5 minutes with… David Cox
Our ‘5 minutes with…’ feature takes a glimpse into the views and opinions of our colleagues with a series of probing interview questions we’ve always wanted to ask. Read on!
Most awe-inspiring building in the world, and why.
Roman Baths at Sansoucci Palace, by K-F Schinkel, because it is modest, beautifully composed and full of joy.
Proudest moment (so far) during your time at DCA.
Any of the days in which we complete one of our buildings but Nurtur House, Giles Farm and Bambers Croft stand out in particular.
Fast forward 20-years, where do you see the future of the built environment sector?
I hope that the lessons of Grenfell will have been learnt and embedded to shed the longstanding obsession with cheapness and short-term thinking. I hope that a much more diverse built environment sector will respond to what our built environment needs, and I hope that we have discovered a confident response to a well-recognised and shared mission to build lightly, build locally and build beautifully.
Best piece of advice you’ve been given (either in your career, or personally).
Frank Lloyd Wright wrote in his Autobiography, that we should “Keep on adding tired to tired, just keep on working as hard as you can until you get there”.
What’s your all-time favourite city, and why.
Preston, of course, what other city do I live in by choice, what other city feels so intimate and local while still being able to offer a cosmopolitan lifestyle and such variety of cultures and creativity and that is before we even get to the most beautiful countryside which England has to offer.
What would be your dream project brief?
A house for my own family.
Any hidden talents you want to share?
Very bad piano playing!
Top three dinner party guests, and why.
My wife, Pope Francis and Jesus. Roast beef though – not fish.
Describe your perfect Saturday
Wake up at anchor, long breakfast with good coffee and a swim, a sail of maybe 50 miles to a new anchorage with another night at anchor after a really good pasta dish, red wine and a swim under the stars.
Quick-fire round:
Fish and chips or Sunday roast.
Sunday roast.
What was your very first job/part-time job?
Tying onions in the Vale of Evesham, smelly green hands all the time!
What would be your superpower preference.
Mastering every musical instrument there is and being able to play many at once.
Favourite pastime.
Painting. Sailing. Music. Not doing DIY.
Marmite – love or hate.
Love!
Bucket list holiday location.
Mediterranean in the early Autumn.
Best holiday of all time – where and why?
Probably doing a season snowboarding in Austria, months of doing nothing but boarding in the mountains. Many years ago now.
