Brian
ShawcroftAIA

(1929–2017)

Shawcroft grew up in Nottingham, England. He graduated from the West Essex Technical College and School of Art in 1953 with an ARIBA degree. He interned for Tomei and Maxwell in London in 1954, Slater Uren and Pike from 1954-1956, Page and Steele in Toronto from 1956-1959, and Eduardo Catalano in Cambridge MA in 1960. He finished his Masters in Architecture at both MIT and Harvard University in 1960. From then until 1968 he was an associate professor of architecture at the NCSU School of Design. He worked with Holloway and Reeves then started a private practice as Shawcroft, Burns, and Kahn. In 1968, he joined with Dan MacMillan to form MacMillan MacMillan Shawcroft and Thames which brokeup in 1970.

For a brief time, he worked with Harwell Hamilton Harris on Cox Avenue in Raleigh. With Clay Taylor and Jerry Cook, he established Environmental Planning Associates in 1971 which became Shawcroft Taylor a few years later. That lasted until 1990 when he became part of McKimmon Edwards Shawcroft with his tennis partner Jimmy Edwards and Arthur McKimmon. He left around 1992 then went on his own. Shawcroft designed much of the local Modernist inventory 1970-1990. In 1991, Shawcroft was awarded the Henry Kamphoefner Prize. He underwrote a yearly freehand drawing prize at the NCSU College of Design. He was a consummate photographer.

Brian was a skilled tennis player and a highly sought-after dance partner. He loved classical music, jazz, opera, ballet, and fast Jaguar sports cars. Parties at his house often ended with him playing jazz on his grand piano. On his deathbed in palliative care, he was offered extreme life-prolonging procedures. He declined. Instead, he asked for, and received, a martini.

2018 Memorial Service Slides

2016 NCSU Interview

Shawcroft's coffee table design

2011 NCModernist Interview Part 1

2011 NCModernist Interview Part 2

50 Years of Houses by Brian Shawcroft

Fifty/50: Photographs by Brian Shawcroft

10 Lessons on Rendering and Reality by Brian Shawcroft