John Dalton: Subtropical Modernism and the Turn to Environment in Australian Architecture

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This book addresses the work of architect John Dalton (1927-2007), an important voice in mid-century modernism in Australia whose work, despite his being exhibited and published internationally and also winning several awards for his designs, is woefully little known. Published as part of the Bloomsbury Studies in Modern Architecture series, which brings to light the work of significant yet overlooked modernist architects, the book draws on previously unpublished archival documents, including Daltons drawings and paintings, transcripts of lectures, letters and articles, plans and photographic images of built works, to characterize the architect not only as a very talented designer, but also as a pioneer of environmentalist thinking in Australia. The book reveals how Daltons architectural preoccupations parallel a transition in mid-century modern architecture globally from functional efficiency and material rationalism, to a concern with being in dialogue with the environment, confirming a wider environmental turn that involved the integration of environmental with cultural considerations through relational thinking, and which preceded and transcends the disciplines fascination with theoretical paradigms such as Critical Regionalism. John Dalton: Subtropical Modernism and the Turn to Environment in Australian Architecture is thus not only an important contribution to the existing scholarship on 20th century modernism, but also to the current renewed interest in environmental design across the globe.

Reviews

In an age where the history of architecture must respond to concerns over the environment, Elizabeth Musgraves important and engaging account of John Dalton brings to light the innovations of one of 20th-century Australias pioneers of climatically sensitive design. * G. A. Bremner, University of Edinburgh, UK *
This book carefully unearths the fragile and divergent roots of an environmentalist discourse on the eve of a period often referred to as the age of ecology. Rigorously reconstructed by piecemeal evidence, Elizabeth Musgraves work significantly contributes to the minor historiography of an exemplary modernist architect who geared his practice towards Queenslands subtropical climate and the vernacular. * Elke Couchez, University of Hasselt, Belgium *

Author Bio

Elizabeth Musgrave is an Architect, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects, and Honorary Fellow of the School of Architecture at the University of Queensland, Australia.