Daryl Jackson

Jackson was born on 7 February 1937 in Clunes, Victoria, Australia, and was educated at Wesley College in Melbourne. He completed a diploma in architecture at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), then moved to the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Diploma of Architecture in 1959.^[1]

After working with architects in Melbourne, Sydney, and in the United States, he established his first practice, Jackson Walker, with fellow Melbourne University graduate Evan Walker in 1965. His first contribution to Australian architecture however was a separate collaboration with another fellow alumni, Kevin Borland, designing the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre. This project introduced the Victorian version of the Brutalist style, with bare concrete, concrete block and sculptural forms, and is now on the Victorian Heritage Register.^[2]

Jackson Walker decided to specialise in schools, and soon designed notable projects such as Princes Hill High School (1972) in bold Brutalist concrete style, and the even bolder form of the RAW Woodgate Building at MLC the next year.^[3] Other notable projects include two very bold sculptural bare concrete Brutalist designs, the YMCA in Suva, Fiji (1973),^[4] and the Canberra School of Music (1976, now Llewllyn Hall, ANU School of Music).^[3]

St Pauls School (now Woodleigh School Senior campus), Baxter (1974-79) was by contrast a collection of timber structures in a bush setting.^[5]

Evan Walker left the firm in 1978 in order to pursue a political career, becoming Minister for Planning in the early 1980s.

In the 1970s Jackson designed some residential projects, in the rough-hewn timber form then gaining popularity. A notable design included his own holiday house in Shoreham on the Mornington Peninsula, a design of many levels and layers,^[6][7] and a house for the Abrahams family on the beachfront at Brighton (1979).^[5]

After 1980 the work of the firm took on new directions, including expressed structure for large-span projects, and a more eclectic approach to composition, influenced by the new trends of Postmodernism.

The Canberra School of Art (1981, now part of the ANU Institute of the Arts) introduced rounded and stepped planning. The pool for the new Australian Institute of Sport (1983) is a notable work from this period, featuring a white tubular trussed roof in stepped sections with arched skylight edges.^[3] Expressed steel structure also features in the steel canopy of the Great Southern Stand at the MCG (1992), designed in association with Tompkins Shaw & Evans. The firm was also commissioned for two major embassy commissions, the Singapore High Commission in Canberra (1985), and the Australian embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (1989), which features stylised references to local vernaculars. The firm also undertook major commerical office projects, notably 120 Collins Street (with Hassell), completed in 1991. Designed with squared patterning and a stepped top, the steel spire atop the 52 floors made it the tallest in Australia for many years.

The firm also worked within a new regard for heritage that was developing in the 1980s. Early in that decade, Jackson renovated a very altered pair of 19th century terraces in east Melbourne into his own family home, with some stylised classical features and a steel trellis balcony.^[8][7] In Canberra, the firm restored and sympathetically extended the 1924 Hotel Canberra, re-opening in 1988.^[9]

About 1990 Jackson was awarded the major project to build the new Museum of Victoria on Southbank, in a design of angled forms, domes and stripes.^[10] This was only partially built, and later transformed into the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.

A major redevelopment of the MCG followed, with the Great Southern Stand (now the Shane Warne Stand), completed in 1992. Designed in association with Tompkins Shaw & Evans, who had done stands previously, features a dramatic expressed cantilevered steel structure supporting a continuous roof. This was followed by a similar design, but with a fabric roof, for the Northern Grandstand at 'the Gabba' in Brisbane, completed in 1997. That design was repeated in stages around the ground until in 2005 it encircled the whole oval. the firm also designed major health facilities, including new wings at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Austin Hospital, both in Melbourne.^[3]

Another project in a heritage context was the extension of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, in association with the NSW Government Architect, completed in 2001. In a 'brilliant move',^[3] the new faculties were placed under grassed terraces around the existing Gothik style building, dating from 1841. With heritage consultants Allom Lovell, the firm also restored and renovated the historic Customs House in Melbourne to meet a new role as the Immigration Museum, opening in 1998.^[1][11]

Another award winning project followed in 2002, the new County Court of Victoria on the corner of William and Lonsdale Streets. Designed in association with Lyons, it features fractured and folded geometries.^[1]

Since about 2000, the practice has been known as Jackson Architecture, and grown to be involved in numerous large scale projects. With branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, London, Vietnam, and China, the firm has completed university and college facilities, stadiums, commercial offices, art galleries, and industrial structures.

As the chief principal of design at Jackson Architecture, Jackson perceived his role relative to that of a film director: "working on the plot, lining up the cameras, producing and editing to generate the desired result".^[12] While Jackson unified each product with his direct design input, he placed a strong emphasis on collaborative design and idea thinking, and acknowledged the talent and co-professionalism of other designers that help piece together each project.

Major involvements included the Southern Cross Station redevelopment with Grimshaw Architects, which features an undulating roof, completed in 2006.

Jackson's Sydney practice, Daryl Jackson Robin Dyke Pty Ltd, was the Executive Architect for the Frank Gehry-designed The Dr Chau Chak Wing Building for the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), which was completed in 2015.

Other notable works mentioned on the practice website in 2026 include:^[13]

Jackson taught architecture at RMIT, and wrote a regular column on housing for The Age from 1966 to 1999. Jackson was also a principal lecturer at Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) conventions and a visiting professor of architecture and design at the University of New South Wales in 1982.

Other roles included at different times serving as chairman of the Australian Film Institute, Trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria, member of the Victoria Council of the Arts, Vice President of the Melbourne Cricket Club, director of the Essendon Football Club, president of Wesley College (Victoria), and chair of the Heritage Council of Victoria.^[14]

Daryl Jackson married Kay in 1961, and had four children,^[15][16] two of whom are also architects. Sara Jackson worked worked in her father's office in the 1990s, and since 2013 has been a Director.^[17] Tim Jackson is also an architect, and in 1998 was a founding partner of Jackson, Clements, Burroughs, known as JCB Architects.^[18]

Jackson died on 21 February 2026, at the age of 89.^[19][20]

• 1987 – Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal
• 1990 – Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia on 26 January 1990 for his service to architecture^[21]
• 2015 onwards – the top RAIA award for educational buildings has been named the Daryl Jackson Award for Educational Architecture.^[20]

Jackson Walker

• 1978 – Citation in Library Design Awards for Balwyn Library, Melbourne.^[22]
• 1978 – RAIA (ACT Chapter) Canberra Award for Canberra School of Music

Daryl Jackson

• 1981 – Inaugural Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture^[23] for Canberra School of Art (now Llewllyn Hall, ANU School of Music)
• 1984 – Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture and RAIA National Award for Design Excellence for AIS National Sports Centre Swimming Halls, Canberra
• 1991 – RAIA International Architecture Award for Australian Chancery Complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• 1992 – RAIA Sir Zelman Cowen Award for MCG Great Southern Stand, Melbourne, in association with Tompkins Shaw & Evans
• 1993 – RAIA (Victorian Chapter) Award Winner for 120 Collins Street, Melbourne in association with Hassell Architects
• 1997 – RAIA (Queensland Chapter) F.D.G Stanley Award Commendation for the Northern Grandstand, Brisbane Cricket Ground
• 1998 – RAIA City of Melbourne Prize - Interior Architecture Medal for Georges Store redevelopment, Melbourne, in association with Conran Design Partnership
• 1998 – RAIA Environment Award for University of the Sunshine Coast, Science Faculty Building, Queensland.
• 1999 – RAIA Presidents Award for Recycled Buildings for the Immigration Museum, Melbourne

Jackson Architecture

• 2002 – RAIA (NSW) Public Building Award for the Conservatorium of Music extensions, Sydney
• 2003 – RAIA Interior Architecture Award for the County Court of Victoria, Melbourne
• 2010 – RAIA Public Architecture Award RAIA (WA Chapter) Regional Commendation for the WA Basketball Centre (AK Reserve), Perth, in association with Peter Hunt Architects JV
• 2010 – RAIA Colourbond Award for Steel Architecture and RAIA (WA Chapter) Regional Commendation for the RWA Basketball Centre, Perth, in association with Peter Hunt Architects JV
• 2010 – Master Builders (WA) Excellence in Construction Award, Best State Government Building Commendation for the WA Basketball Centre (AK Reserve), Perth, in association with Peter Hunt Architects JV
• 2010 – Master Builders (VIC) Excellence in Construction Award, Excellence in Commercial Buildings $10M-$15M for the Commendation VIC Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School, Melbourne
• 2010 – Western Australian Heritage Award for the WA Police Midland Operations Support Facility, Perth, in association with Peter Hunt Architects JV
• 2012 – Sir Roy Grounds Award for Enduring Architecture for AIS National Sports Centre Swimming Halls, Canberra
• 2013 – Master Builders (Victoria)Excellence in Construction of Commercial Building for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre, Melbourne in association with McConnel Smith Johnson
• 2014 – Master Builders (Victoria) Excellence in Commercial Construction, for Melbourne Park Eastern Precinct Redevelopment
• 2020 – AIA (Victorian Chapter) Enduring Architecture Award for the MCG Great Southern Stand, Melbourne, in association with Tompkins Shaw and Evans

• 
  Australian Institute of Sport pool, 1983
• 
  High Commission of Singapore, Canberra, 1985.
• 
  Australian Embassy, Riyadh, 1989
• 
  120 Collins Street, 1991
• 
  Great Southern Stand in 1998
• 
  Immigration Museum, 1998
• 
  County Court of Victoria, 2006