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4 July 2005
On 6 July 2005 the University of Glasgow is to confer an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters on eminent architect Dr Charles Alexander Jencks. At the 4pm graduation ceremony the extensive work of the land artist and architectural historian will be acknowledged, including the establishment of the Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres by Dr Jencks and his wife.
The Maggie's Centres were pioneered as intimate buildings designed to use a constructed environment as the first stage in helping sufferers from cancer manage their fears as much as their illness. The philosophy behind the project links humankind with environment. Dr Jencks continues to fundraise and fight for the centres after the death, from cancer, of his wife, Maggie Keswick, who was the inspiration behind the centres.
Dr Charles Jencks is equally well known for his world famous Garden of Cosmic Speculation at Portrack House, which represents a landscape metaphor for some of the major theoretical constructs of modern science - from the Big Bang and the Periodic Table to DNA. A new addition to the garden, a red rail bridge, won the Saltire Society's Award for Civil Engineering.
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art also won the 2004 Gulbenkian Prize for Museum of the Year for Dr Jencks' landscaping project Landform. Often described as the critic who first defined post-modernism in architecture, Dr Jencks' achievements have also included a large number of published works on architecture and culture, and television productions, including a film on Le Corbusier. Having lectured across the globe, Dr Charles Jencks is an influential and renowned architect and critic.
For more information contact Kate Richardson at the University Press Office on or email:
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