2021 NSW Architecture Awards Winners

Great vision is evident in the planning of Canberra as a unique city in the landscape. When a new design for normally utilitarian structures at bus stops was required by the National Capital Development Commission, to support an expanding population and public transport system, Clem Cummings, an innovative Canberra architect, was engaged.

In 1974 Cummings produced a remarkable design for a functional pre-cast concrete shelter, with a radical cylindrical form and fibreglass windows, suggesting space-age technology. The first 98 were installed in 1975. Now there are 480, and 90 per cent are located across the vast city, from suburban to semi-rural places, uniting the built form of the city.
The architectural integrity and enduring quality of the design is evident through its simplicity, functionality, and materiality. The form of the bus shelter is unique, yet it serves the utilitarian function well, and better still, the shelters were designed to be relocated when required. Not infrequently, rumours of their imminent replacement have faded when it was realised that “the nearby shelter” had simply been relocated to suit a new bus route. Yet the idea of them “fitting in” with the urban context has been one of gradual acceptance by Canberrans—sometimes derided as concrete monstrosities—to becoming a much-loved icon of everyday Canberra.
The recent level of iconic status could be attributed to graphic artist Trevor Dickinson, who has raised the image of the humble bus shelter to a cultural symbol of Canberra. Dickinson has recorded all of Canberra’s bus shelters in their multiple settings and suburbs. His images adorn many items ranging from playing cards to calendars and coffee cups. Every shelter is illustrated in his 2020 publication Beautiful Bus Shelters of Canberra.
Cummings meant Canberra’s concrete bus shelters to last and so they have, as a quintessential icon of the city.