A Plan Larger Than I Could Draw - Adventist Book Centre Australia [with ABC Christian Books, Better Books and Food and Christian Life Resources]

A Plan Larger Than I Could Draw

Stories and perspectives from the mind and heart

by Neville Clouten

The winner of the Sydney Opera House design competition was announced the week young Neville Clouten entered the architecture program at the University of Sydney in 1957. As his class studied the project and watched the foundations being laid, he little realised the influence this building—and the people surrounding it—would have on his life.

The eight essays in this book reflect on Dr Clouten’s fascinating life experiences as an architect, award-winning academic, administrator and artist. They trace his travels in Europe and North America, his work recording Aboriginal rock engravings in outback Australia, his role as the first Professor of Architecture at Andrews University, and his humanitarian and advisory work in Africa. In all of these experiences, it is inspiringly clear that there was a plan for Dr Clouten’s life.

Reviews and Endorsements


[Bookshelf Review]

They say that you can’t tell a book by its cover. That’s not true with Neville Clouten’s A Plan Larger Than I Could Draw. In this, an autobiographical work with several photos, you’ll often find occasions when you sense God drawing the plan for him. In the early 60s he was a student of architecture at Sydney University, which meant field trips to the Sydney Opera House as it was being built. After his final exam, he applied to be the “Researcher and Official Guide” at the Opera House and was the first to hold that position. He often talked to Jørn Utzon, the architect, so he could defend the Opera House. In 1963, he and wife, Norene, headed to Europe where he hoped to gain more architectural experience. A “chance” meeting with Adventist conductor Herbert Blomstedt at the Stockholm Adventist Church one Sabbath led to an introduction and work with Gosta Åberg who had won the contest to build a concert hall in Oslo. Clouten is now a retired award-winning academic (with a PhD from Edinburgh University), an administrator and an accomplished artist. He was the first Professor of Architecture at the church’s Andrews University. His ground-breaking work recording Aboriginal art in Australia is significant (he began the task with borrowed police cameras). A random email from a Kenyan girl led to a school for orphans. As you would expect, he’s interested in church architecture. He spent a day travelling (in the United States) to visit a church mentioned in a journal where a congregation and an architect designed their church together and created a model of it. He was disappointed to find the model still in the architect’s office and that the congregation had accepted an offer from a builder to build something more cheaply. He praises our award-winning Canberra National Church—and gives suggestions of how to get best results for our “sacred spaces.” There’s so much more to his life, but there’s a real sense of a plan larger than he could imagine—or, as Clouten the artist would prefer, larger than he could “draw.” A worthwhile read. —Bruce Manners, author, The Command and Retirement’s Gift


[Endorsement]

"From the Sydney Opera House, to work and study as an architect in Europe and the United States, to pioneering the architecture degree at Andrews University and acting as an advisor in Africa, you will see how God keeps turning up in Neville Clouten’s fascinating life in subtle but powerful ways."—Bruce Manners, author, retired pastor and editor


[Endorsement]

"Neville Clouten takes us on seemingly effortless engagements around his world of architecture and culture. He has pursued a full life—a life manifesting intelligence and ambition with humility."—Greg Constantine, artist and Emeritus Professor of Art, Andrews University.