 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "David Wyn Roberts" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
David Wyn Roberts (1911 inCardiff, Wales – 8 November 1982) was a British architect and educator, who designed more university buildings forCambridge University than any other architect. With amodernist practice based inCambridge, he also designed many cityhousing projects, schools, andprivate residences.
Roberts' father, John Roberts, was a preacher and historian of thePresbyterian Church of Wales. David Roberts was educated at theCardiff High School andWelsh School of Architecture, and was awarded the 1936 RIBA Soane Medal.
David Roberts was commissioned as an officer in theRoyal Engineers in August 1942[1] and he served in theItalian campaign.
Roberts married architect Margaret MacDonald Baird, and they settled in Cambridge where they built their house at 11Wilberforce Road. Their only son, Nicholas Wyn Roberts, born in 1948, became an architect and professor of architecture atWoodbury University in Los Angeles.
Roberts began teaching at theDepartment of Architecture, University of Cambridge in 1946, and became a fellow ofMagdalene College, Cambridge in 1958. He influenced many students and employees who became scholars and architects, includingAnthony Vidler,Lionel March,Nicholas Ray,Cedric Price, andJohn G. Ellis. Roberts was a modernist architect in postwar Cambridge with his University Health Centre built in 1951. Roberts's earliest college work was at Magdalene where, in Benson and Mallory Courts, he created a small townscape; he refurbished existing houses, and built new infill, to create a street effect, rather than imposing the conventional form of a college courtyard.[2]
With his headquarters overlooking the Cam, Roberts kept his office small, six to eight people. Many young architects passed through the practice. Rory Spence wrote in the catalogue,David Roberts Architect, "He seemed to approach each job with fresh enthusiasm and great integrity. It is no wonder that he had such admiration forPhilip Webb and the meticulous individual care which he lavished on each design. Like Webb, David never worked to a formula, as so many of even the best architects do, and possibly for this reason his buildings are less well-known than they should be. There is always a strong idea at the heart of each building, related to its context, which is unique to that building".[3] A former student, Geoffrey Clarke, became a partner in 1964.
Roberts is described as the first architect to specialise in modern educational buildings. He gave a stepped profile to his designs for student accommodation (for example atClare College in 1956 andJesus College in 1963) to give the rooms a dual aspect. His student accommodation buildings at Jesus College, Cambridge andSt Hugh's College, Oxford, have already been given a heritage listing of Grade II.[4]
Roberts and his wife are buried together in theAscension Parish Burial Ground in Cambridge.
{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|url= (help)