A house designed for one of Australia’s most famous historians which itself became an important part of the history of modernist domestic architecture in this country can now be toured virtually.
The Robin Boyd Foundation has released a 3D tour of Manning Clark House, designed by Boyd and built in Forrest, Canberra for the late historian Manning Clark and his wife Dymphna in 1952.
Clark is best known for his six-volume A History of Australia, a controversial work published between 1962 and 1987, which painted Australian history as a tragedy, but which viewed Australians as “more than second-rate Europeans.”
Philip Goad, chair of architecture at the University of Melbourne, noted the similarities between Boyd and Clark, as two thinkers who tried to carve out a unique identity for Australia.
“The house represents in many respects the point in time at which Boyd was trying to map out an architectural identity for Australia – and was doing so at the same time that Clark was trying to map out an Australian historical identity for the nation,” he said.
Sebastian Clark, son of Manning and Dymphna and president of the not-for-profit Manning Clark House Inc.
Image:
Robin Boyd Foundation
The house was captured for the 3D tour in April 2021, when Robin Boyd Foundation volunteers Jonathan Russell and Tim Isaacson travelled to Canberra, immersing themselves in the Clark family home for a week.
Russell and Isaacson scanned the house with a specialized 3D space capture tool known as a Matterport, provided by engineering firm Arup. They also conducted more than 20 hours of video interviews with Clark family members, academics, historians, architecture and heritage experts, volunteers and visitors. Back in Melbourne, augmented reality specialist Phoria provided user interface support to bring the home to life.
Robin Boyd Foundation chair Tony Isaacson said the tour explores the design of the house and its contents, as well as the life of the family who lived there, telling an important story of Australia’s post-war social history and development. “As you navigate through the home, thirty interviews with family, friends, and commentators help you to enjoy and interpret it,” he said. “We love exploring how we can use contemporary technology to reach more people and the Alistair Swayn Foundation, our partners and volunteers have enabled us to go the extra mile, to Canberra, with our third digital tour.”
The tour follows digital explorations of Boyd House II/Walsh Street and the Greg Burgess Studio Archive.
Launched 3 March 2022, on what would have been Clark’s 107th birthday, the Manning Clark House 3D tour is available to view here.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
