As part of Passing Through, a series of casual presentations and conversations with architects from out of town, this lecture will focus on work by Melbourne based architectural practice Lyons, discussing the office’s approach to the genesis and development of their project work in the public realm.

As a design led, research based practice, Lyons has developed specific conceptual, intellectual, and technological methods, which inform the making of their representational architecture.

In this talk, Corbett Lyon, a founding director of Lyons, will outline the beginnings and evolution of the firm’s thinking and approach through early and recent project examples.

Lyons is an architectural design practice based in Melbourne, Australia, and is led by its five directors Corbett Lyon, Cameron Lyon, Carey Lyon, Neil Appleton and Adrian Stanic.

Recent projects by Lyons include the John Curtin School of Medical Research Canberra, the Centre for World Politics at The Australian National University, the new School of Law at the University of New South Wales and the new global headquarters building for BHP Billiton.

The firm’s work has been published nationally and internationally and is included in World Architecture, Art Link, International Architectural Design, Architectural Review, the Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture, and Phaidon’s 10 x 10 100 Architects 10 Critics. Lyons’ projects have been exhibited at the 2006 Beijing Architecture Biennale, Artists Space in New York, Monash Gallery Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. The firm represented Australia at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2000.

Over the last five years Lyons has won many invited design competitions including new commissions for projects at The Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, University of Western Sydney, and University of Melbourne. The firm has been awarded over thirty design and planning awards including the Victorian Architecture Medal and the 2005 Australian National Award for Sustainable Architecture.