Donald Patterson Reay

Name

Reay, Donald Patterson

Personal Information

Birth/Death:    
Occupation:    American architect
Location (state):    CA

This record has not been verified for accuracy.

AIA Affiliation

Member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 1965-1977; ?-
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) 1980

Biographical Sources

American Architects Directories:
Address listed in 1970 American Architects Directory
Biographical information:
Contributed by the Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley:
Donald Reay was born on July 17, 1914, near Liverpool, England. As early as six years of age he showed an interest and talent in drawing. As a teenager he was an exchange student in Germany, and was able to visit cathedrals in France and Italy. His appreciation of beautiful buildings led him to study architecture. After graduating from the University of Liverpool in architecture, he was admitted to the Royal Institute of British Architects as an Associate member (soon later to become elected a Fellow). He was then awarded a distinguished Commonwealth Fellowship and chose to study at Columbia University in New York from 1937 to 1939, where he was one of the first people to receive a Master's Degree in City and Regional Planning. While studying in New York he met Sylvia Shimberg, a fellow Columbia student, and in June 1942 they married.
During World War II Reay was unable to return to the UK, and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in Ottawa. He was first head of the Commonwealth Air Training Program and later became Chief Architect for the RCAF, responsible for building flight training schools and installing camouflage for vital services on the East Coast. He designed and supervised construction of Goose Bay Aerodrome, which was at the time the largest base on the North American Continent, used primarily as a refueling stop for transatlantic flights. After the war he and his family moved from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to the UK, where he joined the Ministry of Town and Country Planning as Regional Planning Officer, involved in preparation of Manuals and legislation setting national planning standards. He was also the technical officer primarily responsible for the initiation, planning, design and construction of New Towns in England and Wales. He later became Chief Architect of the new towns East Kilbride, in Scotland, and Stevenage, England.
In 1955, Jack Kent offered Don Reay a teaching position as a visiting lecturer at UC Berkeley. He accepted and quickly became a professor in the College of Environmental Design. He combined a private practice with the firm of DeMars & Reay with his university work. DeMars & Reay collaborated with other firms to create winning designs for UC Berkeley Student Union and Zellerbach Hall, and the Golden Gateway Project in San Francisco. In 1966 the DeMars & Reay partnership ended and Don established the separate firm Reay Associates. In 1969, the firm became Reay-Tsuruta Associates with principal Kinya Tsuruta. In 1976 Reay Associates was reestablished where Donald and Sylvia Reay worked in partnership. They were directly involved in numerous projects throughout the United States, Australia, and Mexico. Don Reay also continued to consult with San Francisco-based firms Planning Associates and Del Campo & Maru.
The American Institute of Architects elected Don Reay an AIA Fellow in 1985.
Sources: Biographical clip files, Environmental Design Archives