Sir Donald Edward Evelyn Gibson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 October 1908 |
| Died | 22 December 1991 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Known for | City Architect for Coventry |
Sir Donald Edward Evelyn Gibson CBE (11 October 1908 – 22 December 1991) was Coventry’s first City Architect and Planning Officer, from 1938-1954; most famous for the postwar redevelopment of Coventry city centre following the Coventry Blitz.
Gibson was educated at the High School of Dundee [1] and Manchester Grammar School before attending the Manchester School of Architecture. He spent his fourth year at Harvard, [2] training in Boston, USA, [3] before returning to the UK to qualify in 1932. [2]
At the age of 29, [4] Gibson was appointed as Coventry’s first City Architect and Planning Officer.
The re-planning of Coventry City Centre began before the Blitz in 1940-1941; indeed, Gibson produced the initial plan to rebuild part of the city in early 1940, in order to resolve the problems of overcrowding and congestion of the medieval town centre. [5] It was, however, the extensive wartime damage that enabled the Gibson plan to be turned into reality. [6]
The Gibson plan involved a re-thinking of the city centre, introducing what was then a brand new town planning concept, with the main premise being a separation of motor traffic and pedestrians. Such traffic-free shopping precinct was the first in Europe, and was seen as a "truly pioneering design" in its day. [7] In addition, Gibson was responsible for the first rooftop parking plus the development of a civic theatre (the Belgrade Theatre) and the circular market.
The Gibson plan saw extensive consultation with local people, with the "proposals and suggestions for the physical reconstruction and planning of the City of Coventry" set out in a book entitled The Future Coventry, published by the Corporation of Coventry. [8] It was also supported by the Government, where the then Minister of Works, Lord Reith commented, "Coventry would be a test case, not for me and my authority, but for the Government and for England". [9]
Gibson was succeeded by Arthur Ling who was City Architect from 1955 until 1964.
The redevelopment of the city was featured in a special edition of Architectural Design published in December 1958. [5]
Gibson left Coventry in 1955, and became County Architect in Nottinghamshire. Gibson subsequently knighted and became the government’s senior architect, responsible for raising architectural standards.
Gibson was External Professor of Architecture at the University of Leeds from 1966 to 1968.
Gibson was awarded the Coventry Award of Merit in 1966. [10]
He was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1964–65.
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, is an English architect and designer. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. His architectural practice Foster + Partners, first founded in 1967 as Foster Associates, is the largest in the United Kingdom, and maintains offices internationally. He is the president of the Norman Foster Foundation, created to 'promote interdisciplinary thinking and research to help new generations of architects, designers and urbanists to anticipate the future'. The foundation, which opened in June 2017, is based in Madrid and operates globally.
Euston railway station is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railway. Euston is the eleventh-busiest station in Britain and the country's busiest inter-city passenger terminal, being the gateway from London to the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland.
Sir Basil Urwin Spence, was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Modernist/Brutalist style.
Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie was an English town planner. Abercrombie came to prominence in the 1930s and 40s for his urban planning of the cities of Plymouth, Hull, Bath, Edinburgh and Bournemouth, and later for his radical plan to rebuild the post-war city of London.
Paternoster Square is an urban development, owned by the Mitsubishi Estate Co., next to St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. The area, which takes its name from Paternoster Row, once centre of the London publishing trade, was devastated by aerial bombardment in The Blitz during the Second World War. It is now the location of the London Stock Exchange which relocated there from Threadneedle Street in 2004. It is also the location of investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities Co., and of fund manager Fidelity Investments. The square itself, i.e. the plaza, is privately owned public space. In 2004, Christopher Wren's 1669 Temple Bar Gate was re-erected here as an entrance way to the plaza.
Arup is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment. The firm employs approximately 16,000 staff in over 90 offices across 35 countries around the world. Arup has participated in projects in over 160 countries.
Coventry railway station is the main railway station serving the city of Coventry, West Midlands, England. The station is on the Birmingham loop of the West Coast Main Line (WCML); it is also located at the centre of a junction where the lines to Nuneaton and to Leamington converge. It is situated on the southern edge of the city-centre, just outside the inner ring road, about 250 yards to the south of junction 6.
The Queensland Cultural Centre is a heritage-listed cultural centre at Grey Street, South Brisbane, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is part of the South Bank precinct on the Brisbane River. It was built from 1976.
Piccadilly Gardens is a green space in Manchester city centre, England, on the edge of the Northern Quarter.
Manchester Arndale is a large shopping centre in Manchester, England. It was constructed in phases between 1972 and 1979, at a cost of £100 million. Manchester Arndale is the largest of the chain of Arndale Centres built across the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. It was redeveloped after the 1996 Manchester bombing.
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum is a museum, art gallery, records archive, learning centre, media studio and creative arts facility on Jordan Well, Coventry, England.
The Coventry Blitz or Coventration of the city was a series of bombing raids that took place on the British city of Coventry. The city was bombed many times during the Second World War by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe). The most devastating of these attacks occurred on the evening of 14 November 1940 and continued into the morning of 15 November.
William Graham Holford, Baron Holford, was a British architect and town planner.
Percy Edwin Alan Johnson-Marshall CMG was a British urban designer, regional planner and academic. Born in India, he was educated at Liverpool University, and worked initially with local authorities in the south of England. In 1959 he took a post as senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, and was appointed Professor of Urban Design and Regional Planning in 1964.
The Coventry ring road, also known by its road number, A4053, is a 2.25-mile (3.62 km) ring road in Coventry, England, which forms a complete dual-carriageway loop around the city centre. The road's circuit encompasses the old and new Coventry Cathedrals, the city's shopping areas and much of Coventry University. With the exception of one roundabout at junction 1, the ring road's other eight junctions are entirely grade separated and closely spaced, with short weaving sections between them, some as short as 300 yards (300 m), giving the road a reputation for being difficult to navigate. The junctions include connections with three other A roads: the A4114, A4600 and A429.
Grimshaw Architects is an architectural firm based in London. Founded in 1980 by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the firm was one of the pioneers of high-tech architecture. In particular, they are known for their design of transport projects including Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA railway station, Waterloo International railway station and the award-winning Southern Cross railway station which was the recipient of the Royal Institute of British Architects Lubetkin Prize. Grimshaw is behind the design of the Sustainability Pavilion, an innovative net-zero building, for Expo 2020. The firm currently has offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Dubai, Melbourne and Sydney, employing over 600 staff.
Sir Terry Farrell is a British architect and urban designer. In 1980, after working for 15 years in partnership with Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, Farrell founded his own firm, Farrells. He garnered a strong reputation for contextual urban design schemes, as well as exuberant works of postmodernism such as the MI6 Building. In 1991, his practice expanded internationally, opening an office in Hong Kong. In Asia his firm designed KK100 in Shenzhen, the tallest building ever designed by a British architect, as well as Guangzhou South railway station, once the largest railway station in Asia.
Corporation Street is a major thoroughfare in Manchester city centre. It runs from Dantzic Street to the junction of Cross Street and Market Street. Major buildings located on or adjacent to the street include the Arndale Centre, Exchange Square, The Printworks, Urbis and New Century Hall next to the CIS Tower.
J. Lewis Womersley CBE, FRIBA, FRTPI, Hon. LL.D and MA was a British architect and town planner best known for his work as City Architect for Sheffield, leading the team that created the Gleadless Valley, Hyde Park and Park Hill estates. Womersley’s passion was "incorporating buildings, roads, paths, play-grounds, schools and superb landscaping as the complete architectural environment."
The Owen Owen Building is a large retail building in Coventry's Broadgate shopping precinct. It is named for the company that originally owned it, Owen Owen Ltd, it is currently occupied by Primark.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| Artists |  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writers | |||||
| Ribbon and silk industry | |||||
| Medieval history |
| ||||
| Science and engineering | |||||
| Related |
| ||||
| |||||
| General | |
|---|---|
| Art research institutes | |
| Other | |
