Australian architect Sean Godsell to speak for Architecture Lecture Series April 23

April 11, 2007 -- Australian architect Sean Godsell combines spare aesthetics with environmental sensitivity and social engagement. At 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 23, Godsell will discuss his work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts' spring Architecture Lecture Series.

The talk, titled "Towards an Australian Architecture," is free and open to the public and takes place in Room 300 of the Arts & Sciences Laboratory Sciences Building, located just north of the university's Olin Library. The Architecture Lecture Series is sponsored by the College of Architecture and the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design.

Sean Godsell Architects, Melbourne

Future Shack, an emergency housing unit built from a recycled shipping container, by Australian architect Sean Godsell.

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For more information call (314) 935-9300 or visit www.arch.wustl.edu.

Godsell, principal of Sean Godsell Architects in Melbourne, merges industrial and Australian vernacular forms with Asian, particularly Japanese, views about space and layout. At the same time, projects such as his acclaimed Carter/Tucker House (2000) and Peninsula House (2003) — both embedded in the sides of sand dunes in Victoria, Australia — take an holistic approach to environmental sustainability, combining an accute awareness of light and climate with the innovative use of recycled materials such as glass, steel and reclaimed wood.

Godsell is perhaps best known for a series of self-funded projects addressing the problems of homelessness and refugee displacement. Future Shack, originally designed for a competition sponsored by the non-profit group Architecture for Humanity, is a self-contained emergency-housing unit built within a standard 20' steel shipping container.

His proposed Park Bench House in Melbourne would transform public benches into weatherproof shelters through the addition of a simple lift-up roof. Similarly, Bus Shelter House is a standard glass bus shelter that converts into emergency overnight housing, complete with advertising boarding modified to dispense blankets, food and water.

Other major projects include the Woodleigh Art School (1999) and the Woodleigh School Science Building (2003), both of which — like Carter/Tucker House, Future Shack and Peninsula House — have won awards from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. His work has been published in many of the world's leading journals, including Architectural Review, Architectural Record, Domus, A+U, Casabella, GA Houses and Architecti. In 2005, Phaidon Press released a monograph, Sean Godsell: Works and Projects.