Freak Architecture: Classical Modernism in Australia

Barnstone, DA

Freak Architecture: Classical Modernism in Australia

Barnstone, DA

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Publisher:: Hochschule OWL
Publication Type:: Conference Proceeding
Citation:: 100 YEARS BAUHAUS. What interest do we take in Modern Movement today?, 2019, pp. 79 - 93 (15)
Issue Date:: 2019-03-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Barnstone, DA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2846-1226	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Melenhorst, M	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Pottgiesser, U	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Kellner, T	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Jaschke, F	en_US
dc.date	2019-03-01	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2020-04-09T19:43:01Z
dc.date.available	2020-04-09T19:43:01Z
dc.date.issued	2019-03-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	100 YEARS BAUHAUS. What interest do we take in Modern Movement today?, 2019, pp. 79 - 93 (15)	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	978-3-00-062580-0	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/139925
dc.description.abstract	One hundred years ago, Australia was hostile territory for the nascent modern movement -- Australian architects and their clients had notoriously conservative taste and disparaged the new aesthetics emerging in Europe. Yet today, Australia is a bastion of modernism; modern aesthetics are not only the purview of trained architects but also commercial developers. Today, the “in” aesthetic for every building type is modern. Between 1918 and the mid-1920s successful Australian architects like Robert Haddon (1866-1929), Walter Butler (1864-1949), and Harold Desbrowe-Annear (1865-1933) favored a British-inspired Arts and Crafts style, or an Empire style. Australia’s first licensed woman architect, Florence Taylor (1879-1969), epitomized Australian sentiment in the 1920s when she denounced what she termed “freak architecture” warning her countrymen against modernism. Yet now, Australian architects like Peter Stutchbury (1954-present); and firms like Denton, Corker, Marshall are world renowned for their elegant neo-modernism while commercial developers of every size construct highly sought after open plan flats and houses in a streamlined, unadorned style clearly influenced by classical modernism. How did this transformation occur? Some scholars credit Walter Burley Griffin (1876-1937) and Harry Seidler (1923-2006) with altering Australian architects’ attitudes to modernism while others only address reception until the 1960s. The reasons for the transformation are many: postwar migration of practitioners educated at the most progressive schools abroad; trips and apprenticeships overseas made by Australian architects; changing pedagogy in Australian architecture schools because of the new emigrés but also the new desire to be leading players on the world stage; a postwar construction boom; and a developing sense of independence from British influence.	en_US
dc.publisher	Hochschule OWL	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	100 YEARS BAUHAUS. What interest do we take in Modern Movement today?	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	RMB and Docomomo Conference	en_US
dc.title	Freak Architecture: Classical Modernism in Australia	en_US
dc.type	Conference Proceeding
utslib.location	Berlin, Germany	en_US
utslib.location.activity	Berlin, Germany	en_US
utslib.for	1201 Architecture	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Architecture
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CCDP - Contemporary Design Practice
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.finish-date	2019-03-02	en_US
pubs.place-of-publication	Berlin, Germany	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.start-date	2019-03-01	en_US

Abstract:

One hundred years ago, Australia was hostile territory for the nascent modern movement -- Australian architects and their clients had notoriously conservative taste and disparaged the new aesthetics emerging in Europe. Yet today, Australia is a bastion of modernism; modern aesthetics are not only the purview of trained architects but also commercial developers. Today, the “in” aesthetic for every building type is modern. Between 1918 and the mid-1920s successful Australian architects like Robert Haddon (1866-1929), Walter Butler (1864-1949), and Harold Desbrowe-Annear (1865-1933) favored a British-inspired Arts and Crafts style, or an Empire style. Australia’s first licensed woman architect, Florence Taylor (1879-1969), epitomized Australian sentiment in the 1920s when she denounced what she termed “freak architecture” warning her countrymen against modernism. Yet now, Australian architects like Peter Stutchbury (1954-present); and firms like Denton, Corker, Marshall are world renowned for their elegant neo-modernism while commercial developers of every size construct highly sought after open plan flats and houses in a streamlined, unadorned style clearly influenced by classical modernism. How did this transformation occur? Some scholars credit Walter Burley Griffin (1876-1937) and Harry Seidler (1923-2006) with altering Australian architects’ attitudes to modernism while others only address reception until the 1960s. The reasons for the transformation are many: postwar migration of practitioners educated at the most progressive schools abroad; trips and apprenticeships overseas made by Australian architects; changing pedagogy in Australian architecture schools because of the new emigrés but also the new desire to be leading players on the world stage; a postwar construction boom; and a developing sense of independence from British influence.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/139925