Brian James Kidd AM LFRAIA FACAA (1936 – 2017) highly respected architect, access consultant, mentor and friend, passed away suddenly on Thursday morning 21st December 2017 at home with his wife Lauris at his side.

Only those very close to Brian would have known that he had been valiantly fighting renal failure and multiple myeloma for some time. Throughout these years his passion for architecture and his desire to share his knowledge remained strong. He lived an extraordinary life to the very last day.

Brian’s life seemed to be destined for looking out for others: from caring for his badly-injured World War 2 veteran father and a cousin with Down Syndrome, to being a guiding spirit for the architectural community through his tireless campaign for accessible environments for all and homelike environments for older people in residential aged care. With his project Aldersgate Village in 1984 he pioneered person-centred design at a time when nursing homes were medical and institutional in character. Due to Brian’s tireless work, countless residential aged care projects in the following decades focussed on creating a domestic rather than an institutional built environment for older people.

Brian was Senior Lecturer (ageing and human abilities) from 1977 to 1996 and Honorary Senior Fellow (designing for dementia) from 2011 to 2017 at Melbourne University, influencing the thoughts of many of today’s architects. Just recently Brian wrote: “I feel like a proud uncle when I meet many of my former students and work colleagues and when I see the vital work you now do and the important roles you are now fulfilling. The greatest delight to me is that you have all remained such lovely natured and delightful people. I am now content to retire gracefully from the battle.”

Brian was fond of telling the story of one of his star architect mates who, after becoming disabled later in life, looked up from his nursing home bed and admitted to Brian – “ Now I understand what you were on about! I wish it had been earlier….”

Brian was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1990 for “services to architectural design, particularly for the needs of people with physical disabilities and the frail aged”. He was a life Fellow Australian Institute of Architects, in recognition of his work in aged care and access for people with disabilities. He was awarded a Fellow of the Association of Consultants in Access, Australia.

His buildings and articles have been featured in several international publications.

Brian authored several publications relating to access and inclusion, including “Outdoor Access for All” (1982 & 1985 with Ross Clark), “Hostel Design Guidelines” (1988), “Rottnest: The Universally Accessible Island” (2000), and “Planning Community Events for All “ (1988 for the Bicentennial Authority). Brian was also one of the early members of the Standards Australia committee that developed AS 1428.1 – Design for access and mobility. The high standard of accessibility into public buildings that was set by this committee has been continued. To this day, Australia has a higher level of accessibility into public buildings than other international countries.

Brian’s contribution of making the built environment accessible to all will be remembered forever. “Thank you, Brian, for your inspirational visionary work over many decades”.

–  Allen Kong