Richard Gilbert Scott, The man between

Gavin Stamp’s article “Richard Gilbert Scott obituary,” written for The Guardian, is an obituary that details the life and work of Richard Gilbert Scott, who sadly passed away on 1 July 2017 aged 93.

A unique style

Richard Gilbert Scott was the son of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. He designed an extensive list of buildings during his 50+ year architectural career. Some of his works were small, some of them were big, but all of them were stamped with his own unique style.

As Stamp notes in his obituary, Scott’s buildings “Are not pure modernist, or “high tech”, nor are they pedantically traditional. But they are certainly distinctive and modern.” This perhaps, is exactly what sets his buildings apart from the rest of his family’s.

A closer look at Scott’s best work

Gavin Stamp discusses in detail Richard’s first independent works. These were two Roman Catholic churches in the suburbs of Birmingham - The Church of St Thomas More at Sheldon, and the Church of Our Lady Help of Christians at Tile Cross.

He also discusses one of Richard’s personal favourite projects - lakeside offices for Blue Circle Cement at Aldermaston Court. Completed in 1986, the offices feature horizontal planes of balconies and pitched roofs across polygonal brick towers. It was one of Richard’s favourite projects because it relied on sound design and good materials - to Richard, many modern buildings were postmodern clichés.

Gavin Stamp’s obituary for Richard Gilbert Scott makes for great reading. We invite you to read it on The Guardian.