Inspiring the Next Generation of Architects: A Decade of the UNSW Seidler Chair
Since 2014, over 600 UNSW students have been taught by a Seidler Chair, or travelled to a global city as part of a Seidler International Studio
The inaugural Seidler Chair in the Practice of Architecture, Prof. Glenn Murcutt AO, and Dr. Penelope Seidler AM (image Grant Turner)
In 1980, Harry Seidler AC OBE walked the halls of UNSW Built Environment as the first Visiting Professor of Architecture in the School, teaching an exceptional studio program and delivering a lecture series on the theory and practice of architecture.
Thanks to the Generosity of Dr. Penelope Seidler AM, the Seidler Chair in the Practice of Architecture was established in his honour in 2014, helping continue his legacy, enriching students’ learning experiences and expanding their architectural horizons.
The inaugural Seidler Chair was Professor Glenn Murcutt, Australia’s only Pritzker Prize winner, and winner of the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the Praemium Imperiale. Prof. Murcutt led the capstone Bachelor of Architecture ‘regional studio’ at UNSW, working with students to design sustainable architecture set within Australia’s regional landscapes. Remarkably, students in his studio won the NSW Australian Institute of Architects’ Undergraduate Medal for best project in the state three times during Prof. Murcutt’s five-year tenure as Seidler Chair.
Since 2022, Prof. Richard Hassell and Prof. Mun Summ Wong have been Seidler Chairs. Professors Hassell and Wong are founding directors of Singapore-based practice WOHA and winners of the RIBA Lubetkin Prize, Aga Khan Award for Architecture and World Architecture Festival - World Building of the Year. Each year they lead an annual studio, which sees students adopt the WOHA design philosophy and work collaboratively across disciplines to design a high-density community that achieves net zero carbon across its whole lifecycle.
“This studio is not about incrementally improving ‘business as usual’. Instead, it was a given that the district would perform to ambitious objectives: the question was how architecture could transform these data-driven targets into an amazing lifestyle. This is in the spirit of the Seidler practice, which merged the latest technology with high cultural ambition to fundamentally reshape the architectural landscape of Sydney and Australia.” Prof. Mun Summ Wong
Seidler Chair in the Practice of Architecture, Prof. Mun Summ Wong, teaching in the UNSW studios
International Seidler Studios
Since 2014, the Seidler International Studios and the Penelope Seidler International Travel Award has ensured that over 250 curious, talented and hard-working students have had the opportunity to visit great cities, engage with international architects and join global conversations that will expand their architectural horizons.
In 2024, students had the opportunity to visit Harry Seidler’s birthplace, Vienna, to undertake an intensive studio led by Associate Prof. Dijana Alic in collaboration with students and staff at TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology).
UNSW students in Vienna, as part of the International Seidler Studio
Through a range of collaborative projects, site visits and study tours, students explored the architecture of social housing in Vienna, where more than 60 per cent of the population live in subsidised apartments and where high-quality, affordable housing is considered a major public importance.
With Sydney currently suffering from low housing affordability, the value of this studio is that it introduces students to models of affordable and high-quality housing design that are accessible to the majority of a city’s population.
Looking back on this decade of impact, Dr. Penelope Seidler said
“it is personally rewarding that the Seidler Chair and the international studios are inspiring this new generation of architects with a practical methodology which will improve our urban community”
UNSW would like to thank Dr. Seidler for her long-standing generosity, and her commitment to advancing architectural education at UNSW.