ScottishArchitecture.com

A selection of graduates from the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment at The Robert Gordon University (RGU) are seeing their work profiled as part of a poster exhibition to celebrate the School’s 50th anniversary at Garthdee.

Scott Sutherland graduate, and now Honorary Graduate of RGU, Maxwell Hutchison, was the key speaker at the exhibition’s launch event on Thursday 24 April. Maxwell’s career has seen him move from the top echelons of architecture, with his own practice designing some of London’s most iconic buildings, into the realm of broadcasting as a regular television presenter. He is the BBC’s resident architect, wrote and presented three series for the Discovery Channel on architecture, engineering and science and worked on BBC2's First Sight and Restoration Nation.

At the launch Maxwell was presented with a framed copy of his father’s 1920s graduation certificate from RGU, having donated the original to the University.

The exhibition, which will be open to the public until Friday 9 May, is showcasing the work of 40 of the School’s alumni who have gone on to forge hugely successful careers in the sector. They include Graham Donald, who worked as a project manager on the iconic Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur – the tallest building in the world at the time. His fellow alumni exhibitors include: Gordon Grant Benton OBE, who went from an apprentice architect in Aberdeen County Council, to the architect and planner for multi-million pound developments across Indonesia; former Head of the School of Architecture in Dundee, Professor James Paul and Avril Cranston, Joint Head of 3D Reid in Glasgow, and responsible for 130 staff.
 
A number of alumni who have forged highly successful careers within the local area are also featured. These include: Jim Buchan, who went on to found Anderson Construction (Abdn) Ltd and is also CIOB Chairman for Aberdeen; George Massie, a partner in Aberdeen firm Jenkins and Marr, and Mike Tastard of Mackie Ramsay Taylor, who sponsored a lecture series at the School over the course of last year.

A book commemorating the School’s anniversary was also launched at the event. The Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment: A Commemorative History, by RGU Librarian, Jim Fiddes, charts the early origins of the School in the 19th Century, the beginning of full-time courses before the First World War, RIBA recognition in 1914, the growth in the School after World War Two and the move to Garthdee. The book is illustrated with over 60 photographs from through the ages.

Head of the Scott Sutherland School, David McClean, said, “The exhibition clearly demonstrates the very significant contribution that the School’s graduates have made to the design and construction of our environment, locally, nationally and internationally, and ranging from modest work of local significance to iconic projects familiar to many. There could be no better demonstration of our lengthy and continued commitment to producing highly skilled graduates that are sought after by the professions, and who can make meaningful contributions to wider society.”

Copies of the book, priced at £6 (including postage), can be ordered from the School Secretary, Helen Aggasild, who can be contacted on: 01224 263700 or h.aggasild@rgu.ac.uk.