FOR PRESS: Z I-3 JUL 196,
L P. M. No. 73/ 1968
ARCHITECT FOR NATIONAL GALLERY
Statement by the Prime Minister, Mr. John Gorton
A Sydney firm Edwardsj Madigan, Torzillo and
Partners has been selected to design the Abstralian National
Gallery in Canberra. The competition to chose the architect was launched
in March this year among twelve architects practising in Australia.
The competition had as its aim not a final design for
the building but rather the selection of a vigorous and imaginative
architect who would then be commissioned to submit the actual design
of the Gallery, I believe that the competition has abhieved that aim.
The assessois, in their rejiitt, commented on the
high quality of all the entries submitted and stressed the ingenuity
and originality of their approawlh
Although a site for the Galeiy is not yet finally
determined, the selection of the architect allows the planning for the
National Gallery to proceed to the next stage. This will Involve
discussions between the successful architect, the eminent Gallery
Director, Mr. James J. Sweeney of New York, who has been engaged
as consultant, the development authority for the Gallery ( the National
Capital Development Commission) and the newly selected Interim
Council for the National Gallery.
CANBERRA 26 July 1968
PACKGROUND NOTES
1. The decision to establish a National Gallery
in Canberra was announced by Sir Robert Menzies on
September 1965, and the report of the National Gallery
Committee of Enquiry ( Lindsay Committee) was tabled by
the late Prime Minister ( Mr. Harold Holt) in Parliament
on I November 1967.
2. The architectural competition was not for a
final design for a Gallery, but for the selection of an architect
whose entry convinced the assessors that his design approach
would warrant his appointment as the architect for the project.
( The assessors were Sir John Overall, Mr. Robin Boyd and
Mr. 1. L. McConnell).
3. The entries were judged anonymously, the
twelve competing architects ( list attached) having enclosed
their names in sealed envelopes when they submitted their
designs.
4. The envelopes were kept in security storage
at the Reserve Bank. The sealed envelope corresponding to
the winning entry was delivered to the Prime Minister today
by the Minister for the Interior, Mr. Nixon.
At a brief ceremony in his office this morning
( attended by Mr. Nixon, Sir John Overall, Sir Daryl Lindsay,
Mr. J. L. McConnell, Mr. Robin Boyd and Mr. C. L. S.
Hewitt), the Prime Minister opened the envelope and announced
the name of the successful architect.
LIST OF ARCHITECTS IN THE COMPETITION
Ancher, Mortlock, Murray and Woolley
of North Sydney, N. S. W.
Cameron, Chisholm and Nicol
of Perth, W. A.
Clarke, Gazzard and Partners
of Sydney, N. S. W.
Edwards, Madigan, Torzillo and Partners
of Sydney, N. S. W. ( W INNER)
Don Fulton
of Melbourne, Vic.
Godfrey and Spowers, Hughes, Mewton and Lobb
of Melbourne, Vic.
Roy Grounds
of Melbourne, Vic.
Hely and Horne
of Sydney, N. S. W.
McIntyre and McIntyre Pty. Ltd.
of Melbourne, Vic.
Harry Seidler and Associates
of Sydney, N. S. W.
Evan Walker and Daryl Jackson
of East Melbourne, Vic.
Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty. Ltd.
of Melbourne, Vic.