John Andrews Symposium 2012

19 October 6pm - 7.30pm: Public Lecture presented by Mary Lou Lobsinger, University of Toronto,LabyTheatre, David Caro Building.

20 October 9.30am - 5.30pm: Symposium led by John Andrews, Hercus Theatre, David Caro Building.

John Andrews is one of the country's most significant architects - an international star of late Modernism, who forged a prominent career and reputation in Canada in the 1960s and 70s before returning to Australia. The line-up of international and local speakers includes Mary Lou Lobsinger (University of Toronto), Professor Philip Goad and Professor Paul Walker.

This unique Symposium brings together archtiects who worked in Andrews' offices who will discusss their experiences of how the practice worked and managed its extremely ambitious designs. Presentations by critics and scholars who have been important in assessing John Andrews' work will also feature in the Symposium. John Andrews will provide a personal overview of his significant built and unbuilt projects.

To launch the event, Mary Lou Lobsinger, University of Toronto, will present a free public lecture on 19 October on Scarborough College and the international context of Andrews' Canadian work.

Andrews's work is characterised by its rigorous approach both to planning, construction process and materiality, and reflects the optimism and expanding opportunities of Canada and Australia in the 1960s and 1970s.

After completing a Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Sydney in 1956, Andrews completed a Master of Architecture at Harvard's prestigious GSD under José Luis Sert. He placed second in the 1958 international competition for the Toronto City Hall, and was recruited to assist in the realisation of the winning design by Finnish architect Viljo Revell. He formed John Andrews Architects in Toronto in 1961, and went on to complete a range of significant projects in Canada and the US, including Scarborough College for the University of Toronto (1965) and Gund Hall for the GSD at Harvard (1972).  In 1969, Andrews was invited to design the Cameron Offices in Canberra, and in 1972 established the firm of John Andrews International in Palm Beach, Sydney. The firm built important projects in most of Australia’s capital cities.

Program

Friday 19 October
Laby Theatre
David Caro Building
Physics South (Building 192)
The university of Melbourne

KEYNOTE LECTURE
6:00pm
Scarborough College: Breakthrough
Mary Lou Lobsinger
University of Toronto

Saturday 20 October
Hercus Theatre
David Caro Building
Physics South (Building 192)
The University of Melbourne

WELCOME
9:30am
Paul Walker
Welcome and outline of the research project

PRESENTATION
10:00am
Maurice Finegold

PRESENTATION
10:15am
Jennifer Taylor: As seen by Australia: John Andrews 1970s –1980s

PRESENTATION
11:15am
John Andrews: Architecture, a Performing Art

THE ANDREWS OFFICE
1:45pm
Antony Moulis, Chair
Panel
Ian Bailey
Peter Courtney
Tina Curtin
Doug McKay
Arthur Robb
John Simpson

CRITICAL RECEPTION
4:45pm
Philip Goad, Chair
Panel
Jared Bird: Passage Over Ground: diagonal grids as planning technique in the work of John Andrews
Philip Drew: John Andrews: The Early Years – Canadian Breakthrough

5.45pm Close