Tate and Shard architect dies of motor neurone disease at 58

Tributes: Alan Hayes Davidson
Isobel Frodsham31 August 2018

A leading architect who worked on some of London’s most iconic buildings including The Shard and the Tate Modern has died aged 58.

Tributes were paid to CGI specialist Alan Hayes Davidson after he lost a six-year battle with Motor Neurone Disease this week.

During a career spanning more than 30 years, he worked alongside world-leading architects including Sir Richard Rogers, Sir Norman Foster and Dame Zaha Hadid.

Announcing his death, his firm Hayes Davidson paid tribute to their “founder and mentor”.

“Alan bore the disease [MND] with great courage and strength, working right up to the end of his life. We will miss him immensely.”

Alan Hayes Davidson worked on buildings including the Shard 
Jeremy Selwyn

Mr Davidson studied fine art and architecture at Edinburgh University and qualified as an architect in 1986. He moved to London and began working with the Richard Rogers Partnership (now Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners) before setting up his firm Hayes Davidson in 1989.

His pioneering use of 3D modelling software led him to work on buildings including The Shard, the Tate Modern and 30 St Mary Axe, better known as the Gherkin.

William Matthews, of Williams Matthews Associates, praised Mr Davidson’s work on The Shard, which the pair collaborated on while Mr Matthews was at Renzo Piano’s firm.

He told the Standard: “Without Alan I sometimes wonder whether we would have built The Shard. He was ahead of the game in that respect and built up a reputation as a result.”

Mr Matthews added: “He was really nice and very driven. He had one of those lovely soft Scottish accents, was very charming and had amazing attention to detail.

“His firm also has the best parties. Everything at their offices is always immaculately presented and 110 per cent professional – but that was Alan.”

Ivan Harbour, a senior partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, said: “Alan was so much part of our team in Hammersmith in his early pioneering days, working out of his hardware-stuffed living room in Chiswick.

"He was exceptional with his pencil but rather than railing against an emerging technology he embraced it and used his considerable skills and artistic eye to establish himself at the forefront of a discipline that we now take for granted. Visiting his practice in Paddington felt like home; a talented extended family that worked and played hard together; what parties! Alan could not only do, but also mentor, lead and entertain; always upbeat he was a true Renaissance man."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in