"I decided I wanted to be an architect when I was 11 or 12," remembers Chris. "I think it was because as a family we'd always moved about a lot. I used to design houses for fun and I used to like looking in magazines for houses. I still do, actually."
He studied theoretical architecture at Liverpool University for three years before spending a year getting practical experience working at an architect's practice, Michael Aukett Associates1,in London. The main job at the time was designing four identical buildings on an industrial development site in Milton Keynes2. "It was quite good because I could follow it through from the job being presented to the clients, to being on site while it was being built. That's typical on this sort of steel-framed industrial building - they call it a hi-tech office development - you can see the whole thing through fairly quickly." Chris' main project was the staircase.

"It was quite difficult really," he explains, before launching into a complicated description of the technical problems. "You've got to know the distance from the ground to the first floor and work out the width and see what can fit. . . then there's a legal requirement for the depth between the steps and they've got to be a certain depth themselves and they've got to overlap by a certain amount and the handrail must be a certain height and the rail has got to be continuous - it's quite difficult to work it all out."

He's particularly proud of the way the inner rail turns halfway up the stairs. "On a lot of staircases," he explains triumphantly, "it suddenly shoots up there and that's because they've not been able to work out a way of having a smooth curve all the way. It's things like that that take the time."
The things he's most disappointed about (visiting Milton Keynes for this book is the first time he's seen the (Finished building) are that they failed to design the turn in the stairs without a supporting pole and that it wasn't possible for the outside pole to sweep round in a semi-circle halfway up.

"It's not a remarkable staircase," he concludes. "It's not going to win any design awards. It's just a functional staircase. If anything I don't think it's hi-tech enough." ("It's just what I'd expect of Chris," says Neil, "because it's very modern and simple.") Chris was also involved in other parts of the building ("I didn't do any of it all by myself," he points out. "Let's make it clear - its not total Chris Lowe design...") which he proceeds to inspect. He worked on the suspended ceiling but discovers that the layout is now different. He worked on the toilets but is a little disappointed they never took up his idea to have them in steel. He worked on the layout of the paving stones and stares quite proudly down at the path muttering "

purity of form". He worked a little on the giant steel pergola3: "I'm quite excited at the way that's turned out." He even worked on the red perforated creation about 30 feet from the door. "That's just to hide your dustbins behind. Except, in true Milton Keynes fashion, here you get perforated sheets in red, so there's a hint of the dustbins. A glimpse..."

So does he ever have a twinge of regret at what he gave up and wish he had become an architect? "Not really," he confesses. "I'm still very interested in it, but not as a profession. The more you go on and do it the less time you actually spend on the drawing boards anyway and the more time you spend on site meetings and building contracts. Anyway, I don't really like working from nine to five in an office."