Ermin Smrekar

Ermin Smrekar (1931–2016) (FAIA) was an Italian-Australian architect who lived and practiced in Melbourne, Australia from the 1960s to 2007.[1] He was noted for his modernist designs, which "have been celebrated by architects because they inspired new references for a modern Australian architectural language."[2]

Early life and training

Originally named 'Erminio',[3] Smrekar was born in 1931 in the Italian/Slovenian border town of Trieste. He undertook his initial training at the technical institute, and then studied architecture at the University of Trieste. He migrated to Australia in 1956, because of political and economical uncertainty, accompanying his father Carlo (died 1980) and mother Bruna (1913-2015). The family lived in Moonee Ponds, in Melbourne's northern suburbs and Smrekar continued his education at the University of Melbourne Design Atelier (1960 – 1962) and the Melbourne Institute of Technology in Architecture,[4] completing supplementary exams to qualify to work as an Architect in Australia.[5]

Ermin began his architectural practice in 1964 and established Smrekar Architects in 1969. The firm operated up to 2007 when it amalgamated with BGA Architects of Bendigo to form e+ architecture, continuing to operate from the same Melbourne Office and retaining senior key personnel from Smrekar Architects. Smrekar had previously worked with Terry Mitton for 12 years before the latter joined BGA as a director in 1998.[6]

Works

Smrekar's earliest known surviving design is the Mirabella House, 38 Henry Street Keilor East Melbourne from 1966.[7] Other buildings include:

Influences and legacy

Smrekar's work has be compared to that of Luigi Moretti and Marcello D'Olivo in Italy and other Australian emigre architects such as Enrico Taglietti and Czech emigre, Alex Jelinek. Much of his work has been involved in projects connected to the Italian community in Melburne, and in particular Triest emigrees, such as remoddling a factory in Essendon for the Triestine's community San Giusto Alabarda Club, while he is also credited with designing a ...variety of large homes in the suburb of Bulleen which were designed with a distinct 'Mediterranean feel' for an Italian clientele.[3] His Lygon Court Shopping Centre, which involved partial demolition of the Historic Holdsworth Building on Lygon Street, and loss of The Pram Factory theatre at the rear.[15][16]

A more recent project is the cliff-top residence at San Remo Victoria, built in 1990, and which employs dramatic triangular forms.[17] His Miramar house at Somers, Victoria, has been described as having ...a starkness to this Ermin Smrekar-designed house perched on the cliffs outside San Remo. Pale-pink intersecting triangles will always struggle to find their best expression in such a singular environment and yet, here, somehow, there is a kind of discordant splendor.[18]

His design of the Old Melbourne Motor Inn[19] for prominent Melbourne entrepreneur George Frew, who had developed the Commodore Motel chain, and the San Giorgio Restaurant in Carlton earned him the nickname "The King of Kitsch".[20] The Old Melbourne was subject to a scathing review when it opened in mid-1971 by Robin Boyd, although another view suggests that ironically, towards the end of his life, Boyd began to embrace as Post-Modernist, such pastiche historicism as the Old Melbourne Motor Inn, North Melbourne. Delight, as experienced at Surrey Court, is as valid an expectation of architectural experience, as either commodity or firmness.[21]

Awards and exhibitions

Smrekar was a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects (1973),[8] and was awarded the Cavaliere dell' Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 1973 and the Cavaliere Ufficiale dell' Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 1983 for Services to Architecture. He also presented a Personal Architectural Exhibition in Trieste in 1990.[4]

Smrekar died on 25 June 2016.[22][23]

References

  1. ↑ Licence Number: 11848
  2. 1 2 Lozanovska, Mirjana 2011, Smrekar, Ermin, in The encyclopedia of Australian architecture, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, Vic., pp.637-637
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Adriana Nelli, 1954, Addio Trieste...The Triestine Community of Melbourne Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University 2000
  4. 1 2 Linked in profile
  5. ↑ 'A centenary of memories for Moonee Ponds' Bruna' Linh Ly, Moonee Valley Leader 18 January 2013
  6. ↑ SMREKAR ARCHITECTS website
  7. ↑ heritage ALLIANCE Job 2008-07 Survey of Post-War Built Heritage in Victoria
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 BuiltHeritage, Dictionary of Unsung Architects, ERMIN SMREKAR (born 1931)
  9. ↑ Architecture Australia, Oct 1971, pp. 810, 812
  10. ↑ Heritage Alliance, Survey of Post-War Built Heritage in Victoria
  11. ↑ Image on Pinterest
  12. ↑ Lenna of Hobart, Our Rich Colonial Tasmanian Heritage
  13. ↑ The Age 2 June 1981, p.10.
  14. ↑ p.104 RMIT University School of Design (TAFE) arch 5124 ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY 2
  15. ↑ Lygon Court History & Contacts
  16. ↑ Norman Day, 'Showdown Looms in Lygon Street', The Age 4 November 1980 p.10
  17. ↑ Radical Terrace 'Traingulated Ermin Smrekar-Designed Postmodern Home on Bass Coast Lists for $5.5m+'
  18. ↑ Archives: Ermin Smrekar, A Sophisticated Refuge Near The Sea – Miramar House
  19. ↑ 'Look what's happening to the Old Melbourne', Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 1961, p.6
  20. ↑ Walking Melbourne forum, Pastiche Architecture Around the World thread
  21. ↑ A Place of Sensuous Resort, Buildings of St Kilda and their people, No 41 Surrey Court 71 Ormond Road, Elwood, St Kilda Historical Society Inc. © 2005 citing Robin Boyd, review...
  22. ↑ Herald Sun 30 June 2016
  23. ↑ Il Piccolo, 28 June 2016

Biographical sources

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