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Australian architect and 2002 Pritzker Prize winner Glenn Murcutt will deliver the keynote lecture at Cersaie 2015, the International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings held in Italy.
Representing the Cersaie’s longstanding focus on great architecture, the keynote lecture this year by Murcutt will be held in the Palazzo dei Congressi in Bologna Fiere at 11.00 am on Tuesday 29 September.
The London-born architect studied architecture at Sydney Technical College (now University of New South Wales), and began working as a sole practitioner in 1969. Specialising in using simple materials to create environment-friendly buildings that fit in with the climate and the landscape, he has created a large body of work consisting of sustainable buildings, and refers to this kind of architecture as ‘ecological functionalism’.
Murcutt has built several private homes throughout Australia, but his major achievements include the Museum of Local History and Tourist Office in Kempsey, the Bowali Visitor Information Centre in the Kakadu National Park, and the Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Art Centre in Riversdale, all in Australia.
In addition to a professorship at the University of New South Wales, Murcutt has also enjoyed a successful international academic career, having held the position of visiting professor at universities such as Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, the Helsinki University of Technology and Aarhus University among many more.
Murcutt has received several honours for his work internationally including the Alvar Aalto Medal in 1992, the Green Pin of Denmark for eco-friendly architecture in 1999 and the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 2009. He is also an honorary member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Since 2010 he has been a member of the International Jury of the Pritzker Prize for architecture.
