One week architecture masterclass – by Architecture Foundation Australia in Glencree

The Architecture Foundation Australia is a not-for-profit organisation, the chair of which is eminent Australian architect Glenn Murcutt. The Foundation has presented the annual Glenn Murcutt International Architecture Master Class in Australia since 2001, as well as other professional Master Classes in New Zealand and South Africa and an annual Summer School for senior architecture students. This is the first program initiated by the Foundation in Europe, using the Master Class format.

The program will be studio based design ‘charette’ , undertaken in small groups, for a project (yet to be determined), usually on a site within walking distance of the venue. Suggested themes include the exploration of architectural strategies that can moderate between the permeation of the external envelope in Australian architecture and how this might confront harsh European climates and locations. The design program will be supported by talks from the ‘masters’ and on-going tutorial support during the week. All the ‘masters’ will stay with the participants at the Glencree Reconciliation Centre. The program will culminate in presentations and crits on the last Friday.

Richard Leplastrier is little known internationally and is almost a recluse – but an outstanding teacher and ‘guru’. He is a Gold Medallist of the Australian Institute of Architects, and received the Finnish 2004 Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award for his outstanding small wooden buildings, which has also been won by Renzo Piano, Kengo Kuma, Peter Zumthor and José Cruz Ovalle. He also received the 2009 Dreyer Foundation Award in Denmark made to an architect “who has made an outstanding contribution to architectural thinking and to society”, and he has recently been made a 2009 Honorary Fellow of the US AIA. He worked with Kenzo Tange in Japan and with Jørn Utzon at the time of the Sydney Opera House. He is close friend and contemporary of Glenn Murcutt.

Peter Stutchbury is in many ways a protégé of Richard, and he has been a winner of numerous Australian Institute of Architects Awards and published internationally in GA Houses, Abitare, etc.. He won the 2008 International Living Steel Competition for extreme housing in Cherepovets in Russia, published in the new book ‘Houses of Steel’, has held the Catedra (Chair) Luis Barragán in Mexico, was a guest tutor at the 2010 Ghost Studio in Nova Scotia and has recently completed a house in Japan for the famous fashion designer Issey Miyake.

Lindsay Johnston, emigrated from Ireland to Australia in 1986 and became Head of the Architecture School at the University of Newcastle. Originally from County Tyrone, he studied in Dundee and worked in London before returning to Ireland to the National Planning Institute, An Foras Forbartha in 1967. He has been a member of the RIAI since 1969. He worked with Diamond Redfern Anderson on the seminal Castlepark Village, Kinsale, County Cork, and went on to run his own practice in Wicklow and Dublin from 1976-86. He has been a recipient of awards in Australia, including his ‘autonomous’ Four Horizons house and tourist lodges, which have been published internationally. He has also been recipient of a number of RIAI Awards including a commendation in the 2010 Awards for a house in Australia. He now runs the Architecture Foundation in Australia.

Juhani Pallasmaa is one of Finland’s most distinguished architects and architectural thinkers and a close personal friend of Glenn Murcutt. He runs his own architectural practice Arkkitehtitoimisto Juhani Pallasmaa KY in Helsinki and has completed many distinguished works over his long career. His previous positions include Rector of the Institute of Industrial Arts, Helsinki; Director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture; and Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Helsinki University of Technology. He has also held visiting professorships in several prestigious universities internationally. He continues as an energetic teacher and visiting professor. He has been author or editor of 30 books including the recent ‘The Thinking Hand : Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture’ (2009), ‘Encounters’ (2005), ‘The Architecture of Image’ (2001), ‘The Eyes of Skin’ (1995). His latest book ‘The Embodied Image’ is scheduled to come out in late 2010. He is an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

DETAILS – all subject to confirmation
Tuesday 24 May 2011 – lecture at the RIBA, Portland Place, London (evening)
Thursday 26 May or Friday 27 May – lecture in Dublin hosted by the Architectural Association of Ireland (evening)
Saturday 28 May – an architectural tour in Dublin.
Sunday 29 May – Master Class commences at Glencree Reconciliation Centre (coach transfer from Dublin and/or Airport about 12.00 noon)
See – www.glencree.ie Glencree is only 20 km south of Dublin in the Wicklow Mountains.
Saturday 4 June – Master Class concludes (coach transfer back to Dublin and/or Airport arrive mid-afternoon)

COST – for the week at Glencree 29 May – 4 June, including share accommodation and all meals Sunday to Saturday, coach transfers, etc.. – AUS$ 3600 (EUR 2600 aprox)
PAYMENT – payment will be required by direct funds transfer in Australian $ to bank in Australia.
CONTACT – info@ozetecture.org