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About Lindsay Johnston

Lindsay Johnston grew up in Ireland and studied architecture in Scotland. After 20 years in research and practice in Ireland he emigrated to Australia and entered academic life. He has been Head of School and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Design at the University of Newcastle. He has continued architectural practice and has been awarded for his houses and for research on and practice of environmentally sensitive strategies. His own house 'Four Horizons' and the associated tourist lodges in the Watagans National Park, west of Newcastle, have been published internationally. He was winner in 2003 of a limited competition for the design of a World Heritage Area Visitor Centre in the Blue Mountains west of SydneySydney (eventually unbuilt). He has been Chair of the RAIA National Education Committee and the RAIA National Environment Committee. He was awarded the 2002 RAIA National Education Prize for his contribution to architectural education. He continues as Visiting Professor at the University of Newcastle and the University of Sydney where he tutors and runs design studios for students in the Masters degree programs. He is convener of the Architecture Foundation Australia and principle organizer of the Glenn Murcutt International Architecture Master Class and other educational events.

"'Four Horizons' is 100 acres of wilderness, 430 metres above sea level on the edge of a coastal escarpment, a 45 minute drive, a world apart, from Lindsay's office at the School of Architecture, University of Newcastle. Located in the Watagan Forest, it is accessed by ascending a typical outback dirt road. The main house sits resolute overlooking the Hunter Valley flood plains. Recipient of the 1997 RAIA NSW Chapter Environment Award, the building conscientiously embraces issues of sustainability and energy efficiency. The memorable 'central room' is testament to the accuracy to which keen foreign translation can contribute to the vernacular. The north east is open but building edges make the perfect frame to immediate and distant lands, with the occasional brush-tail rock wallaby snapping the wandering mind to attention."
Peter Stutchbury, Architecture Review Australia, No. 66, Melbourne, Summer 1998, p.30.

"Sited within walking distance from the house but set back from the escarpment the Four Horizons lodges have captured similar originality. The combination of an architect as a client, rigorous thinking and careful sitings have produced tourist 'treats'. What better contribution to the process of architectural education than this growing assembly of small buildings carefully considered, imaginative, and available to bridge the public's distance from architecture."
Peter Stutchbury, Architecture Review Australia, No. 66, Melbourne, Summer 1998, p.31.

"This design speaks volumes about the climate in which the buildings are situated. How many buildings in such locations have ever achieved this? They are conceived in the spirit of the highest standards of sustainability, and are a delight in design terms. The use of materials, the building elements and volumes suit these pavilions beautifully in the natural environment."
Irish Architecture Review, Vol. 1, Dublin, RIAI, 1999, p.96.

"Each year the Premier's Award gives me the chance to recognise architecture that I believe has made a significant contribution to the State. This year, I am particularly pleased to reward Lindsay Johnston for his Four Horizons Eco Lodges in the Hunter Valley. Not a major project in a well-frequented part of a city or town but a modest, simple, very Australian example of environmental design. Much can be learnt and applied from both the lodge design, the use of materials and energy, and how tourist development can exist in harmony with its surroundings."
Bob Carr, Premier of New South Wales, Architecture Bulletin, Sydney, RAIA, July 2000, p.9