Robert was apprenticed with his father's firm. Then in 1936, he joined the
Department of Health for Scotland, as assistant to
John Wilson, where, by 1945, he replaced Wilson as Chief Architect and Planning Officer. He was stranded in Sweden for
VE Day. However he spent the time designing kits for prefabricated houses which conformed to the recommendations of the 1944 UK government report
Planning our New Homes. This led to the importation of over 2,000
Swedish post-war prefabricated houses. In 1946 Matthew moved to London, becoming Chief Architect and Planning Officer to the
London County Council, where he served from 1946 to 1953, working on the post-war reconstruction of Greater London and masterminding the Festival of Britain including such buildings as the
Royal Festival Hall, 1951. It was during these formative postwar years that the LCC's housing and town planning policy established an international reputation, and many housing schemes (including the famous Roehampton housing estate) were created, as well as many schools. In 1956 with
Stirrat Johnson-Marshall, Robert Matthew established the firm of
RMJM (Robert Matthew, Johnson Marshall) in Edinburgh and London. Their first project was
New Zealand House in the Haymarket, London (now considered one of Matthew's key buildings). In 1953 he returned to Edinburgh to become the first Professor of Architecture at the
University of Edinburgh, where he established the new Department of Architecture in collaboration with RMJM, in a manner that has been compared to that of
Walter Gropius at the
Bauhaus. He continued as Professor there until 1968. The Matthew Architecture Gallery is now housed in the Department in his honour. Matthew was closely involved with
Basil Spence and
Alan Reiach in the University's development plan for George Square, which ultimately resulted in the demolition of buildings on three sides of the square, and their replacement with modernist structures. Matthew/RMJM were directly responsible for the design of the Arts Faculty buildings, now called
40 George Square (formerly David Hume Tower), the
Adam Ferguson building and the William Robertson Building. (1961) (1967) In the early 1960s Matthew was involved in the replacement of overcrowded, insanitary tenement housing in Hutchesontown, Glasgow with high rise tower blocks. He worked alongside Basil Spence in the planning and design of the controversial
Area C blocks in the
Gorbals. Independently of Spence, RMJM designed the adjacent Area B estate which unlike the ill-fated Area C blocks, has survived and are now the only surviving high rise blocks in the Gorbals. (1970) In Edinburgh he was also behind the
Royal Commonwealth Pool,
British Home Stores on
Princes Street,
Edinburgh Airport,
Lothian Regional Council Building and
Wester Hailes Education Centre. Elsewhere Matthew/RMJM were both involved in the design for various academic campuses – one of his earliest commissions was the Tower Building for the
University of Dundee in 1961 – at the time the tallest structure in the city. RMJM were also closely involved with the
Royal College of Science and Technology in Glasgow, developing its
campus masterplan in the early 1960s when it received its Royal Charter to become the
University of Strathclyde, designing the Colville Building in tandem with Frank Fielden's celebrated
Architecture School in 1966. Later the practice was involved with the
University of Stirling and
University of York. RMJM also contributed to
Pakistan's new capital buildings in
Islamabad. == Honours ==