David Wyn Roberts

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David Wyn Roberts (1911, Cardiff, Wales - November, 1982) was a prolific and important British architect and educator, who designed more university buildings for Cambridge University than any other architect. With a modernist practice based in Cambridge, England, he also designed many city housing projects, schools, and private residences.

Early life

Roberts’ father, John Roberts, was an influential preacher and a respected historian of the Welsh Presbyterian Church in Wales. David Roberts was educated at the Cardiff High School and Welsh School of Architecture, and was awarded the 1936 RIBA Soane Medal.

David Roberts served as an officer in the Royal Engineers and was in the Italian campaign.

Roberts married architect Margaret MacDonald Baird, and they settled in Cambridge, England, where they built their house at 11 Wilberforce Road. Their only son became an architect and professor of architecture.

Career

Roberts began teaching at the Cambridge University School of Architecture, Cambridge, England in 1946, and became a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1958. He influenced many students and employees who became significant scholars and architects, including Anthony Vidler, Lionel March, Nicholas Ray, Cedruc Price, and John Ellis. Roberts was a leading 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 Court, where 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.[1]

With his headquarters overlooking the Cam, Roberts kept his office small, 6 to 8 people. Many young architects passed through the successful practice. Rory Spence wrote in the catalog, David Roberts Architect, “He seemed to approach each job with fresh enthusiasm and great integrity. It is no wonder that he had such admiration for Phillip 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”.[2] 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 at Clare College in 1956 and Jesus College in 1963) to give the rooms a dual aspect. His student accommodation buildings at Jesus College, Cambridge and St Hugh’s College, Oxford, have already been given a heritage listing of Grade II.[3]

Notable works

Collaboration with Geoffry Clarke

  • New Master’s Lodge, Magdalene College, Cambridge, 1966
  • East Road Development, Cambridge, 1968
  • Buckingham Court, Magdalene College, Cambridge, 1968
  • Cosin Court, Tennis Court Terrace, Cambridge, 1969
  • Wolfson Court, Clarkson Road, 1970
  • Trinity Hall, Central Site Development, Cambridge, 1973
  • Fitzwilliam Museum, Stage II, Cambridge, 1973
  • Burrell’s Field, Grange Road, Cambridge, 1976
  • Darwin College, Silver Street, Cambridge, 1977
  • Rose Crescent Shops, Rose Crescent, Cambridge, 1979

References

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