(b Glasgow, 18 Oct 1923). Scottish architect and teacher. He trained at the Glasgow School of Art (1940–42) and at Kingston School of Art (1946–8). On leaving Kingston he first joined the firm of Powell and Moya, then Stevenage New Town Corporation and finally he worked for Lyons, Israel and Ellis. At this office he met JAMES STIRLING with whom he entered into partnership in 1956. This collaboration lasted until 1964 and created some of the most important and influential post-war buildings in Britain. Their low-rise flats (1957) at Ham Common, Richmond, London, started a widespread trend of using brick and exposed concrete elements in public housing. The last project they worked on together was the Engineering School (1959–63) at Leicester University, a dramatic design with large areas of sawtooth greenhouse glazing and red brick or tile elements; it is often hailed as the building to have changed the course of British architecture away from the dominant International Style and towards a new and expressive use of materials. After 1964 Gowan worked on a number of smaller projects that received much less publicity than his earlier work. Much of his work was concerned with housing, both private and public, for example the very simple brick housing at Creek Road (1967), Greenwich, London, which is reminiscent of work by W. M. Dudok, or Trafalgar Road (1968), London. His use of elemental geometrical forms combined with meticulous detailing is exemplified in the cylindrical weekend house (1967) at St Davids, as well as the later pedimented Schreiber House (1980) at Chester. He also taught architecture, notably at the Architectural Association and Royal College of Art as well as lecturing abroad.

• Gowan, James
  • Cook, Peter
  • Glass, §IV, 2(iii): Uses: Architecture, 1914 and after
  • Stirling, James