Robert Dickson (architect)


Robert Harold Dickson was a South Australian architect. His many works contributed greatly to various aspects of South Australian architecture, ranging from conservation shelters to school buildings and residential projects. His most notable works are former premier, Don Dunstan's residence as well as the first townhouses in Adelaide. He was described by Don Dunstan as the ‘premier architect’. Whilst he spent the majority of his life practising in South Australia, he did work for a Milan-based Italian firm-Mangiarotti and Morasutti-for less than a year. He was also employed at Fry, Drew, Drake and Lasdun in London for a short time directly afterwards. In addition to contributing to South Australia's built environment, he had written articles on architecture for local papers and was a tutor at the University of Adelaide Faculty of Architecture and Planning. He had also published an autobiographical book entitled ‘Addicted to Architecture’. He died on 8 April 2014, aged 88. He had been practicing architecture for more than 5 decades.

Personal life

Robert Harold Dickson, born 1926, grew up in North Adelaide, a place he describes as a ‘compelling urban paradise’. He attended Christ Church School from age 4 to 11 and Adelaide High for secondary education, where he met his wife, Lilian. After graduating from high school in 1943, he enlisted to become a pilot at 17 years old. Throughout his life, he was obsessed with the theory of flight and joining the Royal Australian Air Force was a realisation of that boyhood passion. When his programme was abandoned and flight training ceased in May 1945, he was co-opted into the Royal Air Force to work in Air Transport Command. He did not fly again until 48 years later when an opportunity to pilot a restored Tiger Moth at Noarlunga arose. Shortly thereafter, he applied to be discharged and was flown back to Adelaide when the application was accepted. Although he had applied, he had no idea what educational path he wanted to go down. It was his father's suggestion of architectural training that was pivotal.
He started the architectural course in 1946. His architectural course was based on the Beaux Arts model, a system he disagreed with and tried to rebel against in his student assignments. He began designing his first house in 1949 when still a student, and the project became a major part of his studies. He took a year off to construct it in 1951. By the time it was habitable, he and Lilian were married. That house was still their home 57 years later.
As a student, Dickson successfully applied for part-time work in the office Claridge, Hassell and McConnell where he was mentored by another student, Brian Claridge, and Ron Gunn, the associate. He and Claridge became close friends. After a few years, the firm split into Claridge and Gunn, and Hassell and McConnell, with Dickson going with the latter because of the projects he had been working on at the time. He continued at that office after he graduated, whilst participating in part-time post-graduate studies in City Planning and Illuminating Engineering.
By 1954, Dickson was getting more and more dissatisfied with the direction contemporary architecture was taking, feeling that the post-war architecture was becoming stagnant and cliché. This was what prompted him to start looking at work being done in Europe, more specifically, Italy. A firm in Milan, Mangiarotti and Morassutti, granted him an interview. Robert and Lilian Dickson both went to Milan, stopping first in England to visit relatives and making their way from there. The two returned to Adelaide in 1957, and their son was born within weeks of their return. Dickson started his own practice, as well as taught part-time and wrote for the paper, before entering a partnership with Newell Platten that lasted from 1958 to 1973.

Architectural philosophy

Dickson shared a practical design philosophy which flat-out rejected the idea of architectural ‘style’. It was based on principles that design should respond to the surrounding environment, respect human values, aspire to direct solutions to problems and integrate the parts in the simplest possible form. His work displays a sensitive relationship to site, intuitive use of materials and care about design and craftsmanship.
Dickson's work heavily revolves around sustainable design and environmental concerns, which filters into his architecture, from construction methods and materiality to the extensive involvement with the local community.

Selected works

Four buildings designed by Dickson have been listed on the South Australian Heritage Register: