Born in central London to Joy, an artist mother, and Edward, a doctor, Cullinan was educated at
Ampleforth College,
Queens' College, Cambridge, the
Architectural Association, where he was in an intake of students under Sir
Frederick Gibberd who went on to make a significant contribution to post-war design and architecture in the UK; Sir
Philip Dowson,
Richard Burton,
Ray Leigh, Sir
Colin St John Wilson and
Julian Keable.
Roderick Gradidge and
Michael Blower were also his contemporaries. After the AA, he studied at the
University of California, Berkeley before working for
Denys Lasdun where he designed the student residences for the
University of East Anglia. Cullinan founded his own practice in 1959. The employee-owned business, Cullinan Studio (formerly Edward Cullinan Architects), was founded in 1965. Notable projects include the
Charles Cryer Theatre, Carshalton (completed in 1991), the
Fountains Abbey Visitor Centre (completed 1992), the
Centre for Mathematical Sciences (Cambridge) (completed 2003), the
Weald and Downland Gridshell (2002, nominated for the
Stirling Prize) and the new library at
Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (opened 2010). Cullinan was a visiting professor at the
University of Nottingham, and was awarded four other professorships at
The Bartlett (1978–9),
Sheffield University (1985–87),
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1985), and the
University of Edinburgh (1987–90). Cullinan was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the
1987 New Year Honours. In 2008, he was awarded the
Royal Gold Medal of the
Royal Institute of British Architects, Cullinan married Rosalind Yeates in 1961, and the couple built their own house in Camden Mews, London, by hand. They had three children: Emma, Kate and Tom. ==Family connections==