Edwin Maxwell Fry trained in the neo-classical tradition at Liverpool and turned to European Modernism in London during the 1930s, designing the Sun House and, with Elizabeth Denby, the Kensal House housing estate. In 1942 he married Jane Drew, and together they built the practice that codified Tropical Modernism — a way of building for hot, humid climates in which the concrete frame is opened with deep eaves, adjustable louvres and cross-ventilation instead of being sealed and cooled. From 1946 the firm worked across British West Africa on schools, colleges and university campuses; the library that anchors University College Ibadan is credited jointly to Fry and Drew. From 1951 he and Drew joined Le Corbusier at Chandigarh, designing housing, colleges and a hospital for India's new Punjab capital. He was appointed CBE in 1955 and received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1964.
