What do the Notre Dame in Paris, the National Gallery in Berlin, the Dawn Fraser Baths in Balmain and our Great Cobar Museum all have in common?
They’re all grand old buildings and all make the list of top four favourite renovation projects admired by professor of architecture and ABC TV’s ‘Restoration Australia’ host, Anthony Burke.
A graduate of Columbia University GSAPP, Burke is recognised internationally for his work in architectural design, curation and commentary, specialising in issues of contemporary design at the intersection of restoration and practice.
The Professor of Architecture at the University of Technology Sydney is also the host of ‘Grand Designs Transformations’ and is a regular contributor to architectural media and public forums as an animated advocate for design and architecture.
In a recent ABC News interview, Burke said the Great Cobar Museum was a good demonstration of architects valuing history over the allure of trying something new or fresh.
“They actually just said, Let’s work with what we’ve got, and for all the right principles of not just adaptive reuse, but also working sustainably with what we have,” Burke said.
Cobar Shire Council’s tourism manager Demi Smith was thrilled to hear of Burke’s praise for the Great Cobar Museum.
“We got a lot of great publicity after the museum refurbishment took out the top prize at the 2022 National Trust Heritage Awards and it’s great that people are still talking about it now,” Demi said.
“The Cobar Sound Chapel article in the New York Times in 2022 also helped to shine the international spotlight on Cobar. It’s all an unexpected boost for tourism,” she said.
