Derek John Walker (15 June 1929 - 11 May 2015) was a British architect primarily associated with urban planning and leisure facilities architecture through his firm Derek Walker Associates.

Career

After completing his national service, Walker went on to study architecture at Leeds Art School, it was here he met his first wife Jill Messenger. He then studied planning at the University of Pennsylvania before returning to the UK in 1960 to set up an architectural practice in Leeds.

From 1970 to 1976, Walker was Chief Architect and planner of the new town Milton Keynes, and ran the architecture course at Royal College of Art between 1984 to 1990.

He recruited a team and over seven years produced a landscaping strategy for the 'new city', eleven village plans, the structure for the programme for producing 3000 houses per year with supporting community, leisure, retail and sporting and cultural facilities.

Amongst many buildings possibly the most celebrated was the Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre. At the time of its opening in 1979 it was a unique concept for 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2) of retail space with a plan generated around covered landscaped streets. The team for this complex included Stuart Mosscrop, Christopher Woodward and Syd Green.

In 1980, Walker was involved with Norman Foster and Frank Newby in a controversial scheme to expand the Whitney Museum in New York City using air rights purchased from nearby properties to build a mixed-use skyscraper which would include a new wing for the museum. When a furore developed, the museum denied it had solicited the team.

Walker was the architect for the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, a GB£42.5million project which opened to the public in 1996.

Academic Posts

• Professor of Architecture and Design Royal College of Art, London
• Visiting Professor University of Southern California, Los Angeles
• UCLAS at Los Angeles
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Tennessee

Personal life

Derek Walker was born on 15 June 1929 in Blackburn, Lancashire, however he and his family moved to Leeds, West Yorkshire when he was very young.

Walker was married to the artist Jill Messenger, and had two sons. He was married secondly and his third wife Eve Happold.

Walker was a lifelong sports fanatic, with a passion for cricket and a supporter of Leeds United FC.

Notable projects

Derek Walker Associates

• Housing Association, Newton Garth, Leeds 1968/69
• Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds 1996
• Extensive renovations of the Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong
• The Whitney Museum extension in New York, with Sir Norman Foster
• Kowloon Park Hong Kong including Olympic Pools, Sports hall, Piazza, Sculpture walk and Chinese garden
• New Equine Training Facility for Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club at Shatin
• Master Plan for New City of Jubail in Saudi Arabia
• The Lijnbaan covered Shopping Precinct, City of Rotterdam
• Central Business District for New City of Jubail, Saudi Arabia - Masterplan
• The Wonderworld Themepark and Related Industries proposal for a 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) site Corby
• Clarence Dock - Masterplan mixed use development, Leeds
• Telluride Year Round Resort Masterplan Colorado USA
• Commodores Point mixed use Development and Marina, Jacksonville, Florida - Masterplan
• Museum of British History - a proposal for the St Bartholomew's Hospital site London
• Ushiku - Masterplan for a city of 100,000 people Ushiku, Japan
• "Xanadu" - an unrealised 2,000,000 sq ft (190,000 m2) mixed use Leisure Development Rotherham Lancashire
• National Museum of the United States Army Washington DC - Concept and Detailed Design
• "Golden Eye for Blackpool" - a proposed Second Gateway Covered Leisure Facility and Mixed Use Development

Milton Keynes Development Corporation

• Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre, Milton Keynes
• The City Park and Sculpture Park for Central Milton Keynes

Publications

• The Great Engineers: The Art of British Engineers 1837-1987. ISBN 0-85670-917-4.
• Happold: The Confidence to Build. ISBN 0-419-24060-8.
• Animated Architecture.
• Derek Walker Associates "'The View from Great Linford' Monograph" ISBN 978-1-85490-282-5
• 'Los Angeles Profile Architectural Design Magazine with USC 1982"
• Structural Engineering Design in Practice. With Roger Westbrook.
• The Royal Armouries The Making of a Museum. With Guy Wilson ISBN 0-948092-26-2.
• New Towns (Architectural Design, No 111). With Maggie Toy.
• AD Milton keynes 1.2.3 Volumes Profiles Architectural Magazine 1973-4-5.
• The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]