Mr John Denton completed his architectural and post-graduate planning studies at the University of Melbourne. In 1972, he founded Denton Corker Marshall with Mr Bill Corker and Mr Barrie Marshall in Melbourne. This firm has become one of the most significant and successful Australian-owned international design practices, with offices in Melbourne, Jakarta and London. Denton Corker Marshall is widely acclaimed both in Australia and internationally for the high calibre of its architecture and urban design, which is the subject of several prestigious contemporary publications and attracts many prominent design awards.

Mr Denton’s principal interests in both architecture and urban design have shaped a range of projects over many years; he was Director in Charge of the new Australian Embassies in Beijing and Tokyo (where he was also a member of the Australian Government Task Force charged with negotiations for redevelopment of the existing embassy site), and more recently has been Director in Charge of a series of projects for Monash University, Caulfield Campus. He was Director in Charge of the Museum of Victoria project, a commission won by the practice in an open design competition. He was also Director in Charge of Anzac Hall, and the East Building and Gallery redevelopment, the most recent of a series of projects for the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. He was Director in Charge of the new Civil Justice Centre Project in Manchester (UK). He is currently Director in Charge of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research Project, and the new Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Mr Denton has, for a number of years, been President of the Australian Print Workshop and a Board Member of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, non profit organizations supported by Arts Victoria and the Australia Council. He also chairs the Interim Advisory Board establishing the Creative Industries Innovation Centre for the Department of Innovation Industry Science and Research.

Mr Denton lectures on Denton Corker Marshall’s work to schools of architecture, professional institutes in Australia and abroad, and as a keynote speaker. He has lectured at the Architecture League in New York and was a Visiting Professor at the Royal Danish Academy of the Arts. He is an adjunct Professor of Architecture in the Faculty of Art and Design at Monash University.

In 1996, Mr Denton, Mr Corker and Mr Marshall were made the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medallists for that year, the most prestigious award the RAIA bestows. From 2006 to 2008, Mr Denton accepted a part-time role as the Victorian Government Architect to advise the Premier and Cabinet on achieving better architecture and urban design outcomes for Government.