Glenn Murcutt and Stephen Kellert in conversation

Now a landmark on the Australian architecture scene, the Boyd Education Centre at Riversdale has become a place of pilgrimage for architecture buffs.

undanons staff regularly field enquiries from visitors who have come to see the structure for themselves a building that has received both the Sulman and Cowan awards and was voted by Architecture Review magazine as the past 25 years most influential Australian building. Unlike Arthur Boyds homestead, which welcomes visitors each Sunday, the Boyd Education Centre is only opened to the public for the Riversdale Concert Series and a handful of architectural events during the year. During April, luminaries, Pritzker architect Glenn Murcutt and Stephen Kellert, professor of Social Ecology at Yale University, will sit down for a frank conversation about sustainability in architecture. After more than a decade of corresponding and tracing their respective careers and just missing each other on business trips, the two will finally share the stage at Riversdale for the discussion, to be chaired by ABC By Designs Janne Ryan. We can expect a dynamic debate around issues of form, function and meaning because, while they admire each other, there is much fertile ground for disagreement. Stephens theories pursue and celebrate the humanity and environmental performance of the built environment, while Glenn rails against instances where the pursuit of sustainability throws up mediocre architecture. The last time Glenn Murcutt spoke at a public event on site was back in 2011 when he gave an insight into the design process for the building and a tour of its sustainability credentials. On that occasion Glenn spoke expansively about Stephen Kellerts influence on his thinking and work.

For Murcutt, Stephen Kellerts key theory of Biophilia our inherent desire to relate to the natural world represents the anchor point for a true kind of sustainability in architecture. It is one that hasnt been hijacked by fashion and the marketing of the next generation of products and finishes, but supports design that enables a human connection to the natural environment. While for Kellert, Glenn Murcutts architecture brings his theories to life, his buildings represent an architecture that touches the earth lightly, and enhances the occupants connection with the forces and sensory attributes of nature. The Boyd Education Centre, the building that has won Murcutt and his collaborators Wendy Lewin and Reg Lark so much recognition, is the perfect setting for the discussion. In the 14 years since it was built, it still stands as a showcase of the best examples of sustainability in materials, in energy usage and in its pioneering waste systems. For Murcutt, the building highlights how true sustainability combines efficiencies and sensitivities that relate to both the natural and cultivated landscapes. As well as a reflection of the brief, this is also a tribute to Arthur Boyds relationship with the Shoalhaven landscape that so inspired his work. For all those who share Murcutts view that there needs to be a revision of the idea of good architecture to ensure that it also encompasses true sustainability, please join us for an afternoon of conversation and debate designed to give you an insight into the fiercely intellectual underpinnings of one of Australias iconic architects and an overview of the work of one of the most influential theorists. n
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