Keith Critchlow

Critchlow founded the Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts (VITA) department in 1984, which moved from the Royal College of Art to The Prince's Institute of Architecture in 1992–3, where he was director of research. The institute later evolved into The Prince's Foundation, within which Prince's School of Traditional Arts (PSTA) is housed. He was professor emeritus at PSTA and served as director of research. He also taught at The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment.

In 1983, Critchlow was asked by Indian philosopher and author Jiddu Krishnamurti to design the Krishnamurti Study Centre in Hampshire, UK, which was completed in 1986. His other architectural works include, the Lindisfarne Chapel in Crestone, Colorado, in the United States with a special design for the vaulting of the dome, and a hospital, the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences in Puttaparthi, India. Isaac Tigrett, who had founded the Hard Rock Cafe enterprise, secured Critchlow's expertise to design the hospital in Puttuparthi. His use of sacred geometry played a major role in these architectural designs and projects.

Critchlow was professor of Islamic Art at the Royal College of Art in London from 1975 for many years. He also delivered lectures on the application of sacred geometry in architecture at the Lindisfarne Association in New York City and then Crestone, Colorado, in the United States from 1978. In Crestone, he contributed to a number of summer schools for Lindisfarne and taught alongside innovative thinkers from both the arts and sciences, including social philosopher and cultural critic, William Irwin Thompson (founder of the Lindisfarne Association), mythographer and symbolist Robert Lawlor, poet and environmental activist Wendell Berry, biologist John Todd, and environmentalist James Lovelock.

In 1969, Critchlow formed Polyhe al Developments (a private company) in partnership with architectural designer Hayward Hill; together they pioneered the use of polyhe al domes as emergency shelters for families who had lost their homes to disaster. Critchlow and colleagues experimented in the use of lightweight materials for the construction of domes, including Tri-Wall Pak corrugated board, to aid in transport and assembly by unskilled labour in disaster areas.

Critchlow made an important contribution to the re-construction of the Minbar of Saladin in the al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem. The minbar was destroyed by fire in 1969 following an arson attack by an evangelical Christian. King Hussein of Jordan launched a 30-year search, including international competitions, to find a sufficiently qualified person to re-design the intricate patterns of the minbar. The competition was finally won by Minwer Al-Meheid who was inspired to make his submission after spending a year studying Critchlow's work:

He performed national service in the Royal Air Force from 1951 to 1953. In the Air Force he met artist Frank Bowling.

Keith Barry Critchlow (16 March 1933 – 8 April 2020) was a British artist, lecturer, author, Sacred Geometer, professor of architecture, and a co-founder of the Temenos Academy in the UK.