Sir Roy Burman Grounds (
18
December,
1905 -
7
March,
1981), wasone of
Australia's leading architects of the modern
movement.
Biography
Born in
Melbourne
, Grounds was educated at Scotch
College
and then Melbourne University
and worked for the architectural firm of Blackett,
Forster and Craig. In 1932 he won an award from the Royal Victorian
Institute of Architects (RVIA) and left Melbourne to work in
England
and the USA
for two years, gaining exposure to contemporary
architectural developments.
On his return to Australia, Grounds went into partnership with
Geoffrey Mewton, and they introduced the international style to
Melbourne. Grounds ended this partnership in 1936 and travelled in
England until 1939, when he returned to Australia and worked on
defence buildings during
World War
II.
Grounds practised by himself between 1939 and 1942 and designed a
series of houses and flats (including Moonbria, 1940-41) which
established his reputation. After the war, Grounds was involved in
setting up the curriculum for the School of Architecture at
Melbourne University and lectured in design. He resumed his
architectural practice and became interested in formal,
geometrically based designs.
When Grounds,
Frederick Romberg
and
Robin Boyd formed their partnership
in 1953 all were well established in Victoria. Each brought
substantial work to the practice and the firm became very
successful.
Grounds
first large commission was for the Australian
Academy of Science
in Canberra
. The
construction of its
reinforced
concrete dome was a considerable technical achievement. Opened
in 1959, it won the Meritorious Architecture Award of the Canberra
Area Committee of the
RAIA and the Sulman Award
for Architectural Merit. The Academy building also led to other
work in Canberra, initially for the firm and later Grounds himself.
Grounds opened a Canberra office in the Forrest Townhouses (1959),
which he partly financed.
In 1959
the firm was awarded the commission to design the National Gallery
of Victoria
and Cultural Centre
, with Grounds named in the contract as the
architect in charge. When Boyd and Romberg were mildly
critical of the preliminary geometric designs that Grounds showed
them, relations between the partners became strained.
In 1962 Grounds left the partnership, taking the commission with
him and setting up his own company. Under a building committee
chaired by the philanthropist
Kenneth
Myer, he devoted the next twenty years of his life to the
completion of the arts center. His longest-serving architectural
associates throughout this period, which included
Monash University's
Robert Blackwood Concert Hall,
were Alan Nelson, Fritz Suendermann and Allan Stillman.
While the
gallery was brought in on time and budget, the complicated Yarra River
site for the concert hall and theater complex
resulted in building delays and criticism. Grounds showed
Queen Elizabeth II the massive
excavations shortly before his death. Much of the theaters'
interior designs were completed by
John
Truscott.
Grounds was awarded the
Royal Australian
Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1968 and
knighted in the same year. In 1969 he was elected
a life fellow of the RAIA.
One of his last great design successes was
Hobart
's iconic 18-story octagonal tower that is the main
part of the Wrest Point Hotel Casino
complex. He died in Melbourne in 1981.
Key works
- Shine
Dome, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra (1959)
- Botany
Building Australian National University
, Canberra (1968)
- National Gallery of Victoria, St Kilda Road, Melbourne (1959-68)
- Robert Blackwood Concert Hall, Monash University, Victoria (1971)
- Wrest Point Hotel Casino, Hobart, Tasmania
- Victorian Arts Centre, St Kilda Road, Melbourne (1969-84)
Gallery of works
Image:Shine dome.jpg|Shine Dome, Australian Academy of
ScienceImage:national_gallery_victoria_international.jpg|National
Gallery of VictoriaImage:Wrest-Point-Hotel-Casino.jpg|Wrest Point
Hotel Casino, Hobart, Tasmania
Awards
References
- Jennifer Taylor, Australian Architecture Since 1960, RAIA,
1990
- Philip Goad, A Guide to Melbourne Architecture, Sydney,
1999
- Geoffrey Serle, Robin Boyd: A Life, Melbourne, 1995
- Eric Westbrook, Birth of a Gallery, Macmillan Australia,
Melbourne, 1968
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