Rodney H Gordon (2 February 1933 – 30 May 2008) was an English

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was the primary architect of the Tricorn Centre,

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, and Trinity Square, Gateshead. Architecturally, his works were primarily in

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

; he was said to be a

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

and his buildings have been described as "dramatic, sculptural and enormous" as well as "futuristic".

Biography

Gordon was born on 2 February 1933 in

Wanstead Wanstead () is an area in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge to the east and Manor Park to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is located 8 m ...

, East London to Jewish parents Chilean-born Carmen F (Poirier) and East London-born Hyman Jacob Hyman. His mother was from the naval port of

Punta Arenas Punta Arenas (, historically known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Chile's southernmost Regions of Chile, region, Magallanes Region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. Although officially renamed as ...

Tierra Del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

, the southernmost city on Earth, overlooking the Straits of Magellan. Situated astride one of the world's historic trade routes, its prosperity has risen and fallen with that trade. Gordon's mother left there sometime in the 1920s and returned to London, England, where her parents had been living sometime before they left for Chile around 1903. They had initially come to London in the 1880s or 1890s to escape the Pogroms of Russia and Eastern Europe. He went to University College Hospital Medical School at the age of 16 but then, two years later inspired by the Festival of Britain, he switched to the Hammersmith School of Building, going on to the

Architectural Association School of Architecture The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest private school of architecture in the UK. The AA hosts exhibitions, lectures, academic conference, symposia and publications. Histo ...

, where he studied under the distinguished German Jewish modernist architect and urban planner

Arthur Korn Arthur Korn (20 May 1870 – 21 December/22 December 1945) was a German physicist, mathematician and inventor. He was involved in the development of the fax machine, specifically the transmission of photographs or telephotography, known as the ...

, before graduating in 1957. He then went to work at the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

(LCC) architects department for which he designed his first great work, the Michael Faraday Memorial at Elephant and Castle. In 1959 he was introduced to

Owen Luder Harold Owen Luder (7 August 1928 – 8 October 2021) was a British architect who designed a number of notable and sometimes controversial buildings in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s, many in an uncompromising brutalist design, and ...

by a colleague from the LCC and by the end of the year he was working for him in the ''Owen Luder Partnership'' for which he designed the Eros House. In the 1970s he founded ''Batir International Architects'', which later became ''Tripos Architects'', with Ray Baum and Larry Abbot. It was during this time, at the age of 42, that he suffered a heart attack from overwork. In 1979 he designed his last work for Batir, a bronze- and aluminium-clad commercial complex on St James's Street, London.

Personal life

He was married and had one child but was later divorced. He was a passionate skier and founded the ''Uphill Ski Club'' which helps teach the physically handicapped to ski. He died on 30 May 2008 at the age of 75.

References

External links

Documentary snapshot of the Tricorn Center with comments by the architect Rodney Gordon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Rodney Architects from London Brutalist architects 1933 births 2008 deaths People from Wanstead Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture 20th-century English Jews 21st-century English Jews