Vale Alastair Swayn

19 Aug 2016

We offer sincere condolences to the family and friends of Alastair Swayn, who passed away earlier this month. Alastair’s contribution to Australia’s sustainable building movement is immense. As director in charge of Daryl Jackson Alastair Swayn architects in Canberra, Alastair was responsible for designing Australia's first Green Star building – 8 Brindabella Circuit at the Canberra Airport. As the inaugural ACT Government Architect, Alastair’s work is reshaping the nation’s capital. His design for the new ACT Law Courts, currently registered for Green Star, will leave his community a lasting legacy. Alastair helped to reframe the way architects looked at sustainable design, and we salute his exceptional contribution. More than anything, Alastair was just a nice bloke, charming, interested and thoughtful. 

Stephen Byron, Managing Director of the Canberra Airport says: “Alastair has had a huge impact on all of our lives and he leaves a tremendous legacy here at the airport.  His involvement in so many other projects in Canberra is itself a stunningly prolific contribution of creativity and reflects his enormous passion for this city. Alastair started working with Terry [Snow, Chairman] on his Capital Jet hangar facility which Terry had leased from the Federal Airports Corporation in 1997, before we purchased the airport.  When we had to come to grips with turning a sheep paddock into a business park, Alastair was there with us day in and day out churning through the evolution of plan and masterplan one after another  and it was not just the buildings that he designed but all of the spaces between them which is such a pivotal part of the outcome.”