Peter (Richard Norman) Johnson (1923-2003) served in Britain for the RAF during World War II (shot down over France and protected by the Resistance for six months), then graduated in architecture from the University of Sydney with honours in 1951. He joined the practice of Kenneth McConnel and they were joined by Stan Smith in 1954, to form McConnel Smith and Johnson, which became one of the most respected practices of the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1960, he became founding president of the Architectural Society, set up by young architects to witness presentations from new creative talents (often not architects) and discuss the newly fashionable Scandinavian and British Brutalist modern architecture. In the 1960s, he emerged as a leading design talent, primarily through domestic and city buildings such as Kindersley House and the Metropolitan and Water and Drainage Board Building. The rugged brick and timber house he designed for his family on a sloping bush site in Chatswood in 1963 won the NSW RAIA Wilkinson Award and influenced the development of the Sydney School. Large projects, such as the Benjamin Offices at Belconnen, followed. In 1967, he was appointed professor of architecture at the University of Sydney. He was head of the school of undergraduate studies and, between 1968 and 1986, dean of the faculty. In 1988 he became chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney; a position he held for 10 years. During his career, he was a supporter of the humanities, an authority on, and patron of, Aboriginal art, chairman of the Board of Directors of Architecture Media, instigator of the Construction Industries Prospects Group, president of the Australian Council of Professions, led a national review of the engineering profession and its education. As a board member of the NSW National Trust, he chaired its conservation committee and architectural advisory committee. He received the Officer of the Order of Australia in 1979, and Companion of the Order of Australia in 2002. In 1987, the architectural archive of the National Library in Canberra was named the Peter Johnson Architectural Archive. He also served terms as NSW and national president of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and president of the Commonwealth Association of Architects. He was elected a Life Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and an Honorary Fellow of both the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Canadian Institute of Architects. In 1985 he was awarded the RAIA Gold Medal. He also served on numerous national and international education councils and committees, on the Board of Architects of New South Wales, and as president of the Australian Council of Professions. His achievements in these positions were celebrated by the awards of Doctor of Architecture (honoris causa) from the University of Sydney, and Doctor of University (honoris causa) from the University of Technology, Sydney. In the late 1990s, UTS named the new home of its Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building the Peter Johnson Building.
Sources
—Jackson, Davina. 2003. Compilation of Johnson family information and obituary in The Australian (Jackson, who inserted this record in her role as a DAAO moderator in 2015, was Peter Johnson’s daughter-in-law from 1988 until his death in 2003).
—Quarry, Neville. 2003. Obituary in The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 May. Published on the University of Sydney website http://www.arch.usyd.edu.au/nwfa/newhome/peterj.html
—Taylor, Jennifer. 2003. Obituary in Architecture Australia.
—Taylor, Jennifer, 2003. Speech at Peter Johnson’s memorial service. Published on the University of Sydney Architecture Faculty website http://www.arch.usyd.edu.au/nwfa/newhome/peterj.html
- Writers:
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- Date written:
- 2015
- Last updated:
- 2015
