LoginJoin us
Register
Forgot Password
Add to Collection

Walter Burley Griffin

Canberra, Australia
57a9d423-e11c-4074-b6d6-13f56d7b5e1b.jpg
1 of 1

Walter Burley Griffin was an American architect and landscape architect. He was designing in Canberra, Australia. He developed the L-shaped floor plan, the carport and an innovative use of reinforced concrete. Influenced by the Chicago-based Prairie School, Griffin developed a unique modern style.

He received his degree in architecture at the University of Illinois in 1899 and then returned to Chicago, joining the group of architects who had already clustered in the building of the company Steinway pianos, which they referred to as the Steinway Hall. In 1901 he was employed by Frank Lloyd Wright in his studied of Oak Park, remaining there until 1905 when a dispute about being paid for his work with Japanese currency instead of US currency went after, just after Wright had returned from Japan. While working with Wright knew Marion Lucy Mahony , person responsible for varied modelings of perspective of buildings that showed the works of landscape architecture of Wright, and time after married her in 1911.

Time later returned to the Steinway Hall to open its own office, focusing primarily on residential commissions. Eventually he hired former employees and colleagues of Wright, Francis Barry Byrne and Harry Robinson. In 1912 Griffin won a competition to design the new capital city Canberra in Australia. He and Marion traveled to Australia in 1914 to oversee the design and construction of the capital city, along with other commissions that Walter had received aside. This left Francis Barry Byrne administering the office of Chicago, while Marion directed an office in Sydney and Walter was in charge of the office in Melbourne. Walter practiced architecture for 21 years in Australia before leaving for Lucknow, India to design the Library of the University of Lucknow, where he died.

Go to article
Canberra, Australia
bostjan, August 9th, 2016
Go to article