Peter McIntyre, Director of McIntyre Partnership, and a reputed
Australian architect has once again been honoured with two prestigious
architecture awards.
An architect whose award-winning ways began much before the 1956
Melbourne Olympics, the 86-year-old McIntyre recently won the Australian
Institute of Architects annual Victorian Architecture Awards for ‘best enduring
architecture’ for McIntyre House (completed 1955). He was previously honoured
with the 2013 Institute of Architects Commendation Award for the Richard and
Elizabeth Tudor Centre at Trinity Grammar.
McIntyre believes test of time is the truest indicator of a building’s
integrity of purpose, explaining that architecture should not merely respond to
current trends.
The Richard and Elizabeth Tudor Centre at Trinity Grammar also won him Boroondara’s
Best Institutional Design for the 2014 Boroondara Council Design Awards.
While McIntyre is honoured to be acknowledged by his industry peers for
McIntyre House, the project that he is most proud of is his latest achievement,
the Richard and Elizabeth Tudor Centre.
Working on a very concise brief from the headmaster, Richard Tudor who
wanted a facility that was at the very heart of the school and embraced a
liberated learning concept, McIntyre designed the library building where the
aesthetic and functional elements are immediately apparent; however, one can
also deeply experience the humanism inherent in the space.
The library is the heart of the school, frequented by students as well
as serving as a meeting place for teachers and parents.
Well-conceived study nooks, fireside lounges, quiet study rooms in the
café and outdoor courtyards are some of the physical aspects of McIntyre’s
vision. The curvilinear nautiluses shell design spans across seven levels to
below ground, covering some 5000 square metres of floor space.
The environmentally sensitive design incorporates geothermal tempered
water, harvested rainwater and a gentle form of natural ventilation. Rainwater
is collected from roofs and stored in underground tanks, which act as a cooling
thermal system throughout the building.
Peter McIntyre’s career highs include being a key part of the design
team for the Melbourne Olympic Swimming Pool in 1952, as well as being lauded
by critic Robin Boyd in 1950 when his design for an environmentally adapted Mallee
Hospital was described as the beginning of a new Australian architecture.