Robert Woodward

Robert Raymond (Bob) Woodward (5 June 1923 – 21 February 2010) was an Australian architect who gained widespread recognition for his innovative fountain designs.

Background and early career Robert Raymond Woodward was born in Wentworthville in Sydney's western suburbs, the son of a public service accountant. Woodward was educated at Granville Technical Granville and Sydney Technical College. He served in the army during World War II working as an armourer. He was initially stationed with the Lachlan Macquarie 54th Regiment in Bathurst, then at Victoria Barracks where he completed an armoury course at East Sydney Technical College. Woodward later explained that being in the army at a young age had taught him to be responsible for the work he was doing and how to give instructions effectively. It also opened up the opportunity to study architecture at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning after the war as part of the huge post-war repatriation intake of ex-servicemen. After graduating with honours in 1952 he joined the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and worked briefly for Peddle Thorp & Walker, detailing industrial buildings, but soon headed off for England. He toured Europe with friends from Sydney before settling in Finland where he was privileged to work for a year with Alvar Aalto. He also spent another year in Finland working for the firm of Viljo Revell. The design commemorated the war service of the 9th Division of the Second Australian Imperial Force. He won the competition in the name of his firm Woodward & Taranto and went on to build the El Alamein Fountain, as it became known, was completed in 1961. Combining his architectural and earlier metalwork training he developed the "dandelion" inspired fountain which became one of the world's most copied designs.

Woodward suggested that he did not restrict himself to fountain design, as he explained to De Berg:

The Darling Harbour Woodward Water Feature was completed outside the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre in 1988. The water feature is designed as a spiral structure set into the pavement. It features ten spiraling channels for water flow and two pedestrian paths, allowing visitors to walk through the installation.

Awards and recognition Woodward was the recipient of many awards and honours in his lifetime, including the inaugural NSW Royal Institute of Architect's Civic Design Award for the El Alamein Fountain in 1964, and the ACT Chapter RAIA Canberra Medallion in 1988 for New Parliament House, the 1991 NSW Chapter Lloyd Rees Award for Civic Design and the 1991 national RAIA Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design for the Darling Harbour Fountain, and the 1992 AILA National Awards in Landscape Architecture Civic Design Project Award.

In 1997 Woodward was recognised by the NSW Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects with the naming of the Robert Woodward Award for Small Project Architecture.

Selected works by Robert Woodward

El Alamein Fountain, Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia 1959 St Paul's Church, (now Wentworthville Anglican), Wentworthville, Sydney, Australia 1964 Sir Leslie Morshead Memorial Fountain, Shakespeare Place, Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, Australia, 27 November 1966 (redesigned 1983 by Phil Taranto) Alcoa Building Forecourt Fountain, (now One Maritime Plaza), 300 Clay Street, San Francisco, USA 1967 Archibald Fountain, restoration of 1933 fountain, Hyde Park, Sydney 1968 Union Bank of California Fountain, Union Bank Tower (now OnPoint Plaza), 707 SW Washington Street, Portland, Oregon, USA 1969 Dandelion Fountain, 1345 Avenue of the Americas, New York, USA 1969 (demolished 2019) Geyser Room Restaurant, New Zealand Pavilion, Expo '70, Osaka 1970 Tupperware Forecourt Fountain, Orlando, Florida 1970 Endeavour Fountain, Chifley Square, Sydney 1970 Grace Memorial Fountain, Roselands, Sydney 1972 Berger Foundation Fountain, Loring Park, 1382 Willow Street, Minneapolis, USA 1975 Wall of Water, Town Hall Arcade, Sydney Square, Town Hall Station, Sydney 1976 Blue Wave Ceramic Sculpture, Bondi Junction Plaza, Sydney, Australia 1977 Mini El Alamein Fountain, Perak Turf Club, Ipoh, Malaysia 1978 Canberra Times Fountain, Canberra 1979 Forecourt Cascades, High Court of Australia Building, Canberra 1980 Five Islands Fountain donated by the Illawarra Mercury, Burelli Street (later moved to Wollongong Botanic Gardens), Wollongong 1981 GJ Coles Fountain, Parliament Gardens, Melbourne, Australia 1981 Lane Cove Plaza proposal, Lane Cove, Sydney, Australia 1981 Mount Street Doughnuts, North Sydney, Australia 1982 Water Mall and Dandelions, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia 1982 Waterlink, Sculpture Garden, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 1982 New South Wales Parliament House Courtyard Fountain, Sydney 1983 Lyric Theatre Fountain (Cascade Court Fountain), Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane, Australia 1984 Palmerston City Square Fountain, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia 1985 Pacific Bell Forecourt Fountain, San Ramon, California, USA 1988 Forecourt, Parliament House, Canberra, Australia 1988 Darling Harbour Water Feature (Tidal Cascade) outside the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia 1988 Modular Spiral Stair, precast Bankstown

Selected works