Controversial Australian architect, Harry Seidler, passed away today aged 82 after suffering a stroke in 2005.
Born in Vienna in 1923, Seidler was schooled in England and went to university in Canada and the United States, before moving to Australia in 1948.
He was known as the pioneer of modernist architecture in Australia.
In Western Australia he was responsible for the QV1 high-rise in Perth in 1997 and also the ARCA Stone showroom in Osborne Park in 2000. He won the commercial award at the Royal Australian Institute of Architects WA design awards in 2001 for the latter .
In other parts of Australia and throughout the world Seidler was responsible for numerous houses, apartment complexes, and office and public buildings in a career spanning seven decades.
The Rose Seidler House, built in Sydney over a period of time from 1948 to 1950, launched his career and in 1988 was acquired by the Historic Houses Trust of NSW and is now open to the public.
Of his office-block projects, Sydney's Australia Square, was regarded as the standout of his long, diverse career. The 50-storey towerwas commissioned in 1961 and was completed in 1967.
Overseas, Seidler was reponsible for the Australian Embassy in Paris in 1973, a condiminium apartment block in Acapulco, Mexico in 1969, and apartment buildings in Vienna, amongst many other projects.