Is Canberra a mecca for modernism?

Canberra’s modernist masterpieces could be a tourist magnet and money spinner, but we need to start valuing them before they all disappear.

That’s the message from Tim Ross, who is in Canberra this week to deliver the 2018 Griffin Lecture hosted by the Australian Institute of Architects in partnership with the Design Canberra Festival.

Best known for his work on TV and radio – notably his two-part series on the ABC, Streets of Your Town – Tim is passionate about modernist architecture, and about its fundamental principle of fairness. In modernism, “everyone has a right to a well-designed house or apartment,” he says.

Rejecting ostentatious ornamentation and embracing minimalism, modernism was the dominant global architectural style during Canberra’s boom years in the 20th century. The design approach rationalised materials, and favoured asymmetric compositions, flat roofs and concrete.

Today, modernism is decidedly out of fashion, but Tim thinks it’s time for a revival. And that presents an opportunity for Canberra to become a mecca for modernism lovers the world over.

Canberra has benefited from the work of the nation’s best modernist architects, Tim says, name-checking Roy Grounds, Robin Boyd, Harry Seidler, Enrico Taglietti and John Andrews.

When Italian Taglietti arrived in Canberra in 1955, for example, he thrilled at the “perfect void” – the blank canvas on which to push boundaries. Our most monumental buildings – the bold geometry of the High Court, the National Library and the National Gallery among them – grew from bare paddocks, Tim explains. Because of this, the spaces around our buildings are “allowed to breathe” and “collectively they work together brilliantly”.

Canberra is in a “great position now where the world is starting to realise you’ve got an embarrassment of riches” – but he warns us not to take it for granted.

Each year, Palm Springs in the United States celebrates its modernist heritage with a festival that is said to bring $45 million into the economy. This year’s festival, which featured tours of iconic homes and gardens, lectures, film screenings and several exhibitions, attracted 126,000 people to the desert city.

“Canberra rivals Palm Springs, in fact it’s better and there’s more to see,” Tim tells me.

He points to Churchill House on Northbourne Avenue, which he calls “Robin Boyd’s finest”. Constructed in 1971, it was Canberra’s first brutalist building and Boyd’s last major commission, and he died prior to its completion. It features strong shapes, large areas of black wall and off-form concrete.

Earlier this year the ACT Heritage Council decided that Churchill House, now known as Open Systems House, was not eligible for provisional registration – something Tim laments. “I don’t know why someone decided not to care about the place,” but “when we get the best and brightest to build things, they inspire us.”

The Shine Dome is another favourite. On completion in 1959, this feat of engineering boasted the largest dome in Australia. Designed by Roy Grounds, the “Martian Embassy”, as it’s sometimes called, is an “extraordinary piece of architecture” not to mention an Instagram sensation.

Tim says Woden’s Callum Offices are another unappreciated wonder. Designed by John Andrews, this was the first Australian office building to be supported by suspension cables, as it was designed for a flood plain in the wake of the 1971 Woden flood that killed seven people.

Andrews, arguably Australia’s most internationally acclaimed architect of the past 50 years, considered the Callam Offices a significant work in his career – high praise when his portfolio includes CN Tower in Toronto.

“People hated Callam Offices, and said it was a shit place to work. Really? Or was it just your job was shit at the ABS?,” Tim says provocatively.

Beyond modernism, Tim loves NewActon, which he says is “incredible”.

“I think those guys – Molonglo Group – know there’s a rich tradition of Australian architecture in Canberra. And basically they’ve done for Canberra what David Walsh did for Hobart.”

Tim wonders why more Australians don’t come to Canberra for their family holidays to visit the amazing architecture. “Why would you take your kids to Dreamworld and pay $60 bucks to take a photo of a character in a suit when you can take your kids to a place like the National Gallery of Australia that’s free and inspires?”

As for design quality, Tim says it’s up to us Canberrans to say: “that’s not good enough”. We must demand that designers and developers “compete with Col Madigan’s National Gallery and come up with something great”.

He says the “romance” of modernism is not only worth preserving, but worth marketing.

“The worst people to market their own city is people in it – because they don’t see it from outside. You don’t see what you’ve got.”

Tim Ross will present the 2018 Griffin Lecture, titled ‘Pick a Town and Break it Down’, and will argue passionately for the preservation of our modernist masterpieces on Wednesday 7 November at the National Press Club. Tickets can be purchased online.