Travelling Abroad to Understand Australia: GlennMurcutt’s Look at the Architecture of José AntonioCoderch

Abstract

[Abstract] This paper analyses the impact on Glenn Murcutt’s architectureof his 1973 meeting in Barcelona with José Antonio Coderch(1913–1984), one of the most internationally celebrated Spanisharchitects of the twentieth century. It uncovers details abouttheir initial meeting and explores buildings designed byCoderch that Murcutt visited in person. The paper then analysesthe impact of this meeting on Murcutt’s architecture by com-paring two houses: The Laurie Short House (Sydney, 1974),designed immediately before the 1973 trip and finished uponMurcutt’s return to Australia, and the Marie Short House(Kempsey, 1975). The study of Coderch’s work transformedMurcutt in three basic ways: it facilitated his shift away fromthe archetypal glass pavilion, it spurred Murcutt’s developmentof continuous interior/exterior spaces and it taught him toexploit vertical sun-shading devices and various shutter config-urations that are characteristic of both traditionalMediterranean architecture and Coderch’s work. FromCoderch, Murcutt learned to connect contemporary architec-ture with the tradition of the place, both physically and symbo-lically. Meeting Coderch, and visiting his works in person,became a turning point in Murcutt’s career and it reveals cruciallinks between Spanish and Australian architecture.