David Don Turner - 26.6.1931-31.12.18
Katoomba resident David Don Turner, author of Challenges in Boyhood, Life, Architecture and Heritage, had been a design architect and heritage advocate throughout his career.
Born in 1931 in Kent, UK, and educated at Malvern College in Worcestershire, he became an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Then, he worked in the UK and America before coming to Australia in 1961 where he joined the NSW Government Architect's Office as a Design Architect. His masterpiece of Brutalist architecture was the Kuring-gai College of Advance Education at Lindfield, NSW. In 1978 it won the Sir John Sulman Award for Architecture that recognises excellence in public and commercial buildings. In 2005, it won the Royal Australian Institute of Architects' 25 Year Award for enduring architecture.
After working in England and America, Turner quickly realised that designing for the Australian climate meant a closer consideration of the natural environment and so he tried to wed his structures with their surrounding land and to retain the native bushland.
Since 1973, Turner had focused on his private architectural practice, both in Australia and in the UK, before retiring in 2010, but continued for some more years as a lifetime committee member of Walter Burley Griffin Trust Inc; committee member of the National Trust, Blue Mountains Branch; Heritage Advocacy Advisor, National Trust, Blue Mountains Branch; and as a Member of the Heritage Advisory Committee of the Blue Mountains City Council.
Mr Turner is survived by his wife Eva, and children Bruce, Darian, and Lucy. A private memorial gathering will be held in April.
