The Architecture of Peter Muller

Abstract

Peter Neil Muller, born 1927, is the founding member and principal of "The office of Peter Muller, Sydney" (established 1953) and the more recent "Regional Design and Research, Consultants, Marulan, New South Wales" and “Peter Muller International". He is one of the most important Australian practitioners of organic architecture in the twentieth century. The work of Peter Muller during the period of 1952 to 1992 was predominantly domestic, and it is in this area that his major impact on architecture, particularly in the Sydney region, has been felt. However his latest realised design, which is on the island of Bali, has been acclaimed and publicised as a noteable example of a responsible approach to resort architecture throughout the Pan-Pacific region. The work of Frank Lloyd Wright and his organic philosophy of architecture of a harmonious union between buildings and sites was introduced to Sydney by the early houses of Peter Muller. He was also one of the first architects in the Sydney region to embody Japanese ideals in his work. In the domestic architecture he produced, Muller created a particular genre whose characteristic casual informality has been noteable to the present day. His buildings played a crucial role in the establishment of an indigenous Sydney and Australian architecture. Consequently, his influence on the so-called "Sydney School" must be noted. Peter Muller was the catalyst that was needed to set Sydney and Australian building design in a direction towards an appropriate regional architecture. He has continued this approach and stance into the international arena through his designs for hotel resorts in the Pan Pacific region. In this work Muller can be seen as a member of an elite group of responsible architects introducing a critical regionalism to this type of habitat.