VSA2270

Australian architecture: 1788 to the present

Conrad Hamann

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton
* Prerequisites: Normally two visual arts subjects at first-year level

Objectives Students should become familiar with the broad directions of Australian architectural culture: where it differs from, or translates, overseas architecture. Students should be able to think and write critically on architectural design and its physical, social and built environment, and be able to discuss individual buildings in depth.

Synopsis An exploration of the architecture surrounding us, from European settlement. This year the subject will emphasise issues and ideas in building design and urbanism from the later nineteenth century, after a survey of colonial and mid-Victorian architecture. Lectures and seminars will then explore changes in late nineteenth-century architecture, federation and early `radical' design, the garden city movement and attempts to emulate the British and American metropolis; conservatism and nationalism in twentieth-century architecture, the colonial revival, Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony, the `arrival' of European modernism after 1933, the regional and internationalist approaches of Robin Boyd, Roy Grounds, Frederick Romberg, Harry Seidler, Jörn Utzon and others, and more recent attempts to engage both landscape and urban surroundings. Emphasis will be placed on histories and criticism in Australian architecture.

Assessment Written (5000 words): 75%
* Visual test (1 hour): 25%

Prescribed texts

Boyd R Australia's home MUP, 1988

Recommended texts

Freeland J M Architecture in Australia: A history Penguin, 1981
Pevsner N and others The Penguin dictionary of architecture Penguin, 1982
Serle G From deserts the prophets come Heinemann, 1973