Dirk Bolt

Dirk Bolt (* 1930 in Groningen ) is a Dutch architect who influenced the modernist Australian architecture of the post-war period. He later worked as a university professor and city planner. Its most famous buildings are Christ College at the University of Tasmania and Burgmann College at the Australian National University .

Life

Bolt began studying architecture at Delft University of Technology but moved to Australia in 1951 and graduated from Hobart Technical College as an architect and urban planner.

He then designed innovative residential, university and commercial buildings in Hobart and Canberra . In Canberra, where he worked from 1964 to 1971, he also served as an advisor to the National Capital Development Commission . The Australian Institute of Architects is preparing a monograph of Bolts' work.

In the 1970s, Bolt worked for international development organizations in Africa and Asia, including as a consultant for urban planning, urban development and sustainability. He then became a lecturer in urban planning at the University of Auckland , where he received his PhD in 1984 with a dissertation in sustainable, just and humane urban planning. In 1987 he returned to the Netherlands and became a professor at the Chair of Urban Planning at the University of Twente . Bolt lives in Scotland.

Significant buildings

Murray Street State Offices

Christ College, University of Tasmania (1961–62)

Christ College at the University of Tasmania has been described as a prime example of modernist Tasmanian architecture and resembles Alvar Aalto's town hall building in Säynätsalo . The new building of Christ College had become necessary due to the relocation of the campus to Sandy Bay. On a steep slope, Bolt built a hilltop settlement made up of visually diverse buildings arranged around a garden courtyard. He used materials that have been subjected to a natural aging process over time, such as concrete blocks and untreated wood. The Australian Association of Architects awarded the building the Australian Institute of Architects 2011 Enduring Architecture Award (Tasmania) .

Murray Street State Offices, Hobart (1966-69)

Murray Street State Offices in Hobart (completed in 1969 and better known as 10 Murray Street in the Tasmanian capital ) is a multi-story office building that is a major example of Australian brutalism with its external reinforced concrete frame and recessed windows . When the building was recently planned to be demolished, a petition was launched to preserve it and encourage redevelopment.

Burgmann College, Australian National University

Burgmann College, Australian National University, Canberra (1970–71)

Because of his successful design of the building for Christ College in Sandy Bay, Dirk Bolt was commissioned to design the building for Burgmann College at the Australian National University . Bolt designed the college building in a style inspired by Japanese architecture combined with Dutch pragmatism: the building received only a reduced number of building materials, and sliding doors and windows resembling Shoji . The recessed outer windows of the living areas run along the entire length of the building as horizontal ribbon windows on three levels. Originally four wings were planned to enclose a central courtyard, but only two wings, which now form an L-shaped building, were completed.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Calder N (1999). Significant Tasmanian architecture of the 20th century . In: Australian Bureau of Statistics (1999). Tasmanian Year Book 2000 (Cat. No. 1301.6). Retrieved November 18, 2012.
2. ↑ McNeill B and Ratcliff E (2006). Dirk Bolt . Center for Tasmanian Historical Studies. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Australian Institute of Architects. Biography: Dirk Bolt . CAPITheticAL. Big ideas. Big Future. A design ideas competition for a hypothetical Australian capital city. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Australian Capital Territory (2008). Heritage (Decision about Provisional Registration of 1 Astley Place, Garran) Notice 2008 (No 1) (Notifiable Instrument NI 2008-104).
5. ^ King S (2011). Life Cycle: Christ College . Australian Design Review. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Goad P (2001). The design and the building. In: Burgmann College (Australian National University) (2001), The place to be: Burgmann College 1971-2001.
7. ^ Australian Institute of Architects (2011). 2011 Tasmanian Architecture Awards: Full List of Winners . Australian Institute of Architects Media Release. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Petition started to save 10 Murray Street . Australian Design Review. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
9. ^ Stedman M (2009). Architect pleads for building . The Mercury (Hobart). Retrieved November 18, 2012.