London Bound

A STRONG OREGON CONNECTION CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE ARCHITECTS

:: London internship

:: Gift is a model

:: High profile projects

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This story of two enterprising Oregon-grown architects ends with a happy beginning.

When Patrick Berning talked his way into a temporary job with renowned London architect Rick Mather, B.Arch.’61, he had no idea he also was helping to open the door for others in the future.

Mather, whose firm is world renowned for pioneering technologies in structural glass and sustainable design, started exploring ways of creating an internship at his firm after he visited the UO campus to receive the 2005 Lawrence Medal.

But nothing had jelled when, on the recommendation of his internship supervisor at Portland’s GBD Architects, Berning stopped by Mather’s offices in London as part of a tour of European cities. Naturally, he asked about internship possibilities. Told that nothing formal was available, Berning decided to stay in touch. His perseverance was rewarded last spring with the invitation to spend five months as a paid employee at Mather’s firm.

Like Berning, Mather grew up in suburban Portland dreaming of becoming an architect and made a point of touring Europe before the final year of architecture school. “I liked London the best of any city I visited and decided to return for a couple years after I graduated,” said Mather, who went on to found Rick Mather Architects in 1973. “It is a very approachable city with a nice human scale that makes it easy to walk about in.”

Today Mather, who is said to have “re-imagined Britain’s culture and made it his own,” stands among the most influential people in the industry, according to Building, the UK’s leading construction magazine. Topping the roster of more than 500 projects undertaken by Mather over the course of thirty-three years is London’s acclaimed South Bank Masterplan. His trend-setting career is detailed in “Rick Mather Architects,” a richly illustrated hardcover monograph by Robert Maxwell, Tim MacFarlane, and Patrick Bellew published in 2006.

“Sitting with a great architect and watching him craft a building in a context like London is amazing,” says Berning, who helped with two of three competition-winning projects as he worked his way up from building a model to doing sketches and images. “Europe understands that buildings can have life spans of five centuries or more. These buildings are used, re-used, rebuilt, and remodeled. You build to last.”

The firm’s experience with Berning turned out to be so positive that it helped to cement a gift establishing the Rick Mather Architecture Student International Internship Award. The commitment, which provides a $10,000 stipend to support one summer intern per year, is renewable after five years.

Frances Bronet, dean of the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts, said Mather’s gift provides a model for supporting talented students with international design internships. “International experience in a professional setting allows our students to develop the broad understanding of history, theory, and practice they will need in order to excel as designers,” she said.

Students selected for Mather internships will become involved in high profile projects that are helping to define the face of twenty-first-century architecture. The firm’s current projects include the £50 million expansion and renovation of Britain’s oldest museum, the Ashmolean in Oxford; the $110 million extension of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; the relocation of Italy’s Galleria Sabauda in Turin; and masterplans for London’s Natural History Museum and the £420 million Central Milton Keynes Residential Quarter.

“It’s great that Rick can give more students an international work experience because it is so important to put what we learn in school into context in the work environment, especially abroad,” Berning said. “It enriches the students but it also enriches the program and the depth of experience that the university can offer.”

Berning stayed in contact with his mentor while wrapping up his final year at the university, occasionally mentioning his desire to return should the firm develop an opening. In January, his hopes were realized. Later this year, when the first official UO intern lands in London, Berning will be on hand to greet him or her—in his newly minted position as a member of Rick Mather’s design team. Visit Mather’s studio online at www.rickmather.com.

—Melody Ward Leslie