Glenn Murcutt is the William A. Bernoudy Architect in Residence and works as a sole practitioner producing residential and institutional buildings throughout Australia from his home in Sydney. He is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects and has been the recipient of the Alvar Aalto Medal, the Pritzker Prize, and the AIA Gold Medal.
What part of Australia do you come from?
I come from Sydney, New South Wales, which is a very human-oriented city on water of incredible quality with two hundred kilometers of publicly accessible coastline and incredible biodiversity. It is an astounding place.
Your architecture is deeply connected to place so how has Australia been at the heart of your work?
I don’t accept commissions outside of Australia. Whereas promotion in the US can often be linked to a change of location that prevents one from falling in love with a place, most Australians live in the city where they grew up. Place, culture and technology are the elements of good architecture and I seek to discover an architecture of response and not of imposition.
Did winning the Pritzker Prize change you or your architectural practice?
It was a great honor and I have had many great honors that were never expected. Mostly the prize has been given to larger practices and not to solo practices like mine. I built my work upon clients that gave me room to move and upon my father’s advice that if you compromise then you are doing something that you know you ought not to be doing so the quality of your next client will be the quality of the compromise you’ve made.
What aspect of coming to Rome were you most looking forward to?
It took two and a half years for me to prepare to come to Rome so I had a lot of time to look forward to it. Being a sole practitioner I had to have lead-in time. Here, in the absence of clients, I have no demands put on me. I told everyone I am unavailable and cannot be contacted so being in Rome gives me the time to think freely! I also looked forward to being in a city that I knew to some extent.
How does Rome inspire your work? Is there any building in the city that holds a particular fascination for you?
Just being in Rome one sucks up the cultural and historic values. I’ve always loved the Pantheon. In many ways it is a mad building that shows us just how many ways space can be divided. The complex and compressed spaces of the portico give way to the clarity of the domed inner space. It is also a beautiful moderating space between the human and planetary relationships. I would love to be there by myself for a few moments.
Have you had any fruitful encounters with other Residents and/or Fellows during your stay?
It was as a result of my Shop Talk that Paul Moravec came to talk to me about my work. I studied music until I was eighteen when I went to university. Then I worked full time and attended university at night with no time left to practice music. Paul and I connected over a surprisingly similar method of practice. We’ve discussed a shared belief that any great work of architecture or composition was there to be discovered rather than created. Paul says his music comes through his fingers just as architecture comes out of my fingers through my drawings. We both find that the creative process is a process of discovery and for process of discovery there is no facility faster or more incisive than drawing. The guardian of any great work is that fact that it is not easily achieved.
What are you working on while in Rome?
I am working on several projects. Sometimes I work in association with other architects such as my wife, Wendy Lewin, and right now I am working with her on the Australian Opal Center, which is a three-quarter underground structure in the hot, arid region of the country. I’m also working with Islamic Turkish architect Hakan Elevli on the Altona mosque in Melbourne.