Monday, March 3, 2008

Griffins' Canberra



Walter Burley Griffin was named the winner of the competition for the design of Australia's new capital-city in may 1912, but his wife, Marion Mahoney Griffin was a close collaborater. It was she who created the fine artwork that really made their submission stand out.


Kurrajong Hill is at the node in the central axis, at the bottom third of the plan above

Their layout geometry of radial streets and hexagons was overlaid on the existing landscape. The city’s hills became key nodes; the main street of the city ran parallel to the water axis, on the base of the triangle whose apex was Kurrajong Hill.



On it would be the Capital, a ziggurat that was, to Walter Griffin,‘the last word of all the longest lived civilisations’.


Both the Grffins had worked in Frank Lloyd Wright's office

Walter Griffin came to Auatralia to oversee the construction of the capital, but his experience was not happy. Progress was slow and several features of the original design was changed. He gave up in 1920.

All images from The Ideal City

1 comment:

peacay said...

The Griffins' Ca--N--berra !!!!