Build Architecture Awards

Build Architecture Awards 2015 4 fter all,” he says, “there’s no point in designing a beautiful sports car if it’s got a lousy engine and doesn’t hold the road. This principle applies to buildings too: if it looks great from the outside but doesn’t work when you step inside, all you have on your hands is an extravagant waste of funds.” Among the most significant things Anthony de- signed whilst a student at the RCA was a motorbike and, in-keeping with this motoring theme, from here, he worked for the Ford Motor Company for around three years, at which time he first started to think seriously about designing small city car. Soon after, Anthony was headhunted by an American company that specialised in producing computer peripheral equipment, three years after working for Hawker Siddeley Electric (the Brush Company) in Loughborough where he was responsible for the interior cab design of the pro- totype for the 4,000 horsepower diesel electric “Kestrel” locomotive. Whilst working on this project, Anthony was able to bring to bear for the first time the full range of skills and experience he had gained over the previous years. In this case, the problem he faced was that traditional locomotive cabs were often poorly designed, uncomfortable and not at all intuitive for those operating them. This was changed in the interests of making locomotives easier and more comfortable to operate - an important safety consideration. Following this, he started a couple of companies of his own; one was involved in industrial design and the other was concerned with expanding the small cars project. Eventually, with the assistance of the automotive section of Loughbor- ough University – and about five or six motor companies – Anthony and his team produced a prototype of the car, using a motorcycle engine, a 600cc Triumph motorcycle engine. However, this project atrophied due to changes in regulations brought about by Harold Wilson. During this time, Anthony was introduced to professional racing driver, Raymond Mays, whose BRM was owned by the Owen Organisation. This proved extremely helpful in helping to keep the project alive, supplying components and introducing him to a number of senior engineers. The project received a lot of publicity when it attracted the attention of Stirling Moss, who helped promote the vehicle - dubbed “the smallest car in the world” - nationally and internationally. During the years that followed, Anthony’s career took a drastic turn away from the world of motoring (although he did, on a number of occasions, revisit the motorcy- cle project he started during his time at the Royal College of Art) when the Director of Education in Leicestershire took an interest in his design company and asked if they could come up with a design for a stage to be used by their touring dance company. Leicestershire had, until this point, been hiring stages from a local firm, which proved inadequate. Following Anthony’s acceptance of the brief, a full size prototype was made, using road transport section aluminium extrusions and it wasn’t long before people began to take Anthony Hill Anthony Hill’s design journey began in earnest at the Royal College of Art in London. During those three years, not only did he gain a first class award in industrial design engineering, it was here that the philosophy that has shaped his work over the past five decades was formed. Anthony became – and remains to this day – a huge believer in the idea that designers and architects should seek the right balance between aesthetic design and functionality. “A