My stepfather, Bryan Thomas, who has died aged 95, was an architect and designer who was responsible for the design of many houses in north-east Essex during his long career.
Bryan’s practice also designed schools, churches, community centres, a Quaker meeting room and buildings at Essex University. The largest of his churches stands in Alresford, Essex, where he also designed and built two “upside-down” houses in the 1970s. There, bedrooms on the ground floor and living rooms on the first floor look across fields to the River Colne. Bryan delighted in and celebrated natural materials, using wood, stone, brick and clay tiles in his buildings. Danish purity of design was a enduring influence on him.
