alistair knox : an integrated approach to landscape + architecture, appendix three : registration of influence

appendix three : registration of influence

Author: Clair Lee

This register was compiled from references made in the texts to historical artists/designers who Knox respected. The ideas and methods of these people may have influenced and been transferred into Knox's design practice. Surnames in uppercase refer to persons mentioned elsewhere in the register or in the Collaboration Chart. Quotes from Knox are in italics.


PAGENAMEDESCRIPTION
44BOYD, Penleighartist, who moved from Heidelberg to live in Warrandyte, on the Eltham side of the river
107BROWN, CapabilityROWN, Capability 18th century English landscaper; according to Knox, Brown was an inspiration to Gordon FORD, Peter GLASS, Ivan STRANGER and Bob GRANT
62 18th century English school of informal landscape design, notably the work of Brown, Kent & Repton is unquestionably the model to follow. The relationship between masses and voids produced a sculptured landscape of mystery and wonder ... Brown's work was so fundamental that his work was not noticed
107 England has the appearance of being one unbroken garden giant of the eighteenth century bold & poetic concepts suggestive of French painters Lorrain, Poussin, etc who painted romantic landscape scenes system was to plant the hills and flood the valleys, setting three-dimensional plantings in two-dimensional backgrounds - so natural looking that his work not noticed used mostly indigenous trees & plants England as a man-made landscape I Australia a natural landscape We need to follow Capability Brown and plant for the future with our own trees and unique flora
21GREENWAY, FrancisKnox claimed he drew inspiration from GREENWAY and GRIFFIN they were both artists whose inspiration was set on fire by the same unique qualities of our timeless landscape. Both essentially environmental planners ... and broad landscape architects of the style and power of England's famous 18th century landscape creators. They both understood the power and universality of the Australian sun/ !heir buildings expressed the interplay of sunlight and shadow. Mentions the powerful relationship of St. Mathew's Church tower on an escarpment in Windsor, NSW, to the vertical quality of the Blue Mountains in the distance. He achieved a total relationship between the structure and the landscape.
40 Greenway's flights of fancy: The options were wide open and in terms of the imagination the sky was truly the limit
80 Found Greenway's work to be close to that of the 1811' century English landscapers
45GRIFFIN, Walter Burleyfamous American architect, who lived in Glennard Drive, Eaglemont in 1926 Knox built his first house opposite Griffin's in 1939
98 a mind with a resolved philosophy lived in Heidelberg, early 1920s, where he fell in love with the Australian landscape. His tiny house looked out over the Plenty Ranges towards Eltham.
12 described him as the Master Landscaper. Eaglemont subdivisions remain the high point of residential subdivision that has occurred in Victoria before of since.
13 copied Griffin's method of door construction
23 Knox claimed he drew inspiration from GREENWAY and GRIFFIN - they were both artists whose inspiration was set on fire by the same unique qualities of our timeless landscape. Both essentially environmental planners ... and broad landscape architects of the style and power of England's famous 18th century landscape creators. They both understood the and universality of the Australian sun, their buildings expressed the interplay of sunlight and shadow praises his unerring sense of proportion ... and his rediscovery of the sense of the cave in the Australian landscape. Describes Canberra as probably the best physical, man-created city the world knows.
30 Eaglemont estates described as superb landscape controlled subdivisions in 1920s experimental tree planting with Australian natives (3 in 1 hole), also used at Newman College.
  In Glennard Drive garden prickly paperbarks (Melaleuca styphelioides) planted, as identified by Ernest LORD.
31 description of Griffin's Eaglemont house: an historic place Griffin's six square house in knitlock tiles, with a low pointed roof, was square on plan. The external walls had short curtain walls running at right angles towards the centre. The bedrooms were among these partitions. They were separated from the general house by leather curtains. The rhythmic piers of the knitlock method, the low walls, the ceilings that rose to a cave-like dome clearly reflected the Griffin philosophy. Window glazing and the simple structural doors and windows, showed a remarkable austerity of movement to fulfil his purpose ... Griffin was a prophet indeed, who demonstrated then a way of life which was in advance of much of today's so-called advanced thinking. He based his Australian architecture on the Australian scene that he discovered meditating under the primordial red gums in the Yarra Valley at Heidelberg. It was here he discovered the quality of the cave in Australian architecture, and sunshine and shadow which are the great sculptural definitions he employed in his work.
41 along with Greenway he understood how to build in a way that expressed the indigenous Australian characteristics [of] timeless proportion and an understanding of sunlight and shadow as architectural factors.
51 Griffin's work not well appreciated during his time in Australia
79 When Griffin came to live in Heidelberg ... it developed into a way of life.
79 Laid out prophetic subdivisions. Living there, Knox found his influence immediate and irreversible . a case of 'Before & After' and learned to consider landscape in terms of totalities. It wasn't a matter of house and land, or suburb and country, but of total time and total space ...
6HOLLOWAY, Josiah Morrisone of Melbourne's first land subdividers who purchased a tract of land known in 1851 as Little Eltham North
11LE CORBUSIERdiscussed his work whilst studying at RMIT with Matcham SKIPPER in 1946
44McCUBBIN, FrederickImpressionist painter of Heidelberg School
48-9UTZON, Jorncriticises the major shortcoming of the Sydney Opera House's as the lack of relationship between the outer shell and the inside it appeared to be not conceived simultaneously But commented that it was a magnificent concept
1WITHERS, WalterAustralian impressionist painter who moved to Eltham from Heidelberg in early 1900s Knox commented on his continual striving to express in his paintings the character of this district with its subtle variations of light and colour
  died there in 1914
10WRIGHT, Frank Lloyddiscussed his work whilst studying at RMIT with Matcham SKIPPER in 1946
38 Knox thought he had invented the slab floor system, but after more carefully studying Wright, realised that it was the method used in the 'Usonian' house built 10 years earlier quoted re. over-specifying : " The factor of safety is the factor of ignorance."
49 Guggenheirn Museum as an example of a building where the outer shell and the inside were conceived simultaneously.
87 Knox's client Dr. John Nicholas was an ardent admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright. He had seen many of his buildings and assured me, much to my egotistical delight, that there was no-one else who could design his house for him.
94 When faced with a building problem would think about how Wright would tackle it.

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