Keith Griffiths

RIBA ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130

FHKIA (born October 1954) is a Welsh architect who founded and chairs

Aedas Aedas is an architectural firm founded by the Welsh architect Keith Griffiths. Aedas employs 1,000 staff in its twelve offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore, Dubai, Riyadh, Delhi and Seattle and provides services in archite ...

. Since 1983 and for most of his career he has resided in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Early life and education

Griffiths was born to Emrys and Jane Griffiths in October 1954 in

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

, Wales. He was brought up in the small cathedral city of

St Davids St Davids or St David's (, , "David's house”) is a cathedral city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies on the River Alun and is part of the community of St Davids and the Cathedral Close. It is the resting place of Saint David, Wales's ...

, in Wales. He attended Ysgol Dewi Sant, St Davids School and read architecture at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, where he received a Masters in Architecture in 1976 and a Diploma in Architecture in 1979. In 1979 he registered as an architect ( ARB) and became a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Career

From 1978 to 1980 Griffiths worked for

Arup Associates Arup Group Limited, trading as Arup, is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London that provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment. ...

before joining Foster and Partners in London as a member of the design team for the new Hongkong and Shanghai Bank headquarters (HSBC) in Hong Kong. In 1985, Keith Griffiths and Anthony Hackett set up Hackett and Griffiths in Hong Kong. Hackett and Griffiths first commission was the new Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club sailing Centre at Middle Island. Further commissions included Gaysorn Shopping Centre, Bangkok in 1988 for Gaysorn Property Company Ltd. In 1992 Griffiths became a shareholder in Lang Peddle Thorpe (architects) in Hong Kong. The company established offices in Singapore in 1995 followed by China (2002), Macao (2004), Dubai (2004) and Seattle (2006) under his leadership. Griffiths invited the UK practice of Abbey Holford Rowe to jointly own a new design company and in 2002 Griffiths rebranded the company as Aedas. In 2012, the former Abbey Holford Rowe left Aedas and in 2015, Aedas acquired UK practice RHWL and Arts Team.

Honours

Griffiths was awarded a fellowship of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) in 2001. In 2012, Griffiths was named Honorary Fellow of University of Wales, Trinity Saint David in recognition of his contribution in restoring historic buildings in Wales. In 2014,

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

named Griffiths an Honorary Fellow . Since 2007, Griffiths has been a Non-Executive Director of the Link Management Ltd in Hong Kong. He established the Griffiths-Roch Foundation in 2009 to acquire and restore the important historic buildings in Wales, Twr y Felin Art Hotel, Roch Castle and Penrhiw Priory under Retreats Group.

References

Source

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Keith 1954 births Welsh architects Living people Modernist architects from the United Kingdom Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Masters of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects People associated with Cardiff University People associated with University of Wales Trinity Saint David