Selected works 1974–2010
At a time when the expressive work of Peter Corrigan was capturing the imagination of a generation of architects in Melbourne, architecture students at UQ were feasting on a solid diet of Alvar Aalto. In contrast, Don offered a broader approach that bridged the practical and the expressive, with an intense focus on experience and meaning. Venturing off campus to the basement of Metro Arts in the city, UQ students sampled the delights of an alternative feast presented in Don’s amazing series of talks and events. Post-academia, Don’s brilliant TAFE projects revealed that we had our own Corrigan hiding in plain sight. His Ithaca TAFE building remains an enduring touchstone. The fortress-like street edge gave way to a generous, sun-filled threshold that opened towards a forgotten rivulet. In an Utzon-like move, a plinth of service spaces elevated an intimate bonsai courtyard to sky, with a library wrapped around this intimate, light-filled core. In a sea of metaphors and practical moves, debates of modernism versus postmodernism surfaced and dissipated.
Helen Norrie Senior lecturer, University of Tasmania
I first met Don Watson in Geoffrey Pie’s New Farm office in the early seventies. I was a student working for Gabriel Poole on the Sunshine Coast and travelling to QUT. Gabriel and Geoffrey had agreed that I could work in Geoffrey’s office for one day a week to reduce travel time. This is where I had the pleasure of meeting and having many enlightening conversations with Don.
Don was a revelation. He had an amazing knowledge of heritage, urban issues and architecture. He could draw, he could write, and he was well connected in the architectural world. In the eighties, Don started a lecture series at the Community Arts Centre the likes of which had never existed in
