheeting and an isolated existence resulted in houses being designed for pragmatic reasons rather than status reasons or cultural reasons.

A classic example of the function over status was the 1840 home of Dundullimal in western NSW. The house was designed with a low pitched roof that sheltered the two-metre-wide veranda. Although it looked a little ugly, the low pitched roof allowed much of the summer sun to be kept out. In addition, the fireplace was placed on the western wall so that the afternoon sun kept the fire bricks warm.

Glen Murcutt - Kempsey shorthouse

The environmental sentiments expressed in these early bush buildings have inspired a new generation of architects seeking an Australian style. The leading architect of the genre is Glen Murcutt, winner of the Pritzker ( the noble prize of the profession.) Murcutt takes the understatement of the bush shacks and infuses into them the refined concepts of modern architecture. Murcutt pays close attention to the movement of the sun, moon, and seasons in order to harmonise his buildings with the movement of light and wind. This interior of modernity and refinement makes a strange juxtaposition with the exterior of heritage and toughness.

Greg Burgess - Uluru Cultural Centre

Another bush architect is Greg Burgess. Whereas Murcutt's designs are understated rectangular forms, Burgess' designs seem to remould the earth in flowing curves. Perhaps his most notable work is the Uluru Cultural Centre . The building seems to have been carved from the red earth by some great dreamtime flood.

Canberra

When idealism fails

From a perspective of urban design and architecture, Canberra is one of the world's most fascinating cities. Built with the generous funds of the federal government with the aim of creating a rival to Paris and New York, urban planners and architects had the money to create a utopia. Furthermore, they had a clean slate to work with. Without traditional styles or entrenched interests to constrain them, planners had complete freedom to implement all their own ideas. On the whole, their ideas failed and in many cases, the outcome was at the polar opposite to the intended outcome. Needless to say, Canberra is not spoken in the same breath as New York or Paris.

In 1910 American architect Walter Burley Griffin won a world-wide competition to design Australia's capital. Griffin was heavily influenced by the concept of a "garden city" outlined in Ebenezer Howard's book "Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform", published in 1898. Howard believed in environmental determinism, and blamed poor surroundings for the moral and social failings of urban life. As a solution to moral decline, Howard proposed self-contained cities of about 30,000 people surrounded by parks and ‘home farms’ in which every house would have its own garden.Griffin took Howard's utopian ideas and made them a reality. In his own words, ""I have planned a city not like any other in the world . . . . I have planned an ideal city"

Ironically, rather than be a beacon of moral virtue, Canberra became known for four 'P's' that represented four different vices of humanity - pyrotechnics, pornography, pot and politicians. The home gardens were great for growing marijuana and the privacy that low density living allows seemed conducive to the take up of porn.

In 1967, the National Capital Development Commission was established to fulfil the spirit of the garden city. It decided this could be achieved with the "Y-Plan." The plan aimed to decentralise Canberra into seven different districts roughly in the shape of a Y. Each district would have a town centre, which would be the focus of commercial and social activities. The districts would also be divided into smaller suburbs each with their own shops and schools.

In theory, having self-contained districts would reduce the need for the car and realise the moral virtue of Howard's garden city concept. In practice, a city designed to reduce the need for the car became dependent on it. While it all sounded nice to have self-contained districts, in practice few people had the employment and residential mobility that allowed them to live and work in the same district. Because residents found themselves living and working in different districts, Canberra planners had to build a LA style freeway network to serve a population of less than 300,000 people. Some of the area between the districts became parks that no one used. Some became cork farms, sheep farms, or just sun-burnt grass that was too expensive to maintain.

Green space in Canberra. On plans, perhaps old men were drawn sitting down to feed birds. In practice, old men aren't too excited by the thought of sitting in scorching sun and looking at brown grass. The Green space became wasted space that costs money to maintain and is an eyesore.

Just as citizens didn't behave as expected, neither did private enterprise. Business located themselves in the central district instead of the outer districts. It was in the central district where businesses could maximise their accessibility to the maximum number of potential customers, locate themselves close to interdependent industries, and gain awareness in the minds of consumers. As specialisation is limited to market size, the central district could in turn offer a greater variety of refined and niche choices, which in turn reinforced its status in the minds of consumer. As for the outer districts, they ended up being used as shopping malls and public service outposts.

In addition to decentralisation, planners also wanted to create an egalitarian city. They didn't want the prestige real-estate on the waterfront or hill tops locked up in private hands. Consequently, planning laws reserved prime real-estate for public use. While it was a nice gesture to save land for the public, the public rarely used the land. On the waterfront and hill tops there just wasn't anything to attract people. No restaurants, no houses, and no sense of activity. Consequently, the prime real-estate ended up being ignored or used for car parks.

Cameron Offices - Brutalist

As well egalitarian sentiments being expressed in Canberra's urban design, they were also expressed in its architecture. Brutalism was the most notable of the egalitarian style. Brutalism originated in Britain in the 1950s. It had an ethical concern for an honesty in the materials used and the centrality of the user in the design of the building. Somewhat consistent with the spirit of soviet style socialism, brutal architecture made heavy use of off-form concrete, unpretentious slabs of blank grey wall and sharp angles.

The plan failed to be realised when, at the 11th hour, a shopping mall was built on the opposite side of the main street. At the time, shopping malls were revolutionary concepts and planners wanted to be on the frontier of innovation rather than conform to old village style ideas.

After the shopping mall went up, public servants in the Cameron Offices started complaining about their isolation from the mall. In addition to their feelings of isolation, the public servants complained that the offices felt cold and sterile.

The government eventually sold the offices on condition they be demolished and replaced with car parks. Recognising their historical and architectural value, in 2005, the Royal Australian Institute of Architects added the offices to their register of buildings of national significance. The move was of little use, and in 2008 most of the offices were demolished to make way for the car park. Poetically, in the demolition process, a concrete slab fell down and crushed a car.

High Court of Australia - Brutalist

In 1981, Canberra gained another example of brutalist architecture with the unveiling of the High Court of Australia. As a concrete monstrosity, the High Court effectively conveys a feeling of strength in the law as it dominates the Canberra foreshore.

In 1982, the National Gallery of Australia, another concrete monstrosity, clearly demonstrated that one man's art, is another's eyesore. For some, there was something magical about a building that looked like it had been designed by the KBG in the cold war. For others, it was a hideous block of concrete.

While there was debate about the artistic value of the National Gallery, there was no debate in regards to the fact that, as a building, it was a failure. Firstly, the high ceilings made it difficult for curators to adjust light to optimally illuminate artworks. Secondly, the layout of the building left visitors feeling as if they were lost in a maze. Finally, the entrance was disconnected from the carpark and in a way that left visitors feeling as if they were coming through a service door.

In defence of the architect, the problems with the entry and facade were the result of the transient views of planners. Originally, the car park was going to be located on the lake shore, and art patrons would meander through a sculpture garden to enter the building. At the 11th hour, the access roads were changed to locate the car park behind the gallery, leaving an unattrative wall as the gallery's entry point. In defence of the planners who made the change, it had been a stupid idea in the first place to plan a car park to be between the gallery and the lake, and the change had been for the better.

Old Parliament House in front of the New Parliament House

With the brutalist architecture failing to create the egalitarian feelings intended of it, a change of sensibilities was required. In 1988, the unveiling of Parliament House showed that egalitarian sentiments can be expressed in way that is a little more easy on the eyes. Unlike the National Gallery and the High Court, Parliament House is of a similar style to bush architecture in that it blends into the landscape. In fact, the majority of the building is buried underground. Symbolically, Parliament House also reflects the Australian national spirit by expressing that the community is more powerful than the government. Wide lawn arches rise over the building to allow the people to climb on top of their government, thus symbolising their power over it. In this way, Parliament House seems to marry Australia's egalitarian ideals, with the understatement of the bush.

Sydney

The Urban Junkyard

Ex-prime minister Paul Keating referred to Sydney architecture as “an urban junkyard.” It was probably a fair call. An excessive amount of architects doing their own thing produced a city that looks quite ugly as a whole. Personifying the mentality was Harry Seidler, Sydney’s most acclaimed architect. Seidler's designs were just plain ugly but they gained attention and so attracted some Sydney residents. Other architects likewise decided a look-at-me focus was the way to go and the consequence was lots of ugly look-at-me buildings. Ironically, when all architects started creating the unique look-at-me buildings, it became difficult to create a building that was sufficiently different from the common style that would attract attention.

Although Sydney architects are egocentric today, architects in the past had a bit more community focus in their designs. The first of these architects was the Convict architect Francis Greenway. Greenway was enlisted by Governor Macquarie to design buildings that would encourage emancipists to see the colony as a home rather than a campsite for prisoners. Greenway achieved his aim with solid brick constructions that conveyed an underlying theme of strength and permanency. Notable works include: the Macquarie Lighthouse, Hyde Park Barracks, the Female Factory in Parramatta, the District Courts, St James Church, Queen's Square, St Matthews Church.

Francis Greenway - Hyde Park Barracks

More community sentiments were infused in the the 1880s when James Barnet designed sandstone plaques around the colonnade of the General Post Office. However, instead of commemorating the distinguished faces of civic notables, as was common in Europe, Barnet's carvings commemorated the daily work of shearers, postmen and other ordinary Australians.

Around the 1930s, modernism became fashionable and developers started calling for all old buildings to be pulled down and replaced by new ones. The modernist movement gained a boost after World War II as developers argued that Sydney's heritage was not relevant to new migrants and that old buildings needed to be torn down to recognise Sydney as a multicultural society.

The modernist sentiment also created demand for an Opera House to import some high-class European culture into the "barren" landscape of Australia. A world-wide design competition was subsequently won by Danish architect Jan Utzon. Although highly innovative and completely different to all other Sydney buildings, Utzon's designed resonated with the local population. To some people, the Opera House reminded them of shells that they might find when walking along Sydney's beaches. To others, the Opera House reminded them of the boats that sail in Sydney harbour; however everyone was in agreement that the design was in harmony with the Sydney landscape. It was ironic that it took a foreigner to produce a design that had some harmony with local culture and loca geography.

Queen Victoria Building

After the success of the Opera House, councils were consumed with a missionary zeal to continue pulling down old buildings to further the cultural enrichment of Australia. But to informed eyes, the old Australian architecture carried the spiritual and material aspirations of bygone generations. To the open minded, such expressions had value. The conflict between the old and the new came to a head in 1973 over planned redevelopment of the Rocks, an ex-convict settlement overlooking the Opera house. In September 1973, Jack Mundy, then secretary of the Builders' Labourers Federation, raised the Eureka Stockade Flag and led unionists in Australia's first green ban. Although many were arrested, the battle was won and the Rocks were saved. Subsequently BLF greenbans forced a sea change in philosophy and instead of destroying heritage, a few Sydney architects began working with it. Factories and terrace houses were renovated into high-class accommodation, art studios and theatres. Aside from preserving history, such renovations also proved to be lucrative as high-income earners came to appreciate the sense of belonging that living in a historic house inspires.  They also came to appreciate the creativity of an architect who was shackled by need to work with history, yet still found ways to express modern sentiments and lifestyle needs.

Melbourne

Experinmenting, Recycling and Linking

Hobart

Built to last

Built in the coldest Australian state, Hobart's buildings needed to be constructed solidly. Making use of local basalt, granite, sandstone and corrugated iron sheeting, many of these early buildings still stand today.

A fine example of Hobart's colonial architecture are the sandstone warehouses on the harbourfront at Salamanca Place. Built for the whaling industry of the 1830s, they have been redeveloped to house galleries, restaurants, nightspots and shops.

Broad Arrows cafe at Port Arthur

Another fine example of function conversion can be found at the old convict prison of Port Arthur. Built on an immensely beautiful natural setting, the solid brick buildings conveyed a sense of strength and order. Within the building's walls, convicts suffered some of the worst human rights violations the world has ever seen. When the prison was closed down, the buildings were left in ruins. If they had been in Sydney, they probably would have been demolished and replaced with post-modern apartments. But something about ruins appealed to the locals and in the 70s, walkways were constructed that turned the buildings into a tourist attraction. Thus a building that was designed to punish humans, was being used to entertain them.

In 1996, a lone man gunned down tourists as they sat in a coffee shop overlooking the ruins. The gunman displayed a lack of appreciation for human life not seen since the days when the prison was operational. The coffee shop was subsequently stripped bare, the roof removed and the shell left as a memorial for the dead. A building designed for relaxing, had been redesigned to allow people to feel empathy for those lost. In combination with the old convict ruins, the coffee shop's shell creates an eerie feeling.

Adelaide

" Adelaide was once regarded as a city of wowsers (read: puritan spoilsports) and was renowned chiefly for its disproportionately large number of churches. "- lonely planet guide to Adelaide

Adelaide was the only colonial capital not built with Convict labour. This allowed a puritan culture to emerge, and a culture that directed its architectural passion to the construction of Churches.

Brisbane

Lifestyle

Brisbane escaped many of the grandeur contests that motivated Melbourne and Sydney architects to design buildings of prestige. Instead, its architects designed buildings that made life enjoyable for their occupants. Many of Brisbane's houses were built on stilts to ensure adequate ventilation in the humid environment. They also had large verandas so tired farmers could sit outside, have a beer and watch the sun go down. Nor was their any shame in having a corrugated iron roof that needed to be concealed with boom architecture. Brisbane's corrugated iron roofs are on display. When it rains, the sound of rain on iron proudly reminds occupants that they live in Australia.

Even as Brisbane's wealth has increased, lifestyle choices have still taken precedence over prestige. Canal developments allowed Queenlanders to live in a big house with a boat for weekend recreation. It seems that Brisbane residents see status in having a good lifestyle rather than a flashy house.

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Darwin

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