One of Australia’s most respected architects dies at the age of 80.

Sydney-born architect Bruce Rickard designed more than 80 residential projects in Sydney’s surrounds over his prolific career.

Impressed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, Bruce Rickard was highly influential in altering people’s perceptions of housing by establishing a new aesthetic which incorporated open-planning and outdoor living into his residential designs.

“When I first started most houses were red brick bungalows with red tile roofs. Most of them faced the street, didn’t have any outdoor areas, or only token ones under the clothes-line. Even the good architects weren’t showing much interest in outdoor living,” Rickard told Indesign magazine earlier this year, when he was selected as a luminary. 

Rickard also won Royal Australian Institute of Architects design awards in 1972, 1977, 1983, 1992 and 2009.

“He designed houses for parties,’’ his son Sam Rickard told the SMH. ’’He was a timeless man. His friends ranged from 20 to 80. Age didn’t mean anything to him.’’

Mr Rickard died at the Sacred Heart Hospice in St Vincent’s Hospital on Wednesday 22 September from non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

To read more about Bruce Rickard’s career, read the Luminary feature from Indesign Magazine.

Bruce Rickard
brucerickard.com

Hero image by Anthony Browell

Photo by John Gollings

Photo by Anthony Browell