Boyd, Robin (1919-1971), was an Australian architect and writer. He was a member of the well-known Boyd family of Melbourne, which was prominent in the arts in Australia throughout the 1900’s. Robin Boyd was the younger son of Penleigh Boyd, a distinguished painter and printmaker.
Robin Boyd made a significant contribution to the development of architecture in Australia in the 1900’s, as a practicing architect and as a writer and critic. Boyd’s work includes designs for domestic and institutional buildings. He is best known for his designs for private houses in and around Melbourne and elsewhere in Victoria, such as his own house in South Yarra (1959) and Featherston-Currey House in Ivanhoe (1967). Among Boyd’s public buildings are student residences at Menzies College, La Trobe University in Melbourne (1970), and Melbourne’s first motel, the John Batman (1964).
Boyd’s work was influenced by the International Style in architecture, which had been established in Europe and the United States by such architects as Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig and Le Corbusier. The movement used simple, functional lines and modern materials, such as concrete. Boyd was one of the first Australian architects to embrace the International Style in his work. His architectural approach showed his disapproval of what he saw as the stale colonialism of Australian architecture of the time, which borrowed from European architectural history. In his work, Boyd attempted to establish an original and distinct architectural style that celebrated the unique characteristics of the Australian landscape.
Much of Boyd’s influential writing on Australian architecture and society concerned the need for the development of an authentic Australian cultural identity. Many of his books, such as his best-known work, The Australian Ugliness (1960), were critiques of Australian urban development and popular culture in the mid-1900’s. Boyd condemned the increasing cultural influence of the United States on Australian life.
Other notable writings by Boyd include Australia’s Home (1952), an interpretation of the development of Australian domestic architecture; Living in Australia (1970), about his own architectural work; and The Great Great Australian Dream (1972), a collection of semi-satirical essays.
Robin Gerard Penleigh Boyd was born in Melbourne on Jan. 3, 1919. He attended Malvern Grammar School in that city from 1926 to 1936. While serving his professional architectural apprenticeship, from 1936 to 1940, Boyd studied at the Royal Melbourne College and the University of Melbourne. After World War II (1939-1945), during which Boyd served in New Guinea with the 3rd Field Survey Company of the Australian Imperial Forces, he resumed his study at the University of Melbourne. In 1946, he established his own architectural practice. He worked in partnership with the architects Roy Grounds and Frederick Romberg from 1952 until 1962, when he returned to solo practice. Boyd taught at the University of Melbourne from 1948 to 1956. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 1969 and was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1971. He died on Oct. 15, 1971.
