Daryl Jackson

Jackson was born on 7 February 1937 in Clunes, Victoria, Australia. He was educated at Wesley College in Melbourne and he graduated from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)[1] and the University of Melbourne with a Diploma of Architecture.[2]

Jackson established his first practice with Evan Walker in 1965. Jackson Architecture Pty Ltd, located in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, London, Vietnam, and China, has completed a large catalogue of projects, including university and college facilities, stadiums, commercial offices, art galleries, and industrial structures. Some of his projects include the Immigration Museum, Melbourne and the County Court of Victoria.

Jackson's considerable teaching, writing, and lecturing has had a significant influence on the course of Australian architectural development. He taught architecture at RMIT and wrote a regular column on housing for The Age from 1966 to 1999. Jackson has also been a principal lecturer at Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) conventions and was a visiting professor of architecture and design at the University of New South Wales in 1982. With positions as Chairman of the Australian Film Institute, Trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria, Member of the Victorian Council of the Arts, Vice President of the Melbourne Cricket Club, Director of the Essendon Football Club, and President of Wesley College (Victoria), he has continually contributed to a heterogeneous notion of Australian culture.[3]

Daryl Jackson's addition to the Immigration Museum

Jackson's architecture has evolved over forty years of professional practice. His first contribution to Australian architecture began with the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre, which defined his early Brutalist architecture style.

Two buildings, Swinburne University Graduate School of Management and County Court of Victoria in central Melbourne, work their way into the iconic street grid to form hard-edge modernist figures on important street corners. The slicing "cut edge" profiling of the Court entrance portico is a gesture of urban affirmation that symbolises and emphasises a new presence.

Jackson's more recent projects, found in Australia and internationally, differ from one another because they reflect the attitudes, technologies, and vernacular of their respective localities.

As the chief principal of design at Jackson Architecture, Jackson perceives his role relative to that of a film director: "working on the plot, lining up the cameras, producing and editing to generate the desired result".[4] While Jackson unifies each product with his direct design input, he places a strong emphasis on collaborative design and idea thinking, and acknowledges the talent and co-professionalism of other designers that help piece together each project.

Jackson's Sydney practice, Daryl Jackson Robin Dyke Pty Ltd, is the Executive Architect for the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) on the Frank Gehry-designed business school building. The Dr Chau Chak Wing Building was Gehry's first building in Australia with a design based on the idea of a tree-house structure.[5] Construction started early 2012 with a view to be completed in time for the 2014 academic year.

Daryl Jackson's award-winning County Court of Victoria

• 1981 – The first Australian architect to be awarded the Sir Zelman Cowen Award[6]
• 1987 – Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal
• 1990 – Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia on 26 January 1990 for his service to architecture[7]

Jackson's projects are mostly found in Australia's four east coast capital cities: Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra. He also has work located in Shanghai, Qingdao, Hanoi, Berlin and London.

Notable works include:

• Jackson Architecture
• Daryl Jackson Robin Dyke
• Daryl Jackson Alistair Swayn