TRIBUTE

Alison Blamire, architect. Born 10 May 1951 in Edinburgh. Died: 13 October 2017 in Edinburgh, aged 66.

Alison Blamire who has died aged 66 was a well known and highly accomplished architect, teacher and artist.

In 1981, when she and husband Alistair set up their Edinburgh practice, Arcade Architects, she was one of only a few female principals in private practice at the time.

Together they successfully ran the company for more than 30 years, winning awards for various Edinburgh projects including Lyne Street flats, The Mossman Houses and Flora Stevenson’s Nursery School . She was also Secretary for the Saltire Society Housing Awards, an original board member of Architecture and Design Scotland, the body responsible for implementing the Scottish Government’s Policy for Architecture and Place, and was an external examiner for the Architects’ Professional Examination Authority in Scotland.

Over 20 years she taught architecture full and part time at the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art where she was highly regarded, and latterly became more involved in screen printing and painting, exhibiting at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh Printmakers, and St. Columba’s Hospice among other venues.

Her architectural studies were undertaken at Edinburgh College of Art and the ‘Mac’ where she graduated in 1976. Initially she joined the prestigious firm of Gillespie, Kidd and Coia which was run by two of her most influential teachers, Professor Andy Macmillan and Isi Metzstein. While there she was involved in the practice’s last major work, Robinson College in Cambridge.

Alison also spent a period working in Edinburgh for another influential figure, Nicholasgrove-raines,before completing a Master’s degree at the University of Oregon in Eugene in 1980, where her thesis on The Language of Architecture was highly acclaimed. Prior to returning to Edinburgh, she went on an ‘architectural road trip’ from Vancouver via California, Arizona, Texas, New Orleans to New England, en route casting a critical eye over the works of Frank Lloyd-wright, Louis Kahn, Robert Venturi , H.H. Richardson and others. Once back in Scotland she combined teaching in Glasgow with her work at Arcade.

At first, the practice was involved mainly in conservation projects before widening its scope to cover a range of different commissions. Other projects which were well received included Bankton Primary Nursery School at Livingston, Melville Housing Association flats at Loanhead, and Russell Place, Edinburgh. However the general feeling amongst the architectural community was that Alison’s talent was not reflected in a corresponding number of significant commissions, perhaps attributable to her desire to be involved in a wide variety of activities. One example was her passion for The Causey, an urban realm project next to her practice’s office in West Crosscauseway. She had the idea of transforming the barren urban space there into a tropical paradise over one weekend, the success of which attracted wide interest. It won an Architects’ Journal Small Projects Award in 2007 and led to the setting up of the Causey Development Trust with the intention of creating a permanent installation highlighting the history of the space, community engagement and its being a ‘place for people’, not cars. She continued her work on this with friend and colleague Isobel Leckie until shortly before her death.

Alison was the eldest of four children born to Stuart Harris, architect, and his wife Catherinemaciver.sheandherbrothers Peter, Neil and Robbie were brought up in the family home in the Kingsknowe area of Edinburgh, a house designed and built by her father. She attended Juniper Green Primary School where she was dux and then James Gillespie’s High School, earning a clutch of Highers. Partly inspired by her father and her mother, who was an artist, she opted to study architecture.

In 1969 she met Alistair, a fellow student and international runner. They married in Edinburgh in 1976 and had two children, Will, a hospitality professional born in 1986 and Lois, a fashion designer born in 1988. She achieved the considerable feat of bringing them up while continuing to teach in Glasgow and work in the Edinburgh practice.

Alison was no one dimensional figure, committed though she was to her chosen vocation. Her interests were many and varied, fuelled by innate curiosity. An active member of the Parent Teacher Associations at Stockbridge Primary School and Broughton High School, she enjoyed cinema, theatre, gym, dance shows and attending lectures on different topics.

Her Lake District house, where she enjoyed walking and good cuisine, was a favourite destination. Once an issue caught her interest, she pursued it zealously to the point of acquiring expertise, and like her father, she always went the extra mile in pursuit of the truth and the right way of doing things.

Her talents included dressmaking, harking back to teenage years when she would knock up a skirt in five minutes from an old piece of fabric. She was also a superb cook and hostess capable of laying on wonderful spreads at Christmas family parties and social occasions which inspired others to emulate her.

Visiting buildings and art galleries during European holidays was another favourite activity and on several occasions she was invited to teach at the University of Oregon’s summer school in Italy, enabling her to put her love of Italian to good use. She was widely admired and liked for her professionalism, engaging personality and commitment to whatever she took on, and had a strong influence on family, friends and colleagues in her working and personal life.

Sadly the breast cancer she suffered in 2012 returned last year. Despite lengthy, demanding treatment and her brave resistance, she died in St. Columba’s Hospice. She is survived by her husband, children and brothers. JACK DAVIDSON The Scotsman welcomes obituaries and appreciations from contributors as well as suggestions of possible obituary subjects. Please contact: Gazette Editor n The Scotsman, Level 7, Orchard Brae House, 30 Queensferry Road, Edinburgh EH4 2HS; n gazette@scotsman.com