In over sixty years of practice, Michael Dysart has demonstrated a diversity of achievement unmatched by any other Australian architect. His works range from the rollout of schools and university buildings in the government sector, co-operative housing schemes and project houses to commercial and hotel buildings. All these projects demonstrate innovation, design finesse and frequently a social message often missing in Australian society.
Born in Ireland in 1934 Michael migrated to Australia at the age of sixteen. In 1955 he was awarded a traineeship from the NSW Department of Public Works, graduating from the University of Sydney in 1958. At this time he joined the “Design Room” run by Harry Rembert in the company of architects such as Ken Woolley, who was to become a partner of Ancher Mortlock Murray and Woolley, and Peter Hall who was to lead the consortium to complete the Sydney Opera House.
One of Michael’s key activities was the roll out of a large number of new high school projects arising out of the Wyndham Report of 1957 which revolutionised the NSW education system establishing a six-year curriculum culminating in the HSC. This generated the need for large amounts of new accommodation for much of which Michael developed the grouped “square doughnut” concept.
At about the same time Michael designed Robb College at the University of New England in Armidale, now partly demolished but of which the splendid concrete vaulted dining hall remains.
1967 Michael designed the Polish War Memorial Chapel in Marayong which illustrates his pre-occupation with geometry. The formal composition is based on a series of ascending frames that rise from concrete buttresses to generate the dynamic hyperbolic curve, creating an ecclesiastic space of memorable impact.
In 1968 Michael collaborated with Professor Ronald Werner, then President of the NSW Institute of Technology (now UTS), on his vision for the future university, the core principles of which remain in place today. Earlier schemes occupied a greater site area with initially seven towers connected by a podium of atrium and courtyard spaces with towers of much lower height. Later the number of towers was reduced to three and then as site amalgamations proved unachievable.
The UTS tower completed in 1979 pushed building technology to its limit with its unprecedented large-span post-tensioned pre-cast construction. Reviled by many for the severe appearance of its tower, notwithstanding its splendid “Piranesi” like podium interiors, it is now seen as a “brutalist icon”. Surrounded by a cacophony of styles in nearby buildings by four “star” architects, its simple engineering aesthetics can be perceived as a strong statement of its time.
Of total contrast in scale and character were the project houses for Pettit Sevitt and other builders for which Michael designed the “Lowline” house.
More ambitious in scope were the highly acclaimed co-operative housing developments, “Urambi Village” and “Wybalena Grove” in Canberra, sensitively integrated with bushland settings and procured with significant cost savings by eliminating developer profits, a model that deserves to be emulated in today’s housing cost crisis. These developments embody a range of medium density typologies as well as shared community spaces which are in strong contrast with the conventional single-lot suburban greenfield construction that blight the periphery of Australian cities today. Another co-operative development was the “Baranbali” tower for staff at the UNSW in Kensington.
In the 1970s Michael Dysart and Partners merged with Queensland architects, the Davis Heather Group, to design a number of major hotel projects, including the former “Regent Hotel” (now Four Seasons) in Sydney and the Cairns “Hilton”.
In 1986 Michael designed the Hooker Corporation’s bid for a $400m casino in Darling Harbour on a site that is now “Darling Park”. However, this ambitious proposal was cancelled (with massive compensation) because of probity issues with the proponents U.S. partners “Harrahs”.
In the early 1980s the Kern Corporation won the tender with a design by Michael for the Grosvenor Place development. However, changes to the ownership structure led to Harry Seidler & Associates becoming the design architect for the project. However, Michael Dysart and Partners were appointed as “joint architects” with Harry Seidler and a separate office was set up staffed by experienced teams from both offices.
An example of Michael’s skill in achieving a good contextual fit in a historic precinct is the “Sydney Harbour Hotel” (previously “Old Sydney Inn”) in which old and new structures come together around a lofty glass-roofed atrium, the first of its kind in Sydney. Other highly distinctive designs by Michael include the imposing slate-roofed clubhouse for the Australian Golf Club in Kensington and the harbourside mansion (now known as Loch Maree) for Gordon Barton in Vaucluse.
An example of Michael’s appreciation of heritage and design sensitivity is his holiday house in Wagstaffe on the NSW Central Coast in which an untouched 1950s fibro cottage has been enveloped in a larger building to meet current requirements on a beautiful waterfront site complete with turquoise “Laminex” kitchen counter and “geese
in flight” on the walls. This 60m2 cottage sits surrounded on three sides by a minimalist
timber and glass structure reminiscent of the Mies van der Rohe “Farnsworth” house. This charming outcome is an exemplar of Michael’s capacity for invention and sensitivity, no matter the scale of the job and the complexity of the brief.
Michael’s buildings are all characterised by the refinement of their plans, rationality of their structures and understanding of materials. Prior to arriving in Australia in 1950, he attended an experimental school in Brighton, England which was there to encourage progress to architecture, engineering and building. There were four days of academic instruction and one learning a trade in every week. In an interview he describes building the formwork for an elliptical brick arch and learning about buildability. When he arrived in Australia at the age of sixteen, he helped his father, a carpenter, build the family’s
first home in their new country. “I was always interested in building even back then
….. even at that early stage, I was definitely going to become an architect”
Another key aspect of his designs is the rationalisation of the geometry of plan forms which progressively incorporated curvilinear elements such as the sweeping wings of the Cairns “Hilton” hotel, the vaulted ceiling of the Robb College Dining Hall or the Gordon Barton House in Vaucluse. Long time collaborator, Michael Mandl describes Michael Dysart’s “Clean Machine” design principle with which he strived to produce buildings which were unified in Euclidean geometric forms. He felt that for architecture to engender comfort and repose it should demonstrate the refinement of a “Ferrari: motor car. Considerable effort was put into understanding this discipline of integrating plan, form, materials and consistency of detail. The resultant strength of formal invention is a characteristic of all of Michael’s buildings.
Many of Michael’s buildings have received acclaim in the form of numerous design awards from the Australian Institute of Architects. The ACT Chapter has given the
C. S. Daley Medal 1977 and the RAIA 25 Year Award in 2002 for Urambi and the ACT Enduring Architecture Award in 2019 for Wybalena Grove.
Michael was a keen sportsman, initially with rugby and sailing, becoming a keen golfer, later in life. One of Michael’s strengths was his likeable personality and communication skill. This led to ease of collaboration with clients, professional consultants, members of staff and builders alike. His self-effacing qualities were unusual for an architect of such distinction.
In reaching ninety-two years of age Michael never lost his interest in the pursuit of architectural ideals and social equity. His rich and diverse architectural legacy is an inspiration to which practitioners in this more difficult age can well aspire.
Andrew Andersons AO