The simplicity of its design was a large part of its aesthetic appeal and its economical construction with cross ventilation, high ceilings and timber windows anticipated many aspects of today’s sustainability and affordability ideas.
Ken Woolley AM

On this tour we will be joined by architect Ken Woolley as he takes us on a personal tour of the first ever courtyard house built as part of the Pettit + Sevitt exhibition centre, which opened in St Ives in 1966. Ken will discuss the key design principles of the home and share with us his 60 years’ experience as an architect, including his time working with Pettit + Sevitt, market leaders in the design of project homes in the 1960s and 70s.

Date built, architect: 1965, Ken Woolley AM

Website: http://www.pettitandsevitt.com.au/

Additional information: Photography permitted | Not accessible by wheelchair

Tour leader: Ken Woolley AM

Ken Woolley was born in Sydney in 1933, and studied architecture at the University of Sydney, where he graduated with 1st Class Honours and the University Medal in 1955. He was a founding member of the special design team in Harry Rembert's Design office of the NSW Government Architects Branch and soon became involved in major projects such as Fisher Library, which received the Sulman Award in 1962.  His own house at Mosman, 1962, won the Wilkinson Award and set private practice in train with project housing for Pettit and Sevitt.  He went into the partnership Ancher Mortlock Murray & Woolley in 1964.

He was a visiting professor at the University of NSW and the University of Sydney where he is an Adjunct Professor of Architecture and has been chairman or member of numerous award, review and competition juries.  He was made a Member of the Order of Australia 1988, was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 1993, and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2001.He received the Centenary Medal in 2003 for services to structural engineering. In 2010 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science in Architecture, by the University of Sydney and is an Adjunct Professor of the Faculty of Architecture Design and Planning.

kenwoolley.com.au/