Innovation at the High Court

The High Court of Australia building is listed on the World Register of Significant 20th Century Architecture. In 2007 it received the Royal Australian Institute of Architects National ‘25 Year Award for enduring architecture’. It has light filled, bold geometric shapes and spaces, massed concrete, design supporting internal movement, and strong links with neighbouring buildings. It is monumental and asymmetrical, but also functional.

The building is “an internationally significant work of late modern architecture – a sophisticated and profoundly experiential configuration of architectonic form, space and movement,” according to Simon Kringas, architect and Senior Lecturer in Design at the University of Canberra. Its architecture does not reflect the traditional formal geometries and ornamental styles developed in the 19th century Beaux Arts movement.  It is modern and ‘brutalist’.

The design, the outcome of a two stage international competition in 1972–73, was led by Australian architect Christopher Kringas, a director of Edwards Madigan Torzillo and Briggs, working with Feiko Bouman and Rod Lawrence.

The Court was also at the forefront of court audiovisual and transcription technologies in the 1980s.

On Sunday 22 April Court Guides will deliver talks on the Courtroom technology and a drawing activity engaging with the Court architecture.

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