Archinect - News

Glenn Murcutt-designed MPavilion opens in Melbourne

2019-11-13T11:43:00-05:00

In celebration of his 50-year-long career, Australia's Pritzker Prize-winning architect consecrates the achievement with the opening of this year's MPavilion. The structure embraces Murcutt's fundamental approach to architecture, touching the ground lightly while thoughtfully considering the climatic characteristics of the site.

Photos by John Gollings

The MPavilion manifests itself as a flexible space, a "true pavilion," in the words of the architect, capturing the historical essence of pavilions as light and temporary buildings, at their core, tent structures. During the design process, Murcutt recalled a trip he had taken to Mexico, to the Yaxchilán ruins. A light aircraft carried the architect and his companions to their destination. During a lunch break, the group had a picnic in the shade provided by the wing of the aircraft:

"After lunch, I put my rucksack against the aircraft’s undercarriage and laid down, and there above me was the beautiful wing, lined with aircraft fabric...

Australian architect Glenn Murcutt to design 2019 MPavilion, now in its sixth year

2019-02-19T14:10:00-05:00

The Pritzker Prize-winning Australian architect Glenn Murcutt will design this year's MPavilion, a temporary structure erected each spring in Melbourne's historic Queen Victoria Gardens.

Now in its sixth iteration, the annual commission—an initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation—is Australia's answer to the UK's widely popular Serpentine Pavilion. Others to have designed the months-long installation include Spanish architect Carme Pinós, Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten of OMA, and Bijoy Jain, among others.

Mr. Murcutt, 82, is only the second Australian architect to be commissioned for the project, following Sean Godsell, who designed the inaugural pavilion in 2014. Murcutt is widely considered as one of the country's most profound architects, and is recognized for his designs that carry a distinctive Australian character. He doesn’t build outside Australia.

Magney House, Bingie Point (1982–84). Photo by Anthony Browell.

Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre, Riversdale (1996–9...

Justice Stephen Breyer to take over for Murcutt as Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury

2018-08-16T14:50:00-04:00

Following Glenn Murcutt's retirement as the most recent chair, the Hyatt Foundation has announced that Justice Stephen Breyer will become the new head of the Pritzker Prize's seven-member jury. The U.S. Supreme Court Justice, who celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday, has sat on the panel that awards architecture’s greatest honor since 2011.

Though he never studied architecture, Breyer played a key role in advising the design and construction for the federal courthouse in Boston led by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. He also wrote the foreword to the book "Celebrating the Courthouse: A Guide for Architects, Their Clients, and the Public."

This made him a good choice to serve on the panel back in 2011, when the Prtizker's chairman at the time was hoping to expand the breadth of its jurors' experience. His new role is also not without precedent; Lord Peter Palumbo, a British property developer and art collector, served as chair from 2005 to 2016.

“It is with great pleasure that we design...

Architects begin campaign to get Glenn Murcutt the 2019 RIBA Royal Gold Medal

2018-06-26T17:40:00-04:00

Considered long overdue, a bid to award Glenn Murcutt with RIBA's prestigious Royal Gold Medal Award has garnered the support of a group of leading architects. The petition, which has been signed by almost 90 professionals, has esteemed colleagues such as Richard Rogers and Piers Taylor going to bat for the 81-year old Australian architect.

Murcutt, who won the Pritzker Prize in 2002, is considered a prime candidate for the Institute's lifetime achievement award. Working since the early 70s, Murcutt is deeply respected in the profession for eschewing the typical starchitect path, instead running a one-man practice and favoring modest projects to flamboyant buildings.

Magney House, Bingie Bingie, 1982–84 by Glenn Murcutt. Image: Michael Nicholson

His most notable works tend to be his small, single-story residences, almost all exclusively in Australia—such as the Magney House, a long, rectilinear plan with a curved roof in Bingie Bingie.

When, in 2009, Murcutt was honored with the AIA...

The Ugly Pet: On Sustainability and Architectural Form

2017-09-21T17:53:00-04:00

I’m particularly interested in how sustainable buildings might affect the experience of landscape differently — actually better, differently — because, as a human being, I’m hoping for more sustainable architecture, and, as an academic (and as an architect), I’m thinking the consequences should be revolutionary to architecture.

Unlike earlier technological revolutions — the development of the steel frame, or the invention of concrete — sustainability in architecture has not yet had any significant, self-identifying formal consequences. Instead, the experience of sustainable space has to be hyper-mediated.

In his latest article, Places columnist David Heymann vents his frustrations about environmentally-sensitive design and examines how architects including Kieran Timberlake and Glenn Murcutt are feeling the way forward for the field.

Sydney's NSW Gallery announces jurors for museum expansion competition

2014-09-05T13:14:00-04:00

It's rare for an Australian gallery to extend the call for an architect beyond local boundaries. But that's exactly what the Art Gallery of NSW has done in their national and international callout for the Gallery's transformation into 'an art museum for the 21st century'. As part of the Sydney Modern Project, The Art Gallery of NSW has announced the jurists to decide the architectural practice that will be responsible for the Gallery’s transformation.

"The jury members include Gallery Director, Michael Brand as well as Kathryn Gustafson, Michael Lynch, Toshiko Mori, Glenn Murcutt, Juhani Pallasmaa and Hetti Perkins."

Top talent edged out

2011-08-08T14:31:00-04:00

GLENN Murcutt, Australia's most internationally recognised architect, famous for the expression ''touching the ground lightly'', won't be able to get his hands near the competition to design a new Australian Pavilion in Venice.