The celebration and documentation of the significant works of little-known architects is always welcome. Such accounts are made all the more poignant when the buildings under examination have contributed, quietly and substantially, to the making of a city or where they have underpinned the introduction or development of a specific building typology. Graeme Trickett and Ken Charlton’s Repose: the contribution of Dirk Bolt to Canberra’s architecture and planning is one such study, bringing to the profession’s attention, largely through Trickett’s careful and conscientious research over many years, the Canberra buildings of Dutch émigré and architect Dirk Bolt. Following on from its important 2007 monograph on Enrico Taglietti (also featuring contributions by Ken Charlton), the Australian Institute of Architects’ ACT Chapter has continued to foster detailed research on individual Canberra architects, and this book, like its predecessor, will become an important historical document. It’s also an example of institutionally sponsored research that might be followed by other chapters across the country, bringing to light undiscussed architectural gems and exposing the work of colleagues otherwise overlooked by the nation’s limited number of architectural histories.
After initial training in Delft, Dirk Bolt (1930–) completed his architectural education in Hobart and established an early and important career for himself with D. Hartley Wilson in Tasmania. By the time of his arrival in Canberra in 1964, he was already an accomplished designer. Dropped into Canberra at one of its most opportune moments of architectural productivity, Bolt was to complete a series of modernist-inspired and brilliantly planned single family houses, the seminal institutional work Burgmann College (1965–71) at ANU, a series of commercial/retail centres peculiar to Canberra in their intimate scale and low key monumentality, and a truly innovative series of medium-density housing groups. All are worthy of serious scrutiny today, as they involve deftly resolved issues of open space, light, air and ventilation, community and propinquity.
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