{"id":770686,"date":"2025-01-24T09:12:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T09:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=770686"},"modified":"2025-01-27T08:58:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T08:58:22","slug":"shetland-star-architect-richard-gibson-dies-aged-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/shetland-star-architect-richard-gibson-dies-aged-89","title":{"rendered":"Shetland architect Richard Gibson dies aged 89"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally from London, Gibson left a position at Camden Council to take up the post of deputy county architect on the remote Scottish archipelago in the late 1960s.<\/p>\n

In 1972 he left that post to found his own practice, Richard Gibson Architects, through which he became known for his low-rise housing befitting Shetland\u2019s sometimes harsh coastal environment, as well as for his public architecture, including schools, museums and civic pavilions.<\/p>\n

Nick Brett, Gibson\u2019s former co-director at Richard Gibson Architects, said Gibson and his wife Victoria \u2018presented a refreshing challenge to the embedded conventions and values of early 1970s pre-oil Shetland\u2019 and \u2018brought colour to Shetland in both an abstract and literal sense\u2019.<\/p>\n

Gibson\u2019s most celebrated projects include the Hamnavoe Primary School and the re-working of Symbister House, Shetland\u2019s most outstanding Georgian building.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Hamnavoe Primary School<\/p>\n\t

Source:n\u00e9e gibson architects<\/p><\/div>\n

Among his notable housing projects are John Jamieson Closs (1984), a 10-home scheme; Gremista<\/a> Housing, a 48-home scheme consisting of semi-detached homes and flats (1999); and Gr\u00f6dian<\/a>s, a colourful social housing development in Lerwick (2011).<\/p>\n

These projects, across several sites in\u00a0 Lerwick, were all commissioned by the Hjaltland Housing Association.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Gr\u00f6dians<\/p>\n\t

Source:n\u00e9e gibson architects<\/p><\/div>\n

Gibson\u2019s early Shetland projects often consisted of harling-rendered concrete blocks, but he later switched to timber-framed and clad buildings after becoming disillusioned with the excessive quantities of Shetland pebbles required for the earlier renders.<\/p>\n

Architectural critic Rowan Moore has praised Gibson\u2019s work as \u2018characterised by care with the shared spaces between homes and by a responsiveness to the landscape and constructional traditions of Shetland\u2019.<\/p>\n

Gibson himself said architecture was \u2018not about designing icons but making a framework for people to live their lives\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Gremista<\/p>\n\t

Source:n\u00e9e gibson architects<\/p><\/div>\n

He was recognised with a lifetime achievement award by the Royal Institute of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) in 2010.<\/p>\n

Born in 1935 and the son of architect Alec Gibson, Richard Gibson trained at the Architectural Association in the same cohort as Richard Rogers, Georgie Wolton and Neave Brown.<\/p>\n

He worked for British Rail, Middlesex County Council Schools Division and Camden Council \u2013 and built his own mews house in Camden<\/a>, which later inspired his friend Ted Cullinan to do the same<\/a> \u2013 before moving to Shetland in 1968.<\/p>\n

Describing the career U-turn in a Guardian obituary<\/a>, Moore said Gibson had \u2018the career of a promising metropolitan architect\u2019 but \u2018disliked the office politics at Camden\u2019 and so applied for the Shetland job.<\/p>\n

Gibson managed to keep his Shetland practice going \u2018through its unremunerative early years with the help of income from his wife Victoria\u2019s successful knitwear business\u2019, according to the architecture critic.<\/p>\n

Gibson retired in 2016, but his practice has continued under the name n\u00e9e gibson architects,<\/a> now run by Gibson\u2019s former co-director, Adrian Wishart.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Da Vadill<\/p>\n\t

Source:n\u00e9e gibson architects<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Tribute by Nick Brett, Gibson’s now-retired former co-director<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Richard had a rather casual, unhurried air about him, never pushy and always courteous and calm. He managed a remarkable alchemy of successfully entrusting employees with freedom and responsibility to design and run projects with care.<\/p>\n

Like the qualities of the man, the buildings that Richard\u2019s practice produced were understated and well-considered. His design approach was primarily one of integration and context, rather than the more rigorous modernism of the London peers with whom he studied and identified. If there is value in making comparison, then his design approach was closer in influence to that of his late friend Ted Cullinan.<\/p>\n

Richards 50 years of practicing as an architect in Shetland has left a legacy of well-crafted schemes and buildings dotted throughout the isles. The urban housing schemes and civic projects made a significant contribution to the built fabric and townscape of Lerwick and Scalloway.<\/p>\n

The Vadill housing scheme in Lerwick was to be the last project that Richard personally ran and it is a fine testimony to his skill in resolving a complex and awkward site in the town with a deceptively simple radial layout.<\/p>\n

Richard and Victoria were very much a team. Throughout their long marriage they supported one another in their respective architecture practice and Victoria\u2019s successful knitwear business.<\/p>\n

Their family holidayed, sailed and played at their off-grid weekend ‘Tardis’ of a bunkhouse on the west coast of Shetland. Much of this converted ruined croft house was hands-on built over a decade. The result is a building has a delightful light touch. A credit to a decent, capable man who lived a good life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally from London, Gibson left a position at Camden Council to take up the post of deputy county architect on the remote Scottish archipelago in the late 1960s. In 1972 he left that post to found his own practice, Richard Gibson Architects, through which he became known for his low-rise housing befitting Shetland\u2019s sometimes harsh …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138919,"featured_media":771720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[681],"tags":[1155,6045,75977,101479,4750,3067,1202,5624],"yoast_head":"\nShetland architect Richard Gibson dies aged 89<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Shetland-based architect Richard Gibson, famous for his remote architecture \u2018characterised by care\u2019, has died aged 89\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/shetland-star-architect-richard-gibson-dies-aged-89\" \/>\n<meta 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