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Harry Seidler (25 June 19239 March 2006) was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauhaus in Australia.
Seidler designed about 119 buildings (96 of which were in his home state of New South Wales) but some have since been demolished or altered in a non-Seidler manner, and he received much recognition for his contribution to the architecture of Australia. Seidler consistently won architectural awards every decade throughout his Australian career of almost 58 years across the varied categories – his residential work from 1950, his commercial work from 1964, and his public commissions from the 1970s. He was a controversial figure throughout his long career as he regularly publicly criticised planning authorities and the planning system in Sydney.
because he was born in Austria, on 12 May 1940, he was internment by the British authorities as an enemy alien,information on internment of civilians at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a6651858.shtml [1] where he was in internment camps first at Huyton near Liverpool, then on the Isle of Man before being shipped to Quebec, Canada and continued to be internedfirst in Camp L in Cove Field Barracks, Plains of Abraham in Quebec City, then Camp N in Sherbrooke until October 1941, when he was released on probational release from internment to study architecture at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, where he graduated with first class honours in 1944.
After working briefly for an architectural firm in Toronto, Seidler (at the age of 21) became a registered architect in Ontario, in February 1945.
Although he was ten years old when the Bauhaus was closed, Seidler's analysts invariably associate him with the Bauhaus because he later studied under emigrant Bauhaus teachers in the USA. He attended Harvard Graduate School of Design under Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer on a scholarship in 1945/46, and during the university winter (Christmas) inter-semester approximate four weeks break Seidler worked with Alvar Aalto in Boston drawing up plans for the Baker dormitory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then studied visual aesthetics at Black Mountain College under the painter Josef Albers in mid 1946 for the US summer.
In 1952, Seidler successfully appealed against Ku-ring-gai Council's refusal to approve his design of a glass house in Roseville.
In the 1960s Seidler again broke new ground with his design for the Australia Square project (first designs 1961, plaza building 1962–64, tower 1964–67). At the time, the Australia Square tower was the world's tallest light weight concrete building. The design introduced the concept of a large public open plaza and prominent artworks to office towers in Australia.
In 1966, he helped lead the protests to try to keep Jørn Utzon as the principal architect of the Sydney Opera House.
He was a founding member of the Australian Architecture Association. In 1984 he became the first Australian to be elected a member of the Académie d'architecture, Paris and in 1987 was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, an honour which he accepted in his trademark suit and bowtie. Over the years Mr Seidler was also awarded five Sulman Medals by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, as well as the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1976, and the Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1996.
Penelope Seidler, herself an architect, gained her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Sydney and joined Seidler and Associates in 1964 as architect and financial manager. She co-designed the Harry and Penelope Seidler House in Killara which won the Wilkinson Award in 1967.Penelope Seidler filmed interview at the house for Monocle magazine, February 2016 entitled "Sydney Residence: Harry and Penelope Seidler House. February 2016"
. Film duration 6:51 minutes
; "In the Mind of the Architect", Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV series episode 1 (2000) see full transcript at http://www.abc.net.au/arts/architecture/ep_trn1.htm
Seidler's work shows a mix of influences from four great modern masters under whom he studied or worked with: Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, (artist) Josef Albers and Oscar Niemeyer. Seidler maintained relationships with his four mentors even after he came to Australia. Seidler was instrumental in having Walter Gropius address the RAIA Convention in Sydney in 1954. Seidler collaborated with Marcel Breuer for the Australian Embassy in Paris (as Breuer had a Paris office) and Seidler was Breuer's project architect for the Torin Factory in Penrith NSW in the 1970s. Seidler commissioned Josef Albers artworks for the MLC Centre in the mid-1970s. Seidler also maintained a close friendship with Oscar Niemeyer through letters and visits to Rio de Janeiro.
Gropius'
Seidler too insisted that Modernism was not a style ""You know there's a great misconception about that modernism is a style. It isn't. It is a methodology of approach, that is in constant flux, constant change."Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV "in the mind of the architect" series episode 1 “Keeping the Faith”(2000) Seidler's designs upheld a Modernist design methodology, which he considered to be an amalgam of three elements: social use, efficient building construction methods and visual aesthetics. As these three elements were in constantly changing, Seidler always insisted that he had no fixed 'style', and so as building technology and social use changed, the visual expression of his designs constantly evolved throughout his 57 years of designing in Australia.
The form of Seidler's work changed as building technology changed: from his timber houses in the 1950s (many of which echoed Breuer's bi-nuclear house form), to reinforced concrete houses and buildings in the 1960–1980s,Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "Habitat, Its Detail and Totality "University of New South Wales (UNSW), 8 May 1980 (online) and the development of curves (in plan shapes) with advances in concrete technology in the 1980s and later, as well as developments in steel technology that allowed for curved roofs in the 1990s onwards (e.g. Berman House). Seidler is on record (in 1980) as stating that Oscar Niemeyer's interior of the Boavista Bank in Rio of 1946 (which Seidler would have seen in 1948) with its interacting curves must have influenced Seidler's use of interacting curves in exterior playground and retainer walls from the mid 1960s and throughout the 1970s.Philip Drew, "Ethic and Form" article in Space Design (Tokyo) 1981 (81/02) pp. 75–90 includes photo of the Niemeyer's Boavista bank interior with this observation. The same photo of Niemeyer's bank interior is in photo archives section of Seidler office on back shows Harry Seidler's own hand-written note "Seidler must have been influenced by the INTERACTIVE CURVES of this interior, especially in his later work". Given the photo appears in Philip Drew's article published in issue 2 of 1981, Seidler's handwritten note probably dates to 1980.
The first use of interacting curves is seen in the free forms and part ellipses of the children's playground walls of the NSW Housing Commission Apartments, Rosebery, NSW 1964–67 (see Peter Blake, Architecture for the New World: The Work of Harry Seidler, 1973, Sydney: Horwitz, Stuttgart: Karl Kreamer at pp. 38–39), later curves seen in Seidler's Condominium Apartments, Acapulco 1969–70, (Blake, op. cit, 39), interacting quadrant curves in screen and retaining walls of Pettit & Sevitt exhibition house, Westleigh NSW 1969 (see Blake, op. cit at 35). Seidler's flamboyant curved design for Hong Kong Club started in 1980 – date noted in book Harry Seidler: Four Decades of Architecture by Kenneth Frampton and Philip Drew (1992, Thames & Hudson, London & New York) at 206.
While some commentators label Seidler's use of (unpainted) off-form concrete in the 1960s and 1970s as "brutalist" (from the French 'beton brut'), Seidler disowned the term as he was critical of British Brutalists as "pathetic imitations of Le Corbusier.Harry Seidler, "Planning and Architecture at the end of our century", pp. 378–84 of "Harry Seidler: Four Decades of Architecture" by Kenneth Frampton and Philip Drew (1992: Thames & Hudson) at Page 382 has this comment "who remembers the Brutalists in England with their pathetic imitations of Le Corbusier?". Page 384 notes that Seidler's essay is based on the 1984 lecture "A methodology" at RIBA London on 10 January 1984, and the 1987 Habitat Lecture at the Centre for Human Settlements, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Previously, in 1985, Seidler said "Brutalism is a pathethic thing too, and it is a sort of an English term applied to buildings done there – bad imitations of Corbusier's good concrete – ... The fact is remains that i think what we see really is a totally unskilled world in the field of architecture and design" in "Harry Seidler interviewed by Constance Breuer", January 2, 1985. Harry Seidler and Constance Breuer (cassette recording later digitised). Marcel Breuer papers, 1920–1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. USA. Transcript (copy held by Breuer scholar Isabelle Hyman) p. 5 The heavy monolithic structures of the 'brutalists', were the opposite of Seidler's visual aesthetic of transparency and lightness and being able to look through the architecture through the voids through the various architectural spaces.
In the 1960s and 70s Seidler worked with the Italian structural engineer Pier Luigi Nervi for the design of the Australia Square and MLC Centre office towers, in Sydney, the Edmund Barton Building (formerly called Trade Group Offices) in Canberra, and the Australian Embassy in Paris in the 1970s. the same Nervi- designed T beams were used by Seidler in his own Seidler Office building in Milsons Point (Sydney) completed in 1973. Seidler later worked with Nervi's successor Mario Desideri for the Riverside Centre in Brisbane.
Seidler learnt from Gropius (as one of the 3 required elements of good architecture) to devise efficient "systems" for constructing buildings – other than for individual houses, this involved "making things easy to build in accordance with a system that allows repetition of identical elements".Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "Principles in the Mainstream of Modern Architecture" University of New South Wales (UNSW), 26 June 1980 (online); Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "Consequence of Design and Detail "University of New South Wales (UNSW), 24 April 1980 (online); Peter Blake "Architecture for the New World. The Work of Harry Seidler" (Horwitz, Sydney; Wittenborn, New York; Karl Kraemer Stuttgart, 1973) pp. 12–20 This is why Kenneth Frampton labelled Seidler's non-house designs "isostatic architecture".Kenneith Frampton "Isostatic Architecture 1965–91", pp. 85–111 in Harry Seidler: Four Decades of Architecture by Kenneith Frampton and Philip Drew (Thames & Hudson, London & New York, 1992). In the 1970s and 1980s, Seidler used the geometry of the quadrant which connects the straight line to the curve and allowed for structural beams of the same size spanning across the radius of the quadrant. This is seen in Seidler's design for the Australian Embassy in Paris and Karralyka (previously called Ringwood Cultural) Centre.
Seidler saw parallels of good modern architecture with the underlying structural geometry of baroque architecture, especially the designs of Italian architect Francesco BorrominiHarry Seidler illustrated filmed lecture: "Form Relations in Baroque and Modern Architecture (Part 1)" University of New South Wales (UNSW) 17 April 1980 (online); Harry Seidler illustrated filmed lecture: "Form Relations in Baroque and Modern Architecture (Part 2)" University of New South Wales (UNSW) 1 May 1980 (online); Peter Blake "Architecture for the New World. The Work of Harry Seidler" (Horwitz, Sydney; Wittenborn, New York; Karl Kraemer Stuttgart, 1973) pp. 38–40; Vladimir Belogolovsky, " Harry Seidler: Lifework" (Rizzoli, New York, 2014) pp. 31–41 (which was illustrated in the book Space, Time & Architecture by Sigfried Gidieon which Seidler read as an architecture student). Seidler's designs from 1969 onwards often displayed opposing negative and positive quarter-circle curves (e.g. retaining garden walls of Pettit & Sevitt exhibition house, Westleigh, 1969, and Condominium Apartments, Acapulco 1969–70). From the 1980s, Seidler often incorporated plans with flamboyant curves (e.g. Hannes House, Hong Kong Club) and some commentators have labelled this as the start of Seidler's "baroque" period.Kenneith Frampton, "1965–1991 Isostatic Architecture", pp. 86–111 in Harry Seidler: Four Decades of Architecture by Kenneth Frampton and Philip Drew (1992, Thames & Hudson, London & New York) at page 95. Later followed by Vladimir Belogolovsky, Harry Seidler Lifework (2015: Rizzoli, New York), p. 39
Seidler's visual approach to two-dimensional and three-dimensional spatial arrangement was consistent throughout his whole career and reflected what Seidler learnt from his visual aesthetics teacher Josef Albers. Seidler stated he learnt more about design from Albers than he did at any architecture school."Harry Seidler: A Dialogue with editor Yoshio Futagawa" GA HOUSES 69 (January 2002) pp. 42–47 at 43. Albers stated that designs which visually had a high centre of gravity were more dynamic than solid earth bound designsHarry Seidler filmed lecture online "Josef Albers – Teaching of Visual Perception” (2002) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra at 17:55-18:33min – which is why Seidler used (for non-tower designs) "cantilevered slabs hovering in mid-air which seem to 'negate' the fact that mass is something solid and heavy". Seidler would claim "aesthetically we want dematerialisation".Harry Seidler, "Painting Toward Architecture" in Architecture (RAIA journal forerunner to Architecture Australia) 37(10) October pp. 119–124; Peter Blake "Architecture for the New World. The Work of Harry Seidler" (Horwitz, Sydney; Wittenborn, New York; Karl Kraemer Stuttgart, 1973) pp. 28–33 which is seen in the window pattern of Seidler's Blues Point Tower (1958–62) and three-dimensionally in the syncopated balcony arrangement of this Horizon Tower (1995–98).
Seidler articulated the visual-spatial design principle of modern architecture being "dissolution of conventional solidity" and inter-connecting spatial vistas.Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "Interactions - Architecture and the Visual Arts" University of New South Wales (UNSW) 10 April 1980 online at 29:23-31:51 min); Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "Principles in the Mainstream of Modern Architecture" University of New South Wales (UNSW), 27 June 1980 (online) Seidler said the visual essence of modern architecture was "not the ponderous solidity of traditional architecture where everything was built to four walls around a room and spaces that were finite. But rather our eyes seek transparency, lightness... being able to look through things"."In the Mind of the Architect", Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV series episode 1 (2000) He said of his first work, the Rose Seidler House. "This house explodes the surfaces that enclose a normal house or space, and turns it into a continuum of free standing planes, through which the eye can never see an end, you are always intrigued what's beyond, you can always see something floating into the distance, there is never an obstruction to your vision, it is a continuum (of space), that I believe 20th century man's eye and senses responds positively to that, we crave this".Harry Seidler quote from Rose Seidler House – the House that Harry built Review, Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV, 14 April 1991 Again referring to Rose Seidler House plan, "(there are) planes of interacting solid walls and glass walls – solids and voids follow each other around, generating flows of space between them". Seidler also explains same principle for three-dimensional spatial arrangement as highly influenced by Theo van Doesburg's painting Space-time construction #3 (1923) in which there is an interpenetration of space and spatial flow between hovering planes which creates "an openness which is so much more subtle than it is when it's totally open and which is so often done"Harry Seidler, RIBA Gold Medal Lecture, London 25 June 1996 footage on internet at 28:36–29:31min "Architecture in recent times has been immensely concerned about this idiom of the exploitation of the interior space which involves this simultaneous viewing of things, the channeling of vistas between its elements. ... As Le Corbusier has said, 'Instead of the eye and the mind being abruptly halted by edges and containing surfaces, as had been the case in the past, they are now laid continuously on an exploration, never quite comprehending the mystery of layered and veiled space'." Seidler says of the design for his Gissing House: "in three dimensions, the fact that the eye is always tempted to look beyond and never quite experiencing it all. There is a temptation with the seeing of things that are not entirely apparent, the tantalising sense of the beyond which you in fact are denied and which entices a person to move through and try and explore an interior."Harry Seidler, "Interactions – architecture and the visual arts" filmed illustrated lecture University of New South Wales, 10 April 1980 online film at 30:48–33:26min
In 1991, Seidler acknowledged that his first house (Rose Seidler House) which was built of timber, despite the north facing sunshades "is generally too vulnerable to temperature changes...I didn't fully appreciate the intensity of the Australian sun". Thus, later in his career, he sought to use more thermally stable materials like reinforced concrete and to respond to the Australian climate by the extensive use of sunshades and flamboyantly-shaped rain protecting canopies on his skyscrapers, (such as Grosvenor Place, Riverside Centre, and QV1), large covered balconies in his houses, as well as shaping his designs to maximize views and enjoyment of the outdoors from inside.Harry Seidler, "In Search of an Australian Style" in the "Why Australia is the best place in the world to live" issue of The Bulletin (Sydney) 24 October 1989, pp. 60–4
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