Although Glenn Murcutt is best known for his residential architecture he has also produced several designs for public and commercial buildings. Two of these - Berowra Waters restaurant and the Kempsey Museum and visitor centre - were important in creating Murcutt's reputation and wide appreciation of his work.

However the Arthur & Yvonne Boyd Education Centre at Bundanon on the NSW Shoalhaven coast has undoubtedly become Murcutt's best-known and most-visited design. Its reputation grew in part from its alliance of two of Australia's best-known and best-regarded cultural figures in Murcutt and Arthur Boyd. Designed in association with Reg Lark and Murcutt's partner Wendy Lewin, Riversdale represented a perfect opportunity for Murcutt to make a public statement of his architecture of place and detail.

The centre consists of a multi-purpose hall and an adjacent residence for students and other guests. The hall crowns a grassed hill with views across the Shoalhaven River. Its form is an amplification of Murcutt's famliar verandah/pavilion idiom, with the Eastern side open to the view. However the hall's size, concrete colonade and siting creates a formality akin to that of a Grecian temple. The residential building is divided into four sections, each sleeps eight people in bunks and recalls verandahs and sleep-outs while adding definition to the exterior.

The model depicts an early version of the design, most obvious in the pitched steel roofs of the hall building.

Charles Pickett, Curator Design and built environment.

Designed by Glenn Murcutt, Wendy Lewin and Reginald Lark, architects in association

Made by Wendy Lewin and Reginald Lark

Date provided by Glenn Murcutt

Glenn Murcutt (b.1936) was born in London but spent his young childhood in the Morobe district of New Guinea where his father managed a gold mine. His father Arthur Murcutt introduced him to the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and to carpentry and building, building houses for his family and others at Sydney's northern beaches during the 1940s. From 1956 Murcutt studied architecture at the University of New South Wales and worked with several architects including Neville Gruzman. After graduating in 1961 Murcutt travelled for two years, returning in 1964 to work in the office of Ancher, Mortlock, Murray and Woolley.

In 1969 Murcutt established his own practice at Mosman, Sydney. Initially he struggled to find work, producing just three houses during the 1970s as well as numerous renovations and extensions. One of these was the Berowra Waters Inn where from 1976 Murcutt redesigned a 1930s teahouse for young chefs Tony and Gay Bilson; the result was a standout marriage of design and culinary art that proclaimed the talents of Murcutt and the Bilsons.

This exploratory phase saw Murcutt establish a mastery of the Miesian style. His prolific second phase was more regional in nature. Using a mixture of pragmatism and lyricism, Murcutt creates simple houses that resemble open verandas. He is admired locally and internationally for creating an identifiably Australian idiom in domestic architecture. In addition Murcutt's domestic focus and small practice contrasts with the corporate character of contemporary architecture although it also restricts the scope and impact of his work. Regardless, Murcutt and his numerous admirers are content with his embodiment of the architect as craftsman and visionary.

Glenn Murcutt's work has won several Australian awards as well as the Alvar Alto Medal (1992) and the Pritzker Prize (2002).

Charles Pickett, Curator Design and built environment.

In 1993 the artist Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne gifted their 1100 hectare property Bundanon to the Australian Government. Boyd had lived and worked at the Shoalhaven (NSW South Coast) property for many years and the gift included his studio and collection of artworks. The Bundanon Trust was established to administer the property and its collection.

In 1999 the Education Centre was opened at Riversdale by the Shoalhaven River, providing residential accommodation for groups of school children who participate in workshops provided by Bundanon art educators. The centre is also used by performing and other arts companies, tertiary institutions and commercial and community organisations. The Boyd Education Centre also provides facilities, and a spectacular setting, for indoor concerts and outdoor events.

The Education Centre comprises a forecourt and open plan hall area, a commercial kitchen and residential accommodation for 32; it plays host to about 1200 children per year. It won the 1999 Sulman Award for public buildings (NSW) and the Sir Zelman Cowan Award for public buildings (National) with the jury stating that it was Â?A major work, exhibiting the masterly simplicity and resolution that characterises MurcuttÂ?s best buildings.Â?

Architectural model, Arthur & Yvonne Boyd Education Centre, Riversdale, cardboard / paper / foil / designed by Glenn Murcutt / Wendy Lewin / Reginald Lark, Sydney, 1995
The model comprises an irregular-shaped, deeply contoured base in white cardboard, on which are situated a number of small structures. One corner of the model is populated by a forest of model trees made out of pins and tracing paper.

Designed: Murcutt, Glenn Marcus; Australia

Designed: Lark, Reginald; Australia

Designed: Lewin, Wendy; Australia

Made: Lark, Reginald; Australia; 1995

Made: Lewin, Wendy; Australia; 1995

99/35/1

100 mm

425 mm