Editing Harry Seidler (section)

==Modernism and principles of design==
[[File:Riparian Plaza and 111 Eagle St from CityCat Town Reach Brisbane River P1170267.jpg|thumb|[[Riparian Plaza]], 71 Eagle Street , [[Brisbane]], 2002-2005]]

Seidler said the term "International Style" was a misnomer and so he objected to the term being used to describe modern architecture or his own architectural designs – as both changed over time as social use and building technology developed. Seidler insisted that Modernism was not a style but was in constant flux. Seidler would explain that Le Corbusier's 1920s modern architecture had columns placed 6 metres apart, whereas by mid-1980s pre-stressed concrete technology allowed 34 metre column-free space, resulting in different visual expression and openness in architecture.<ref>Harry Seidler oral history with Ken Henderson, 21 April and 21 May 1986, National Library of Australia oral history collection, cassette TRC 2173 transcript page 3 notes "modern architecture set out to solve problems of the time and it must, by definition remain in constant flux, it is not a style, it fought against stylism, ... to call it a style ... is an utter misunderstanding of what it set out to do. To demonstrate that one can still say that we may like or still love buildings Le Corbusier built in the 1920s, but they could not be reasonably built today (ed 1986) because technology has taken giant steps – I mean, you have office buildings that have columns at six metre centres. In other words, to span long distances was not feasible, not technically applicable to that time, it just wasn't known how to do that, economically or efficiently. Therefore those buildings by today's standards are outmoded." (Page 4) "pre-stressed concrete was ... not normally used in building (in early twentieth century). Whereas today, you can build buildings that have giant spans. We just built a building in Hong Kong that has 34 meter spans ... from one side to the other ... (hence no need for) columns everywhere"; Harry Seidler essay "Planning and architecture at the end of our century" sub-heading 'Opposition to Modern architecture' in ''Harry Seidler: Four Decades of Architecture'' by Kenneth Frampton and Philip Drew (Thames & Hudson, London & New York, 1992) p. 381; page 384 notes that this essay was based on the lecture entitled "A methodology" at the RIBA in London (10 January 1984) and 1987 Habitat Lecture at the Centre for Human Settlements, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Harry Seidler, "Movement Against Style" Keynote address at Royal Australian Institute of Architects' International Convention 'Challenge of Excellence', Melbourne, 9 March 1992 (video at Deakin University) or online ""You know there's a great misconception about that modernism is a style. It isn't. It is a methodology of approach, that is in constant flux, constant change. It was a conviction that what man's eye seeks in our era, in our time, is not the ponderous solidity of traditional architecture where everything was built to four walls around a room and spaces that were finite. But rather our eyes seek transparency, lightness... being able to look through things." at https://vimeo.com/16877925 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063631/https://vimeo.com/16877925 |date=4 March 2016 }}; "In the Mind of the Architect", Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV series episode 1 (2000) see full transcript at http://www.abc.net.au/arts/architecture/ep_trn1.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063631/https://vimeo.com/16877925 |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref>

Seidler's work shows a mix of influences from four great modern masters under whom he studied or worked with: Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, (artist) Josef Albers and Oscar Niemeyer. Seidler maintained relationships with his four mentors even after he came to Australia. Seidler was instrumental in having Walter Gropius address the RAIA Convention in Sydney in 1954. Seidler collaborated with Marcel Breuer for the Australian Embassy in Paris (as Breuer had a Paris office) and Seidler was Breuer's project architect for the Torin Factory in Penrith NSW in the 1970s. Seidler commissioned Josef Albers artworks for MLC Centre in the mid-1970s. Seidler also maintained a close friendship with Oscar Niemeyer through letters and visits to Rio de Janeiro.

Gropius' teachings had a big influence on Seidler. Gropius taught that Modernism was not a style but a methodology of approach which will vary according to different regions and climates.<ref>Conversations Regarding the Future of Architecture. 1956. SIDE 2. 9:56-10:18min of audio at https://soundcloud.com/mattgoad/conversations-regarding-the {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625065420/https://soundcloud.com/mattgoad/conversations-regarding-the |date=25 June 2020 }}</ref> Seidler too insisted that Modernism was not a style ""You know there's a great misconception about that modernism is a style. It isn't. It is a methodology of approach, that is in constant flux, constant change."<ref>Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV "in the mind of the architect" series episode 1 “Keeping the Faith”(2000)</ref>  Seidler's designs upheld a Modernist design methodology, which he considered to be an amalgam of three elements: social use, efficient building construction methods and visual aesthetics. As these three elements were in constantly changing, Seidler always insisted that he had no fixed 'style', and so as building technology and social use changed, the visual expression of his designs constantly evolved throughout his 57 years of designing in Australia.

The form of Seidler's work changed as building technology changed: from his [[timber]] houses in the 1950s (many of which echoed Breuer's bi-nuclear house form), to [[reinforced concrete]] houses and buildings in the 1960–1980s,<ref>Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "Habitat, Its Detail and Totality "University of New South Wales (UNSW), 8 May 1980 (online)</ref> and the development of curves (in plan shapes) with advances in concrete technology in the 1980s and later, as well as developments in steel technology that allowed for curved roofs in the 1990s onwards (e.g. Berman House). Seidler is on record (in 1980) as stating that Oscar Niemeyer's interior of the Boavista Bank in Rio of 1946 (which Seidler would have seen in 1948) with its interacting curves must have influenced Seidler's use of interacting curves in exterior playground and retainer walls from the mid 1960s and throughout the 1970s.<ref>Philip Drew, "Ethic and Form" article in ''Space Design'' (Tokyo) 1981 (81/02) pp. 75–90 includes photo of the Niemeyer's Boavista bank interior with this observation. The same photo of Niemeyer's bank interior is in photo archives section of Seidler office on back shows Harry Seidler's own hand-written note "Seidler must have been influenced by the INTERACTIVE CURVES of this interior, especially in his later work". Given the photo appears in Philip Drew's article published in issue 2 of 1981, Seidler's handwritten note probably dates to 1980.

The first use of interacting curves is seen in the free forms and part ellipses of the children's playground walls of the NSW Housing Commission Apartments, Rosebery, NSW 1964–67 (see Peter Blake, ''Architecture for the New World: The Work of Harry Seidler'', 1973, Sydney: Horwitz, Stuttgart: Karl Kreamer at pp. 38–39), later curves seen in Seidler's Condominium Apartments, Acapulco 1969–70, (Blake, op. cit, 39), interacting quadrant curves in screen and retaining walls of Pettit & Sevitt exhibition house, Westleigh NSW 1969 (see Blake, op. cit at 35). Seidler's flamboyant curved design for Hong Kong Club started in 1980 – date noted in book ''Harry Seidler: Four Decades of Architecture'' by Kenneth Frampton and Philip Drew (1992, Thames & Hudson, London & New York) at 206.</ref> Upon celebrating 50 years of architectural practice in Australia, Seidler noted that developments in building technology allowed for more richness of form in his then soon-to-be completed Horizon apartment tower: "I could not have built Horizon twenty years ago...in earlier building technology (the way one could) span distances, it was very limited. (But Horizon) is made (possible) by devices such as pre-stressed concrete which is ...economic and quick. And that also gives you greater freedom of the shapes that you can use. Nowadays we can span huge distances and to do so (by) not just putting steel mesh or something into the concrete but to put steel, high tensile steel wire into it and pull it tight and that makes it easy to span distances and give this kind of change of shape of a building which would have been very difficult to achieve any other way."<ref>Express TV, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 7 October 1998.</ref>

While some commentators label Seidler's use of (unpainted) off-form concrete in the 1960s and 1970s as "brutalist" (from the French 'beton brut'), Seidler disowned the term as he was critical of British Brutalists as "pathetic imitations of Le Corbusier.<ref>Harry Seidler, "Planning and Architecture at the end of our century", pp. 378–84 of "Harry Seidler: Four Decades of Architecture" by Kenneth Frampton and Philip Drew (1992: Thames & Hudson) at Page 382 has this comment "who remembers the Brutalists in England with their pathetic imitations of Le Corbusier?". Page 384 notes that Seidler's essay is based on the 1984 lecture "A methodology" at RIBA London on 10 January 1984, and the 1987 Habitat Lecture at the Centre for Human Settlements, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Previously, in 1985, Seidler said "Brutalism is a pathethic thing too, and it is a sort of an English term applied to buildings done there – bad imitations of Corbusier's good concrete – ... The fact is remains that i think what we see really is a totally unskilled world in the field of architecture and design" in "Harry Seidler interviewed by Constance Breuer", January 2, 1985. Harry Seidler and Constance Breuer (cassette recording later digitised). Marcel Breuer papers, 1920–1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. USA. Transcript (copy held by Breuer scholar Isabelle Hyman) p. 5</ref> The heavy monolithic structures of the 'brutalists', were the opposite of Seidler's visual aesthetic of transparency and lightness and being able to look through the architecture through the voids through the various architectural spaces.

In the 1960s and 70s Seidler worked with the Italian structural engineer [[Pier Luigi Nervi]] for the design of the Australia Square and MLC Centre office towers, in Sydney, the Edmund Barton Building (formerly called Trade Group Offices) in Canberra, and the Australian Embassy in Paris in the 1970s. the same Nervi- designed T beams were used by Seidler in his own Seidler Office building in Milsons Point (Sydney) completed in 1973. Seidler later worked with Nervi's successor Mario Desideri for the Riverside Centre in Brisbane.

Seidler learnt from Gropius (as one of the 3 required elements of good architecture) to devise efficient "systems" for constructing buildings – other than for individual houses, this involved "making things easy to build in accordance with a system that allows repetition of identical elements".<ref>Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "Principles in the Mainstream of Modern Architecture" University of New South Wales (UNSW), 26 June 1980 (online); Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "Consequence of Design and Detail "University of New South Wales (UNSW), 24 April 1980 (online); Peter Blake "Architecture for the New World. The Work of Harry Seidler" (Horwitz, Sydney; Wittenborn, New York; Karl Kraemer Stuttgart, 1973) pp. 12–20</ref> This is why Kenneth Frampton labelled Seidler's non-house designs "isostatic architecture".<ref>Kenneith Frampton "Isostatic Architecture 1965–91", pp. 85–111 in ''Harry Seidler: Four Decades of Architecture'' by Kenneith Frampton and Philip Drew (Thames & Hudson, London & New York, 1992).</ref> In the 1970s and 1980s, Seidler used the geometry of the quadrant which connects the straight line to the curve and allowed for structural beams of the same size spanning across the radius of the quadrant. This is seen in Seidler's design for the Australian Embassy in Paris and Karralyka (previously called Ringwood Cultural) Centre.

Seidler saw parallels of good modern architecture with the underlying structural geometry of baroque architecture, especially the designs of Italian architect Francesco Borromini<ref>Harry Seidler illustrated filmed lecture: "Form Relations in Baroque and Modern Architecture (Part 1)" University of New South Wales (UNSW) 17 April 1980 (online); Harry Seidler illustrated filmed lecture: "Form Relations in Baroque and Modern Architecture (Part 2)" University of New South Wales (UNSW) 1 May 1980 (online); Peter Blake "Architecture for the New World. The Work of Harry Seidler" (Horwitz, Sydney; Wittenborn, New York; Karl Kraemer Stuttgart, 1973) pp. 38–40; Vladimir Belogolovsky, "''Harry Seidler: Lifework''" (Rizzoli, New York, 2014) pp. 31–41</ref> (which was illustrated in the book ''Space, Time & Architecture'' by Sigfried Gidieon which Seidler read as an architecture student). Seidler's designs from 1969 onwards often displayed opposing negative and positive quarter-circle curves (e.g. retaining garden walls of Pettit & Sevitt exhibition house, Westleigh, 1969, and Condominium Apartments, Acapulco 1969–70). From the 1980s, Seidler often incorporated plans with flamboyant curves (e.g. Hannes House, Hong Kong Club) and some commentators have labelled this as the start of Seidler's "baroque" period.<ref>Kenneith Frampton, "1965–1991 Isostatic Architecture", pp. 86–111 in ''Harry Seidler: Four Decades of Architecture'' by Kenneth Frampton and Philip Drew (1992, Thames & Hudson, London & New York) at page 95. Later followed by Vladimir Belogolovsky, ''Harry Seidler Lifework'' (2015: Rizzoli, New York), p. 39</ref>

[[File:Seidler Offices from Luna Park Sydney.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Seidler Offices and Apartments, as seen from [[Luna Park Sydney]]. In the 1990s, Seidler was one of several Lavender Bay residents who registered noise complaints about the park.]]
Seidler's visual approach to two-dimensional and three-dimensional spatial arrangement was consistent throughout his whole career and reflected what Seidler learnt from his visual aesthetics teacher Josef Albers. Seidler stated he learnt more about design from Albers than he did at any architecture school.<ref>"Harry Seidler: A Dialogue with editor Yoshio Futagawa" GA HOUSES 69 (January 2002) pp. 42–47 at 43.</ref> Albers stated that designs which visually had a high centre of gravity were more dynamic than solid earth bound designs<ref>Harry Seidler filmed lecture online "Josef Albers – Teaching of Visual Perception” (2002) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra at 17:55-18:33min</ref> – which is why Seidler used (for non-tower designs) "cantilevered slabs hovering in mid-air which seem to 'negate' the fact that mass is something solid and heavy". Seidler would claim "aesthetically we want dematerialisation".<ref>Harry Seidler, "Painting Toward Architecture" in ''Architecture'' (RAIA journal forerunner to ''Architecture Australia'') 37(10) [October 1949) pp. 120–21; Harry Seidler "Our Heritage of Modern Building" in ''Houses, Interiors and Projects'' (1954: Sydney, Associated General Publications. Reprint: 1959, Horwitz) pp. x–xi of ix–xi. Same essay later reprinted in ''Harry Seidler: Houses & Interiors 1'' (Images Publishing, Musgrave, Victoria, 2003) pp. 10–15 at page 11. Peter Blake, ''Architecture for the New World. The Work of Harry Seidler'' (Horwitz, Sydney; Wittenborn, New York; Karl Kraemer Stuttgart, 1973) pp. 21–23</ref> Seidler, following Albers, also shunned traditional symmetry or grid-like modern designs as static (and thus dull), instead Seidler "offset" opposing elements to create "scintillation" and "visual tension" to be more visually dynamic and thus interesting to the eye.<ref>Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "interaction of architecture and the visual arts" University of New South Wales (UNSW), 10 April 1980 (online); Harry Seidler "Our Heritage of Modern Building" in ''Houses, Interiors and Projects'' (1954: Sydney, Associated General Publications. Reprint: 1959, Horwitz) Pages x-xi of ix-xi. Same essay later reprinted in ""Harry Seidler: Houses & Interiors 1''" (Images Publishing, Musgrave VIC, 2003) Pages 10-15 at page 11. Harry Seidler, "Painting Toward Architecture" in ''Architecture'' (RAIA journal forerunner to ''Architecture Australia'') 37(10) [October 1949] pp. 119–124; Peter Blake "Architecture for the New World. The Work of Harry Seidler" (Horwitz, Sydney; Wittenborn, New York; Karl Kraemer Stuttgart, 1973) pp. 28–33</ref> which is seen in the window pattern of Seidler's Blues Point Tower (1958–62) and three-dimensionally in the syncopated balcony arrangement of this Horizon Tower (1995–98).

Seidler articulated the visual-spatial design principle of modern architecture being "dissolution of conventional solidity" and inter-connecting spatial vistas.<ref>Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "Interactions - Architecture and the Visual Arts" University of New South Wales (UNSW) 10 April 1980 online at 29:23-31:51 min); Harry Seidler filmed illustrated lecture "Principles in the Mainstream of Modern Architecture" University of New South Wales (UNSW), 27 June 1980 (online)</ref> Seidler said the visual essence of modern architecture was "not the ponderous solidity of traditional architecture where everything was built to four walls around a room and spaces that were finite. But rather our eyes seek transparency, lightness... being able to look through things".<ref>"In the Mind of the Architect", Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV series episode 1 (2000)</ref> He said of his first work, the Rose Seidler House. "This house explodes the surfaces that enclose a normal house or space, and turns it into a continuum of free standing planes, through which the eye can never see an end, you are always intrigued what's beyond, you can always see something floating into the distance, there is never an obstruction to your vision, it is a continuum (of space), that I believe 20th century man's eye and senses responds positively to that, we crave this".<ref name=ABC>Harry Seidler quote from ''Rose Seidler House – the House that Harry built'' Review, Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV, 14 April 1991</ref> Again referring to Rose Seidler House plan, "(there are) planes of interacting solid walls and glass walls  – solids and voids follow each other around, generating flows of space between them". Seidler also explains same principle for three-dimensional spatial arrangement as highly influenced by [[Theo van Doesburg]]'s painting ''Space-time construction #3'' (1923)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?IRN=198343|title=National Gallery - Search the Collection|access-date=25 July 2017|archive-date=22 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922081648/http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?IRN=198343|url-status=live}}</ref> in which there is an interpenetration of space and spatial flow between hovering planes which creates "an openness which is so much more subtle than it is when it's totally open and which is so often done"<ref>Harry Seidler, RIBA Gold Medal Lecture, London 25 June 1996 footage on internet at 28:36–29:31min</ref>  "Architecture in recent times has been immensely concerned about this idiom of the exploitation of the interior space which involves this simultaneous viewing of things, the channeling of vistas between its elements. ... As Le Corbusier has said, 'Instead of the eye and the mind being abruptly halted by edges and containing surfaces, as had been the case in the past, they are now laid continuously on an exploration, never quite comprehending the mystery of layered and veiled space'." Seidler says of the design for his Gissing House: "in three dimensions, the fact that the eye is always tempted to look beyond and never quite experiencing it all. There is a temptation with the seeing of things that are not entirely apparent, the tantalising sense of the beyond which you in fact are denied and which entices a person to move through and try and explore an interior."<ref>Harry Seidler, "Interactions –  architecture and the visual arts" filmed illustrated lecture University of New South Wales, 10 April 1980 online film at 30:48–33:26min</ref>

In 1991, Seidler acknowledged that his first house (Rose Seidler House) which was built of timber, despite the north facing sunshades "is generally too vulnerable to temperature changes...I didn't fully appreciate the intensity of the Australian sun".<ref name=ABC /> Thus, later in his career, he sought to use more thermally stable materials like reinforced concrete and to respond to the Australian climate by the extensive use of sunshades and flamboyantly-shaped rain protecting canopies on his skyscrapers, (such as Grosvenor Place, Riverside Centre, and QV1), large covered balconies in his houses, as well as shaping his designs to maximize views and enjoyment of the outdoors from inside.<ref>Harry Seidler, "In Search of an Australian Style" in the "Why Australia is the best place in the world to live" issue of ''The Bulletin'' (Sydney) 24 October 1989, pp. 60–4</ref>