James Gowan, best known for the Leicester University Engineering Building, which he designed along with James Stirling, talks here about his life and work. Now in his eighties, Gowan recalls his training at the Glasgow school of art, his early career in London where he met Geoffrey and Philip Powell, his collaboration with Stirling, and the tensions that forced him to go his own way, just as the pair were coming to prominence.
Gowan's interest in social housing began with Ham Common - the project which launched his partnership with Stirling - and continued with schemes at Creek Road and Trafalgar Road in Greenwich, London. Other buildings include the Schreiber House in Hampstead, London and the latest addition to his Humanitas Hospital, Milan. Still influenced by his Beaux Arts training, Gowan believes he is an architect in the gothic, as opposed to the classical, tradition.
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