Glenn Murcutt

(Browell, 2006)

Born: 

1936 in London, England

Education: 

University of New South Wales (Architecture)

Influence: 

Mies van der Rohe and Pierre Chareau

Glenn Murcutt was familiar with architecture and building from his youth. He learned a lot about design and materials through his father, Arthur Murcutt, who worked as a builder and developer in Sydney.  With his father, Murcutt saw the Farnsworth House of Mies van der Rohe and the Dalsace House by Pierre Chareau, which he carefully studied and withdrew inspiration from. Fromonot (1995) writes that Murcutt is also indebted to his father for being introduced to the large wood and corrugated iron agricultural sheds of the Sydney region; a style of architecture that would influence his palette in the coming years.

Fromonot (1995) states that Glenn Murcutt travelled across the world, studying architecture in Mexico, the United States and Europe, but it was Murcutt’s professed empathy for the characteristic Aboriginal concepts of land and culture that became his key influence in design. The Aboriginal communities and how they made their shelters out of limited natural resources fascinated Murcutt, and influenced his architecture to be functionalist and reflective of the natural world and its expression in the local landscape.

Today Glenn Murcutt is Australia’s most internationally famous architect and a lecturing Professor of architecture across the globe. Murcutt has received many architectural awards for his work including the prestigious 2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize (Murcutt, n.d.).