Anthroposophical influences in the Fishwick house and the Duncan house. Castlecrag 1920-1937

Abstract

The residential community of Castlecrag, built on the outskirts of Sydney by Marion Mahony Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin, supposes a vindication of the central role of the human being in architecture over purely functionalist issues. The use of technique and reason during the early years of the 20th century, meant a departure from the experiential world, as a man’s own development as an individual that is part of a common whole as is nature.Its holistic conception of the project, implies a direct relationship between the experiences of its users and the environment in which they are built. Close to the anthroposophical ideas of Rudolf Steiner, the development of his work in Sydney is an application of some of the principles enunciated by him in his colony in Dornach. Thus, the materials, textures and colors used in the finishes of Fishwick house and Duncan house, try to establish relationships between their users and the nature that surrounds them, so that the intuition together with reason, produce an architecture that allows the personal growth of the human being.