Conall O'Cathain: As seen on BD Online

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Sun rises on Tompkins’ stylish career

11 September 2009
Future Stirling shorlisted architect Steve Tompkins was still a student when he won third prize in the 1983 European Passive Solar Competition
Date January 1983
Location Cannes, France
Architect Steve Tompkins
The snappy dresser at the centre of this photo is Steve Tompkins, now of Haworth Tompkins, who won third prize in the European Passive Solar Competition when still in his last year studying at Bath University.
Haworth was accompanied to the prize-giving in Cannes by his tutor, Conall O’Cathain, (seen on the left), who now lectures on sustainable design at Queen’s University Belfast. His academic tweeds seem much more timeless, until you spot the tiny CND badge fastened to his lapel.
Tompkins’ scheme, which was for high-density new housing, uses dense-block construction on one side and lightweight timber on the other in a manner that may prefigure his practice’s dual-aspect housing at Coin Street. The theatricality of his dress, meanwhile, hints at the career he was to carve in designing award-winning theatres such as the Young Vic.