Derek John Walker is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 primarily associated with urban planning

Urban planning

Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....

 and leisure facilities architecture through his firm Derek Walker Associates. From 1970 to 1976, Walker was the first Chief Architect of the new town

New town

A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...

 Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...

, and head of Architecture at Royal College of Art

Royal College of Art

The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...

 . With Stuart Mosscrop and Christopher Woodward, Walker designed the Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre

Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre

Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre is a regional shopping centre located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England which is about 50 miles north-west of London. It is managed in two separate parts, thecentre:mk and Midsummer Place...

, the first U.S.-style shopping centre in Britain.

From 1970-76 he was the first and only Chief Architect and Planner of the new city of Milton Keynes. He recruited an exceptionally talented team unique in the history of the New Towns movement, and over seven years produced a landscaping strategy for the new city, eleven village plans, the structure for the programme for producing 3000 houses per year with supporting community, leisure, retail and sporting and cultural facilities. Amongst many buildings of real unique quality possibly the most celebrated was the central Area Shopping Building. A unique concept at the time 1000000 sq ft (92,903 m²) with a plan generated around covered landscaped streets. The Close knit team for this complex included Stuart Mosscrop, Christopher Woodward and Syd Green.

In 1980, Walker was involved with Norman Foster

Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank

Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....

 and Frank Newby

Frank Newby

Frank Newby was one of the leading structural engineers of the 20th Century, working with such architects as Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, Eero Saarinen, Cedric Price, James Stirling, and the practice of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill , and such engineers as Ove Arup and Felix Samuely.-Early life...

 in a controversial scheme to expand the Whitney Museum in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 using air rights

Air rights

Air rights are a type of development right in real estate, referring to the empty space above a property. Generally speaking, owning or renting land or a building gives one the right to use and develop the air rights....

 purchased from nearby properties to build a mixed-use skyscraper which would include a new wing for the museum. When a furore developed, the museum denied it had solicited the team.

Academic Posts

• Professor of Architecture and Design Royal College of Art London
• Visiting Professor University of Southern California
  University of Southern California
  The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
  
   Los Angeles
• UCLAS at Los Angeles
• University of Pennsylvania
  University of Pennsylvania
  The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
  
  
• University of Tennessee

Family

Walker currently lives in London as well as living in Yorkshire & Bath. He continues to travel extensively in Europe and the United States.
He has a huge passion for Cricket

Projects

• Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre
  Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre
  Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre is a regional shopping centre located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England which is about 50 miles north-west of London. It is managed in two separate parts, thecentre:mk and Midsummer Place...
  
  , Milton Keynes
• Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds
  Leeds
  Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
  
  
• The City Park and Sculpture Park for Central Milton Keynes
• Extensive Renovations of the Happy Valley Racecourse Hong Kong
• The Whitney Museum extension New York with Sir Norman Foster
• Kowloon Park Hong Kong including Olympic Pools, Sports hall, Piazza, Sculpture walk and Chinese garden
• New Equine Training Facility for Royal Hong Kong Jockey club at Shatin
• Master Plan New City of Jubail Saudi arabia
• The Lijnbaan covered Shopping Precinct City of Rotterdam
• Business District New City of Jubail Saudi Arabia Masterplan
• The Wonderworld Themepark and Related Industries on 1000 acres (4 km²) site Corby
• Clarence Dock Masterplan mixed use Development Leeds
• The Royal Armouries Museum Tilt Yard and Craft Court Leeds
• Telluride Year Round Resort Masterplan Colorado USA
• Commodores Point mixed use Development and Marina Jacksonville Florida USA, Masterplan
• Museum of British History St Barts Site London
• Ushiku Masterplan a city of 100,000 people Ushiku Japan
• Xanadu- a 2000000 sq ft (185,806.1 m²) mixed use Leisure Development Rotherham Lancashire
• National Museum for The United States Army Washington DC, Concept and Detailed Design
• Golden Eye for Blackpool Second Gateway Covered Leisure Facility and Mixed Use Development

Publications

• The Great Engineers: The Art of British Engineers 1837–1987. ISBN 0856709174.
• Happold: The Confidence to Build. ISBN 0419240608.
• Animated Architecture.
• 'Derek Walker Associates 'The View from Great Linford' Monograph" ISBN 85490282 2
• 'Los Angeles Profile Architectural Desingn Magazine with USC 1982"
• Structural Engineering Design in Practice. With Roger Westbrook.
• The Royal Armouries The Making of a Museum. With Guy Wilson ISBN 0948092 262.
• New Towns (Architectural Design, No 111). With Maggie Toy.
• AD Milton keynes 1.2.3 Volumes Profiles Architectural Magazine 1973-4-5.
• The Architecture and Planning of Milton Keynes.