Basic Biographical Details | Name: | Ralph Cowan & Associates | | Designation: | | | Born: | Before 1964 | | Died: | | | Bio Notes: | (Professor) Ralph Cowan was born on 3 May 1919. He studied full-time at the School of Architecture, Edinburgh College of Art from 1933 to 1939. At some point during this period he spent a year gaining professional experience in the office of T P Marwick & Son, and he spent a month sketching in the Cotswolds in 1935 and another in France (Provence and Vaucluse) in 1938. He was a Rome Scholar in 1939, using the scholarship to prepare for a course in Town Planning. In the same year he took his professional practice exam, having secured an exemption from the RIBA final exam. He was admitted ARIBA on 16 July 1940, his proposers being Alfred Hugh Mottram, Frank Charles Mears and Alex Allan Foote. He was also AMTPI by 1950 and FRIAS in 1953. In the latter year he was Athens Bursar.
In 1948 Cowan joined Alan Reiach in a single-project partnership to design the new College of Agriculture at the University of Edinburgh's King's Buildings site. During the 1940s and 1950s he was also a member of staff of Edinburgh College of Art. In the early 1950s he carried out the duties of the Head of Architecture School before being formally appointed Head of School and Professor at ECA in October 1955, with effect from 1 January 1956. Under Cowan, the ECA course was restructured as a 'sandwich' programme with full-time years flanking part-time study.
Cowan contributed a short history of the Edinburgh Architectural Assocation for the Centenary Year Book 1957. He was a vice-president of the Edinburgh Architectural Association in 1959. By 1964 he was practising as Ralph Cowan & Associates. | Private and Business Addresses| The following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes |  | 7, Graham Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | 1964 * | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployees or Pupils| The following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details): | | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | | (Professor) Ralph Cowan | Before 1964 | | Partner | |
ReferencesBibliographic References| The following books contain references to this : | | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Municipal Annual | 1964 | Scottish Municipal Annual | 1964-1965 | | |
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