The Unbearable Lightness Of Regionalism
Glenn Murcutt’s Boyd Education Centre in Riversdale
The Australian architect, Glenn Murcutt (b. 1936) aroused interest in Denmark on October 1, 2001 when he received the Architecture Society’s “green needle” for thirty years of work with ecologically- correct, quality building. In connection with the award ceremony at Gammel Dok, Murcutt was introduced as a minimalistic architect with a penchant for the modernistic heritage, however, it might have been more accurate to have called him a regionalist, who unites the practical aspects with the poetic. Basically speaking, Murcutt’s work method consists of analysing the climatic conditions at the site in order to combine wind conditions, solar angles and the water table (such as periodic flooding) with the building’s different organizational functions in an optimized, holistic solution. Where after he adds his structure in a poetic expressiveness - as a sum of considerations to collecting rainwater, solar screening, daylight reflections and natural space-ventilation. This typically results in broad roof eaves or varying degrees of operable facade elements.
Murcutt’s errand is clearly to make life as comfortable as possible for the users by selecting the most simple solutions in contemporary materials and constructions. This is in complete agreement with his visit to Denmark, when he was determined to visit the Frilandsmuseet outdoor museum in Sorgenfri: "Here lie all the answers to how you should build in your country!", he said after having discovered that our ancestors clearly understood how to optimally employ the local materials in relation to the climactic conditions in southern Scandinavia. In New South Wales (Australia) the climatic conditions are of course different from the Danish, but a meticulous analysis of Murcutt’s buildings and regionally determined measures no doubt offers something to think about - also in a Danish context:
Arthur & Yvonne Boyd Education Centre lies with a view over Riversdale near the bungalow and atelier complex, where until recently, the country’s most well-known artist Arthur Boyd, found his inspiration in the agricultural landscape of New South Wales. Already before Boyd’s death, his art collection and private property was donated to the Australian people, while a trust had worked to establish a branch of the art education on this beautiful border between the bush and the cultivated landscape. The hope being that future generations of Australians could experience, both physically and spiritually, the nations’s cultural history, while living in the midst of this beautiful scenic area.
The educational centre consists of an arrival plateau, an adjoining assembly hall and a dormitory wing for 32 students. Adjacent to the large hall, the dormitory wing has a kitchen that can service the meeting hall as well as the students individually. The dormitory block lies almost perpendicular to the slope though it rises to two complete floors at the opposite end from the kitchen. The rooms are grouped together in four, double 4-bedroom groups, each around a common bath and toilet facility, but so that the individual larger groups can via a sliding partition be subdivided in four, 2-bedroom units.
Half of the beds are located in small bays that protrude outside the cast concrete facade.
Verandas were inserted to provide a physical separation between the room groups, and here the open relationship to the surrounding nature is especially important.
The main entrance is covered by an inverted pyramid section and has a roof form that is reminiscent of Asplund’s Skogskapel outside of Stockholm, while the raised plateau offers associations with the Acropolis.
Under the steep sloping roof, a veranda plateau was established as a distinctive transition between landscape and building - between out and in. In the near future, on the slope behind the scenic plateau, a outdoor amphitheatre is planned with room for about 350 spectators.
The scheme exhibits an unusual lightness, which at first must be credited to the uninsulated eaves and the extra broad eaves over the bed bays and the verandas, which emphatically break down the building mass into more independent, easy to grasp subgroups. In most cases, Murcutt employs a limited material repertoire in his buildings, but here at the educational centre there is a more complex mixture of cast-in-place concrete, steel, plaster and recycled wood.
From the exterior, the scheme is dominated by the broad eaves made of galvanized, rust-free steel panels - which not only protect the rooms below from the sun and rain, but also contribute to collecting rainwater for the reservoir under the building.
Aside from a few areas of plywood, all the wood employed in the building is recycled - even the delicate carpentry around the main hall as well as the windows in the dormitory rooms. A comparatively new element in Murcutt’s architecture is the white-painted blinkers mounted a few metres in front of the facade. Both the whiteness and the detailing of the plywood blinkers, which taper slightly outward before they are terminated by a half-round moulding, contribute to dampening the windows to the level of secondary facade elements. Otherwise, the windows in the rooms directly over the beds are fixed, while above this there are side‑hung windows with separate operable louvers.
The result is an admirably integrated building scheme that is so convincingly in harmony with its surroundings that it contributes immensely to accentuating the spirit of place. Thus, the art students and the public, who in the future will frequent these facilities, will be ensured optimal conditions for enjoying the overwhelming beauty of the surrounding landscape.
Flemming Skude
FACTS:
The 800 square metre centre was completed at the turn of the year 1998/99 and cost about 10 million Dkr. (2.360.000 Australian dollars). Murcutt’s office normally functions as a one-man-show, designing single-family homes, but in this “large” project, architects Wendy Lewin and Reg Lark, as an exception, collaborated as equal partners.
(Photos: Glenn Murcutt).
