Philip Powell (architect)

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Sir Arnold Joseph Philip Powell (1921- May 5, 2003 in London), usually known as Philip Powell, was a ground-breaking English post-war architect.

He was the father of "Humane modernism", and is famous for designing the Chichester Festival Theatre. He also designed the Skylon, the Churchill Gardens apartment complex in Pimlico and the main House at Chichester.

He founded a practice with Hidalgo Moya, Powell & Moya Architect Practice. They won a competition to build Churchill Gardens, Pimlico, a complex that houses 5,000 people in 1,800 flats. They were aged 24 and 23 respectively.

They designed the Skylon Installation at the 1951 Festival of Britain, which sought to instil a sense of positive feeling at a time of postwar depression.

Powell designed a Putney school, a number of Oxford and Cambridge University buildings including Wolfson College, Oxford and at Christ Church, the courtyard at the Museum of London and Chichester Festival Theatre.

In 1974 Powell and Moya became the first to win the RIBA Gold Medal for architecture as a Practice.

Powell was knighted in 1975 after years of dedicated work as a member of the Royal Fine Arts Commission.