{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|right|200px|Living in Cities, by Ralph Tubbs, Penguin, London, 1942 '''Ralph Sydney Tubbs''' OBE FRIBA (9 January 1912 – 24 November 1996) was a British architect. Well known amongst the buildings he designed was the Dome of Discovery at the successful Festival of Britain on the South Bank in London in 1951.
==Background== Ralph Sydney Tubbs was born in Hadley Wood, Hertfordshire, in 1912.<ref name = ODNB>{{cite ODNB|title = Tubbs, Ralph Sydney (1912–1996), architect and exhibition designer|last = Harwood|first = Elain|date = 2012|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/64071}}</ref> He was educated at Mill Hill School and then the Architectural Association, which is highly regarded in Modern architecture and engineering.<ref name = ODNB/>
==Career== In 1935, Tubbs began working for Ernő Goldfinger, participating in the design of Goldfinger's house on 2 Willow Road. In 1940 he designed the ''Living in Cities'' exhibition for the British Institute of Adult Education and the Council for Encouragement of Music and Arts, for which he made in 1942 a small book as well. During the World War II, Tubbs was not in services for medical reason, and worked as firewatcher.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.packer34.freeserve.co.uk/dome.htm | title = History of Festival of Britain | accessdate = 2006-07-09 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20051219202039/http://www.packer34.freeserve.co.uk/dome.htm | archivedate = 2005-12-19 }}</ref>
Buildings designed by Tubbs include (dates shown for design to building) * 1935–1938 only working drawings for 2 Willow Road, Hampstead, London (designed by Erno Goldfinger) * 1948–1951 Dome of Discovery, South Bank, London * 1952–1953 YMCA Indian Student Hostel, Fitzrovia, London<ref name="20cs">{{cite web | url=http://www.c20society.org.uk/docs/building/granada.html | title=The Twentieth Century Society, Building of the Month February 2005 | accessdate=2006-07-08 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925224104/http://www.c20society.org.uk/docs/building/granada.html | archivedate=2006-09-25 }}</ref> * 1956–1961 Baden-Powell House, Kensington, London * 1960 Granada House, Manchester<ref name="20cs"/> *1959-1973 Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith, London (constructed 1969–73)
Ralph Tubbs's Dome of Discovery project was given tribute at the Millennium Dome. In 1951, The Dome of Discovery was not only the largest diameter dome in the world, 365 feet across, but was totally unsupported except around the perimeter.
==Personal life== In 1946, Tubbs married Mary Taberner.<ref name = ODNB/> They were longtime residents of Wimbledon Village, and had two sons and a daughter.<ref name = ODNB/>
On 24 November 1996, Tubbs died from complications of sepsis and subacute bacterial endocarditis at St George's Hospital in London, aged 84.<ref name = ODNB/>
==Publications== *{{cite book | first = Ralph | last = Tubbs | title = Living in Cities | publisher = Penguin | year = 1942 }} *{{cite book | first = Ralph | last = Tubbs | title = The Englishman Builds | year = 1945 }}
==References== <references/>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tubbs, Ralph}} Category:1912 births Category:1996 deaths Category:20th-century English architects Category:Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture Category:Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Category:Deaths from endocarditis Category:Deaths from sepsis in England Category:People educated at Mill Hill School Category:People from Hadley Wood Category:Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire