Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Gibson, Robin, 1930-2014
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Gibson, Robert Findlay
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1930-2014
History
Born in Brisbane on 15 May 1930, Robert Findlay (Robin) Gibson completed a Diploma of Architecture at the University of Queensland in 1954 and then moved to London, where he worked for Sir Hugh Casson, Neville Conder and James Cubitt and Partners. Returning to Brisbane in 1957, he established a practice under his own name with student architects Gabriel Poole, Geoffrey Pie and Robert Collin. Around 1970 this practice was renamed Robin Gibson and Partners.
In the 1950s and 1960s Gibson's firm completed various residential and commercial jobs and government commissions for work at universities and colleges of advanced education. He rose to public prominence in 1973 after winning a competition to design a new Queensland Art Gallery. The success of this project led to a commission to design the Queensland Cultural Centre, a cluster of buildings that included the Art Gallery, the Queensland Museum, the Queensland State Library, and the Queensland Performing Arts Complex. Other prominent Gibson projects in Brisbane include Mayne Hall (The Great Hall), the Biological Sciences Library and Central Library at te University of Queensland, stage one of the Queen Street Mall, the ANZAC-Post Office Square redevelopment, the Government complex at 33 Charlotte Street, and 111 George Street. Robin Gibson and Partners was also awarded the project to restore Brisbane's St. Stephen’s Cathedral and Chapel.
Gibson was named Queenslander of the Year in 1982, and in 1983 became an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of his services to architecture. In 1989, he won the Australian Institute of Architects' Gold Medal. Also that year the University of Queensland conferred an honorary doctorate on Gibson for his distinguished contributions to the architecture of Australia, Brisbane, and the University. He died on 28 March 2014.
Places
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Functions, occupations and activities
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
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Control area
Authority record identifier
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Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Revised
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Revised, Kymberley Doyle, 07-Mar-2025.
Revised, Linda Justo, 20-May-2021.
Revised, JR, 02-May-2022
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Robin Gibson, Digital Archive of Queensland Architecture, accessed online 02-May-2023.
Obituary for Robin Gibson, ABC News, updated 25 Jul 2017, accessed online 02-May-2023.
Honorary doctorate citation for Mr Robert Findlay (Robin) Gibson AO, 'UQ Alumni and Community', accessed online 02-May-2023.
Internal evidence.
Maintenance notes
Revised with access point and dates of birth and death, Kymberley Doyle, 07-Mar-2025.