Architecture icon retires from UQ after 33 years

Architect Professor Brit Andresen will bid a fond farewell to The University of Queensland (UQ) this month after 33 years lecturing and mentoring students.

Professor Andresen is recognised for her thoughtful works of architecture and her tireless advocacy for architectural design, exhibiting projects in Paris, Berlin, and most recently at the Venice Biennale 2010.

A farewell function for Professor Andresen will be held tonight (March 18), coinciding with the launch of a special boxed publication of international architecture magazine UME 22, entitled 'Andresen O’Gorman Works 1965-2001'.

This special edition of UME 22 will showcase the work of Professor Andresen and her late husband Peter O’Gorman.

Andresen O’Gorman is known for architectural works that include Ocean View Farmhouse, Mount Mee (1994), Mooloomba House, Point Lookout (1998), Rosebery House, Highgate Hill (1998) and Moreton Bay Houses, Wynnum (2001).

Deputy Head of UQ’s School of Architecture, Dr Antony Moulis, said that Professor Andresen’s outstanding contribution to architecture has affected all areas of the School, but most particularly her teaching in Architectural Design and research through architectural creative works.

“Not only has Brit taught architecture with great distinction at the University and internationally, she has also made a lasting impression upon the architecture of Queensland through her thoughtful tutelage of a generation of students who have, in turn, become our leading practitioners of architecture,” Dr Antony Moulis said.

"Professor Andresen was the first female architect to be employed by The University of Queensland and has been an inspiration to both her colleagues and students for more than three decades."

She received a UQ Excellence in Teaching Award in 1990, celebrating both her commitment to teaching and her students.

In 2002 Professor Andresen was the first woman to receive the prestigious Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Gold Medal, honouring her contribution to the architecture field and commitment to teaching.

Upon her retirement in November of 2010, Professor Andresen was appointed Emeritus Professor in the School of Architecture for her outstanding contribution to the University.

A farewell function will be held at the Queensland State Library and hosted by UQ’s School of Architecture, providing her colleagues, collaborators and past and present students with the opportunity to celebrate Professor Andresen and her contribution to both the University and the discipline of architecture.

An ‘Interactions Andresen O’Gorman’ exhibition honouring both Professor Andresen’s and Peter O’Gorman’s work will be held in the State Library of Queensland’s Asia Pacific Design Library Lounge from March 19 until July.

Media: The Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology’s Madelene Flanagan, m.flanagan@uq.edu.au or 33658525.