Colin Stephen

1931

Colin Schumacher dedicated himself to public service and practised as a government architect for four decades from the mid to the late twentieth century. Over this time he endeavoured to raise the standard of South Australian government architecture and played an active role within the wider profession.

Colin Stephen Schumacher was born in late 1931 at Unley. He was the only son of the Public Service Commissioner Bert E.B. Schumacher and Margaret Schumacher. In 1956 he married Margaret Craig and had one son, Stephen, who was born in 1962.

Schumacher was educated at Blackwood Primary School, where he was dux in 1943, and Unley High School. After finishing his secondary education ‘he was uncertain whether to pursue studies in law or in architecture’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008). His father played a significant role in Schumacher’s choice between these professions by taking him to visit the well-known architect John (Jack) Denyer Cheesman (C. Schumacher 2004, pers. comm., 5 October). This experience proved pivotal, as Schumacher went on to become an architect.

Schumacher commenced his architectural studies in 1949. He was a model student and in his final year, 1953, the local Advertiser newspaper reported that he was ‘considered one of the best post-war students … [and is] believed to be amongst the youngest to have got through this course’ (Newspaper clippings book Walkley Collection S293/15). He won ‘numerous awards including the South Australian Institute of Architect's (SAIA) Architectural Travelling Prize, which he used in 1954 to study contemporary residential architecture in New South Wales and Victoria. … In 1954 he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Architectural) from the University of Adelaide, in addition to a Fellowship Diploma in Architecture from the South Australian School of Mines’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008).

During the late 1940s and early 1950s local architectural education underwent a revolutionary canonical change. The centuries old Beaux-Arts tradition was usurped in favour of a modern design pedagogy (Collins 2007). Students including Schumacher and the many returned servicemen from World War Two played an important role in this change. The more mature ex-servicemen were less willing to accept design traditions and encouraged younger students to explore modernism. Schumacher was one of the students who witnessed this important transition and indeed embraced modernism. As a student, he headed the Architectural Students Association for several years and helped organise the Drawing Exchange Scheme which toured architectural student drawings around Australia, effectively disseminating this change.

‘In 1957 Schumacher was awarded the Albert Kahn Memorial Fellowship for postgraduate study by the School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America. … [H]e majored in architectural design within the master class of internationally renowned architect Louis Kahn’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008). In 1958 Schumacher received a Master of Architecture Degree (Biographical notes 7 July 2008). While studying in America, he not only conducted technical research for the Commonwealth Department of Works (where he had been a cadet) but also worked in the small architectural office of John S. Carver.

Schumacher spent almost his entire career with the Commonwealth Government. In 1950, while still studying in Adelaide, he became a cadet with the Commonwealth Department of Works (Department of Works). ‘Fellow cadets at that time included many future leaders of the architectural profession, including Alan Godfrey, John Chappel, Doug Raffen and Brian Taylor’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008). Other colleagues included Mervyn Smith, architect and modern watercolourist, and the progressive Sydney architects, Peter and Marjorie Simpson (C. Schumacher 2004, pers. comm., 5 October).

After graduating, Schumacher was predominantly involved in the design development and documentation phases of projects. In 1955 Schumacher became a registered architect and was one of the few registered architects who worked at the Department of Works because ‘at that time, Commonwealth architects were exempt from registration requirements’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008). In 1960 he became chiefly involved in contract administration. In 1963 he was appointed Supervising Architect for the new Reserve Bank building in Victoria Square. Later, in mid 1966, Schumacher travelled to the Northern Territory where he took up the position of Principal Architect at the Territory’s Department of Works. He returned to Adelaide later in that year ‘to take charge of South Australian design work, in which he led design teams in a wide variety of projects’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008). In the 1970s, the Department was restructured and more emphasis was placed on project management. Schumacher became the first resources manager. ‘Subsequent appointments were as project manager, technical services manager and eventually, in 1989, Principal Architect, the position from which he retired in 1992’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008).

Schumacher was active in the profession. In 1952 he joined the SAIA (later RAIA) as a student member. In 1955 he became an Associate and in 1970 a Fellow. ‘He was active within the Institute for over half a century, at both State Chapter and National levels. He served on numerous committees including the National Competitions and Membership Committees, and the SA Chapter Complaints Committee, of which he became chairman and initiated action which led to major changes in the RAIA’s complaint procedures. He served on the SA Chapter Council for 13 years, the last four of which he was Vice-President. In recognition of his service to the profession he was made a Life Fellow in 1987’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008).

In the mid to late 1950s Schumacher was one of a group of young graduates who helped form the Architects Research Group which provided a forum for discussions about modernism. Modern painters and sculptors, such as Wladislaw (Vlad) Dutkiewicz, were invited as guest speakers. ‘In 1956 an Architectural Exhibition was held in Adelaide in conjunction with the Sixth Australian Architectural Convention. The exhibition was located in Adelaide’s Botanic Park and showcased ten modern architecturally designed pavilions which housed contemporary paintings and sculptures.’ (Collins 2007: 201). ‘Although Schumacher’s contribution towards the exhibition was limited, as he was married just a month before its opening,’ more than forty years later, he helped organise a retrospective exhibition (Biographical notes 7 July 2008). The 1998 retrospective exhibition focused on both the pivotal role played by the 1956 event in promoting modernism to South Australians, and ‘not only enlighten[ed] today’s community but also … inform[ed] future generations of architects and the public’ (Schumacher Collection S221). ‘The retrospective exhibition became the subject of a subsequent discourse in the 2002 Adelaide Festival of Arts, in which Schumacher was one of the speakers’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008).

After Schumacher returned from overseas, in 1960, ‘he gave illustrated public lectures on world architecture and civic design, for the SA Library Board’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008). He also guest lectured at the University of Adelaide on subjects including the architectural philosophies of Louis Kahn, and project management. He spoke not only at South Australian but also at national RAIA conventions. ‘In the workplace he regularly conducted training courses for architectural staff, a facet of his employment which he found most satisfying’ (Biographical notes 7 July 2008).

Over the years Schumacher published several articles in local journals including ‘Louis Kahn: a Penn Portrait’, April 1964, and ‘Condensed Kahn’, September 1964 in ‘Fabric’ - the journal of the Adelaide University Architectural Students Association. He also published in Architect SA on ‘Mervyn Ashmore Smith’, ‘Party Wall Politics’, ‘Architecture in the Park’; and ‘My Architect, Too’, Summer 2004 (Biographical notes 7 July 2008).

Over the many decades at the Department of Works, Schumacher produced a large body of work ‘some of national importance and massive scale’ (Schumacher Collection S221). He worked on the development of Woomera Rocket Range and township (c.1950). He played a leading role in projects including the Adelaide Airport developments at West Beach (1955-85) – in 1955 this was one of Schumacher’s first design development and documentation projects after graduating; the design and documentation of two large laboratory complexes for the CSIRO Division of Soils at Urrbrae (1956-60); contract administration of the Reserve Bank building - the then tallest building in Adelaide, (1963-7) including underground extensions (1976); a widespread program of new telephone exchanges, lighthouses, post offices and regional office buildings (1955-85); restoration of the Adelaide GPO Postal Hall (1986); Garden of Remembrance, Pasadena (1987); and national investigation of ceramic floor tiling failures (1990) (Biographical notes 7 July 2008).

Susan Collins

Citation details
Collins, Susan, 'Schumacher, Colin Stephen’, Architecture Museum, University of South Australia, 2013, Architects of South Australia: [http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=71]