The 2017 Glenn Murcutt International Masterclass is up and running in the Eco Outdoor® Waterloo showroom which has been transformed into a hive of creative architectural activity.

Members of the public – especially those with a passion for architecture and design – are invited to visit the Eco Outdoor® showroom on Danks Street in Waterloo from Monday, July 10th to Friday, July 14th to observe the Masterclass.

Glenn Murcutt is Australia’s most famous architect and was selected as the recipient of the prestigious 2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize and Oz.e.tecure has been running Master Classes for professional architects and architecture students since 2001.

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Participants working hard at the Glenn Murcutt Masterclass in the Eco Outdoor® design studio

More than 1,000 people – young and old – have participated in the programs from more than 75 countries around the world.

This year, participants have come to Sydney, Australia from a diverse range of nations to further their knowledge and understanding in the field of architecture and related disciplines.

Participants have been tasked with a design project brief, a project that is about sensitivity to the site and landscape.

Having spent the first week at ‘Riversdale’, the Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre on the beautiful Shoalhaven River south of Sydney, the Masterclass participants accumulated an appreciation of the landscape and its associated challenges.

According to Glenn Murcutt, the purpose is for the participants to look to how nature is working within the landscape and respond to those factors in order to select an appropriate site for the complex.

Part of this experience include walking the rugged landscape with Glenn and Aboriginal Elder Uncle Max Dulumunmun Harrison in order to gain insights into ‘touching this Earth lightly’.

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That experience now feeds into the design project currently being undertaken in group workshops in the Eco Outdoor® Waterloo showroom.

At the end of this week there will be a design presentation by participants and a critique by Glenn Murcutt and the other tutors, including Peter Stutchbury, Professor Brit Andresen, Richard Leplastrier and Lindsay Johnston.

Monday evening saw renowned Irish architect and Masterclass tutor Lindsay Johnston, who has previously been Head of School and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Design at the University of Newcastle, give a lecture on some of his best-known works.

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Irish architect and Masterclass tutor Lindsay Johnston gives a lecture on some of his best-known works

Participants listened intently as Lindsay spoke of the considerations around materiality, lighting, heat and water storage for the Four Horizons Lodges in the Watagan Mountains National Park, New South Wales, amongst others.

Further lectures by the remaining tutors are planned for the rest of the week.

If you’re wondering what the Glenn Murcutt International Masterclass entails, feel free to drop into our Waterloo showroom to take a look and around and see the creative process with your own eyes.

 

Eco Outdoor,

7 Danks Street,

Waterloo,

NSW 2017