‘AN ENGINEER IMAGINES’ – MARCUS ROBINSON’S TRIBUTE TO PETER RICE
04 March 2019
'An Engineer Imagines' by Queen’s Honorary Graduate Marcus Robinson – a cinematic homage to the life and work of Queen’s graduate Peter Rice – was premiered at Queen’s Film Theatre last week (26 February) and followed by a Q&A with the Director.
Tracing Rice’s extraordinary life and career, from his Dundalk childhood to his work on the Sydney Opera House (above), The Pompidou Centre and the Lloyd’s building, to his untimely death in 1992, Marcus Robinson (who received an honorary DSSc from Queen’s in 2016 for distinction in art) uses stunning time-lapse photography and revealing interviews to tell the story of a genius who stood in the shadow of architectural icons.
An Engineer Imagines is the story of a man who is widely regarded as the most distinguished structural engineer of the late twentieth century, who pushed the boundaries of art and science to achieve the unimaginable.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner Dr Robinson said: “Peter Rice wasn’t out to necessarily promote his own name. I think that’s part of what the film explores, is why the whole thing of structural engineering was seen as a tweed jacket, slightly dull thing with figures and formulae and principles.
“What is distinguishing about Peter, I think, is the fact that he cared enormously about having a human touch in structures. One of the very defining things about the Pompidou Centre is that these beautiful cast iron structures that support the whole of the weight of the building going from side to side.
“They were very much a non-industrial non-standard thing that was made and cast in factories by hand, pretty much.”
Peter Rice studied aeronautical engineering at Queen’s before switching to civil engineering, where he was described by a former colleague as an extrovert, a bit hyperactive and always waving his arms about, very bright and very popular. "You could see his mind was working faster than most peoples'."
Joining Ove Arup & Partners shortly after he graduated in 1956, he had heard that 'it was a place where an oddball could fit in.' It was said of Rice that he could design structures 'like a pianist who can play with his eyes shut'.
Working with many of the world's greatest architects on buildings that became icons of contemporary architecture, Peter Rice brought a uniquely poetic feeling to his work. He was awarded the Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) shortly before his untimely and tragic death in 1992.
Marcus Robinson is a photographer and filmmaker specialising in urban transformation and architecture. Based in Lower Manhattan in New York City, he also occasionally works from his family home in Belfast.
Robinson's art, which has taken him all over the world, is created using different media including photography, film, music and painting.
A 1982 Cambridge graduate he has contributed a number of special time-lapse sequences and stills for television – including the TV mini-series Castle (2003) and for various films including Millions (Danny Boyle, 2004). His most recent project has been documenting the rebuilding of the World Trade Center towers, which resulted in an hour-long film called Rebuilding the World Trade Center which was first broadcast on Channel 4 in September 2013.
Peter Rice died from a brain tumour aged 57 in 1992. Without his innovations and collaborations with the leading architects of his time, some of the most recognisable buildings in the world would not have been possible.
Marcus Robinson hopes An Engineer Imagines will introduce him to more people. Talking to Esther McCarthy in the Irish Examiner he said: “One of the things that I hope comes through in the film, and it’s something I believe strongly in, is that the seeds of someone’s life, the spirit of someone’s life, can be very pervading and present even once they have died.
“And I think the way he worked with young people and had a very democratising approach, a very non-ego approach, I think those were values that in a way, were way ahead of their time.”
On release in selected cinemas, ‘An Engineer Imagines’ will be screened in QFT from 08-15 March and again on 23 March 2019.
To celebrate Queen's Film Theatre's 50th birthday, the Development and Alumni Relations Office and Queen’s Film Theatre offered 2 copies of the QFT50 souvenir publication in a special Facebook competition. And the winners are...Ashleigh McFeeters and Ken Aiken. Well done guys!
To submit graduate news items, or for general enquiries about this story, please contact Gerry Power, Communications Officer, Development and Alumni Relations Office, Queen's University Belfast or telephone: +44 (0)28 9097 5321.
Credit: Image by Joakant on Pixabay
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