“A GOOD DESIGN DOESN’T DATE” - HARRY SEIDLER

ROSE SEIDLER HOUSE

Harry Seidler (1923 -2008)

-Born in Vienna, out from Austria when Nazis arrived and began their persecution of Jews like the upper-middle class Seidler family

- Leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauhaus in Australia.

-The home he built - Rose Seidler house - immediately attracted day trippers and gawkers, the attention of Australian and international architects, and it won him the Sir John Sulman Medal given by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

Veinna Britain

Seidler family

Persecution of jews

Family emigrated

Hurried out

Education and Reflection on Harry Seidler1933-1938Seidler received his early education at the Wasagymnasium in Vienna

1938-1940He was immediately thrown into Cambridge society due to an external event.

In three months, the 16-year-old had learnt enough English to enrol on a course of building studies at the local polytechnic (Cambridgeshire Technical School, England.)

1941-1944When he was 18, he began architecture training at the university of Manitoba, Canada.

[BArch- 1st Class Hons]

1944-1946He won a scholarship to the Harvard University where he joined Walter Gropius’s master class.A number of his contemporaries on the course were to contribute to the march of modern architecture and design [MArch]

1946He went to design course at Black Mountain College under the artist Josef Albers. This experience led to Seidler’s lifetime interest in collaborating with visual artists.

Philosophy

- Seidler treated Architecture as a form of art. A design that is simple but functional.

Architecture must be socially

responsible, a marriage of social

use, aesthetics and technology.- To create a better man made world [Walter Gropius].

Greater richness of form and expression using advanced construction techniques.

Seidler’s Style in General

Futuristic BAUHAUS Modernism

Minimal structural frame stands on 4 columns & exposed both inside n out.

Combination of materials: natural bush stone, reinforced concrete, timber, glass

Mid 20 century

Concept of Rose Seidler House

The young Harry Seidler was one of the architects exploring a new kind of architecture that looked to the future rather than to the traditions of the past. Which made this house a first direct local expression of the modernist principles of the Bauhaus.

The rectilinear form of the house is quite deliberate to be in strong contrast to the natural form of the land. I prefer to see beautiful nature – green trees and grass offset by a man-made geometric square. I think that contrast between nature and what is built is to me a source of what we call a tension - Harry

Seidler, 1952

Rose Seidler House is a special and fragile place. It is an influential architectural structure in itself but also with direct association with Harry Seidler and his family, the contents and surroundings combine to form a bold and powerful statement about the mid 20th century modernist movement in Australia.

In an urban environment, Modernist architecture tends to emphasise rectilinear shapes and horizontal lines. The structure used to support a building is no longer hidden which contributes to the vision of a floating white box

Location : 71 Clissold road, Wahroonga, Sydney

a large wall of windows overlooking bushland of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in the northern suburbs of Sydney

Construction (1949-1950)

Strong contrast between the nature and his building which gives people a feeling of harmony and peace

panoramic views of the surrounding bushland, producing giant green murals during the day and at night

Site contexts

This house was located on compound next to a public nature since it was next to Ku-Ring-Gai Chase reserve.

The site had been used to mine pottery clay,and was considered very remote - being at the end of a dirt road through market gardens

After the house was finished, the surrounding streets were paved and developed as a residential suburb.

Site Plan

- A style that represents his mother. A ‘modern woman’ she described herself.

- Produces contrast in the site. A man-made geometric piece of square viewing the greenery.

Style

MODERNISM | BAUHAUS

AN ASYMMETRICAL COMPOSITION

ARCHI

ELEMENTS

| CUBIC SHAPES || FLAT ROOF |

| LARGE WINDOWS |

| SIMPLISTIC FORM |

Floor-to-ceiling windows or sliding doors. To extensively bring in light.

Decor or details not relevant to the overall design.

Pushes the envelope on roof design.

Bold horizontal and vertical features. Straight and angled.

| MURAL | | MINIMALIST INTERIOR |

Serves as the colour palette of the interior.

Modern aesthetic believe strongly in the idea of “Less is More”!

SPATIAL ARRANGEMENTS

Ground Floor Plan

Car Park

The house turns its back on the driveway and looks north over the Ku Ring Gai National Park.

1st Floor Plan

Entry to the house can be through the centre of the house or by an external ceremonial ramp leading to the northern deck or through the rear kitchen( indicated by the blue arrow ).

The open plan kitchen ,dining and living areas open out to the deck, while the bedrooms are placed on the east.

Building ventilation

Natural ventilation : no usage of mechanical systems

Lighting: mostly Natural lighting, glass wall on the east.

REFERENCES

http://www.archdaily.com/tag/bauhaus

http://www.marcelbreuer.org/Biography.html

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/harry-seidler-collection/rose-seidler-house

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