For Brian Hipkin ...
I worked on this project with a young design engineer called Brian Hipkin. At the time we were exploring a collaborative approach with Norman Foster. In hindsight this would never have worked ... however the Chinese contractor client who was promoting the project asked us both to consider the possibility. We attended a workshop at Fosters to discuss how we could work together. I was keen to involve Brian as he genuinely had an incredible design sense and unusually for an engineer could sketch and passionately communicate conceptual ideas. I thought that if this was to work then Brian could be the social glue with engineering being the common ground. We continued to discuss the possibility of the project for a while and liased with our client group. This was the last time I worked with Brian as not long after he actually went out to Hong Kong on the back of this opportunity and was encouraged to stay by my colleagues in the RMJM HK office. However not long after this time Brian was tragically killed in a traffic accident whilst riding a moped inVeitnam.
Brian was a star... our team have fond memoriesof him. He had boundless enthusiam and gave so much to the team when he was around. He was a young protege of Tony Hunt and someone who challenged our professional silo by thinking holistically. Brian was just 30, had a beautiful wife and 4 young children. Life is not fair sometimes.
