Robert Matthew

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Sir Robert Hogg Matthew (1906 - 1975) was a Scottish architect and a leading proponent of modernism.

[edit] Biography

Matthew was born and brought up in Edinburgh, and attended the Edinburgh College of Art. In 1946 he moved to London as Chief Architect of London County Council, working on the post-war reconstruction of Greater London and masterminding the Festival of Britain including such buildings as the Royal Festival Hall, 1951. In 1956, with Stirrat Johnson Marshall, he established the firm of RMJM (Robert Matthew, Johnson Marshall) in Edinburgh and London. Their first project was New Zealand House in the Haymarket. By 1953 he returned to Edinburgh to become the first professor of architecture at the University of Edinburgh, where he ran the department of architecture in collaboration with RMJM, in a manner that has been compared to Walter Gropius at the Bauhaus. There is now the Matthew Architecture Gallery in the department in his honour.

Matthew was closely involved with Basil Spence and Alan Reiach in the University's development plan for George Square, which ultimately resulted in the demolition of all but three sides of the square, and their replacement with modernist buildings. Matthew/RMJM were directly responsible for the design of the Arts Faculty buildings, now called the David Hume tower, Adam Ferguson building and William Robertson building.

Matthew was twice appointed President of the RIBA and later President of the Commonwealth Association of Architects [CAA] and the International Union of Architects [UIA]

In Edinburgh he was also behind the Royal Commonwealth Pool, British Home Stores on Princes Street, Edinburgh Airport, Lothian Regional Council Building and Wester Hailes Education Centre.

Elsewhere, Matthew/RMJM were involved in the design for the campuses of the University of Stirling and University of York.

[edit] External links

• Research paper: Edinburgh University and the Monumental Tradition