Talk: Forgotten Masters: Peter Womersley

£12, £6 concessions.

Neil Gillespie and Simon Green discuss the intriguing, yet often overlooked contribution of Peter Womersley to Scottish modern architecture.

Peter Womersley was one of the key figures in Modernism in Scotland. Trained at the Architectural Association in London, most of his first commissions were private homes for clients including textile designer Bernat Klein. These experimental and poetic houses show their debt to Frank Lloyd Wright, while his larger public commissions followed a more brutalist tradition with in-situ concrete and strong geometric forms. These include the Gala Fairydean Stadium with its distinctive concrete origami structure and soaring cantilevers, designed in collaboration with Ove Arup and the highly sculptural Boiler House, for the Melrose District Asylum. Although most of his works are located in the Scottish Borders, with others across the UK, he was a frequent traveller and lived and worked briefly in both Hong Kong and Kuwait.

Scottish architect Neil Gillespie will be joined by historian Simon Green to discuss the work and life of Peter Womersley. This is the third event of ‘Forgotten Masters’, a series organised in association with Docomomo-UK, that reconsiders forgotten or overlooked figures in the history of architecture.

Speakers:
Neil Gillespie OBE FRIAS - Design Director, Reiach and Hall Architects, Visiting Professor at the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture in Aberdeen and at Sheffield University, and Curator of Scotland + Venice, 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale
Simon Green – Architectural historian, Historic Environment Scotland, and President, Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland