Walter Bunning
| Walter Bunning | |
|---|---|
National Library of Australia
|
|
| Born |
19 May 1912 South Brisbane, Queensland |
| Died | 13 October 1977 (aged 65) Sydney |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Awards |
|
| Practice |
Carlyle Greenwell Stephenson & Meldrum H Ruskin Rowe Bunning and Madden |
| Buildings | Bunning House, Ryrie Street, Mosman (1952) Bruce Hall, Australian National University (1961) International House, University of Sydney (1967) National Library of Australia (1968) |
| Design | Homes in the Sun (Published 1945) |
Walter Ralston Bunning CMG (19 May 1912 – 13 October 1977) was a prominent Australian architect and urban planner.
Bunning was born in Brisbane. During the depression he moved to Sydney to study at East Sydney Technical College graduating in 1936. He then worked in the offices of Carlyle Greenwell and Stephenson & Meldrum while attending Sydney Technical College at night. After his graduation he was awarded a travelling scholarship by the Board of Architects of New South Wales and from 1937–39 he travelled throughout Europe and North America working for prominent architects in London, Dublin and New York. According to Johnson, it was this time overseas that became a crucial time in the evolution of Bunning's design and thought, inspiring modernist design and ideas that could be brought back and applied to Australia.
In 1938 Bunning returned to Australia and helped to establish the Sydney arm of the Modern Architectural Research Society (MARS) which was modelled on the famous British organisation of the same name. During World War II Bunning's worked for the Australian Government, mainly designing camouflage schemes. However, in 1943 Bunning's was appointed executive officer of the Commonwealth Housing Commission writing much of its influential 1944 report, which according to many scholars became a virtual text book for planners.
Stemming from his work with the Commonwealth Housing Commission in 1945 Bunning published Homes in the Sun. The book advocated better designed homes, communities, towns and regions to suit the Australian environment. This according to Robin Boyd, established Bunning's as 'the best known architectural publicist in the country'. The dream for postwar planning in Australia for which Bunning's highly advocated was displayed clearly throughout the book, with the most prominent example being a proposed attempt to develop Sydney's first satellite town, which according to Freestone was "refined in later writings". Bunning envisaged a town for 10,000 people, which would provide the best of country and city living in one, with the community areas and industrial areas separated to prevent pollution. There would be a clear separation of transport modes and the communities would also be separated, each serviced by their own facilities. With the town defined by a green belt, an area where any further metropolitan sprawl would be contained. This according to Freestone “synthesised the ideas of Ebenezer Howard and Le Corbusier into a normative formula".
...
Wikipedia