With his partner MJ Long,[1] Wilson spent over 30 years progressing the project to build a new British Library in London, originally planned to be built in Bloomsbury and now completed near Kings Cross.

Wilson was educated at Felsted School, and he studied history and then architecture at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1940 to 1942, when he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.

[citation needed] Wilson served as a lieutenant in a Communication Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm in Europe during the Second World War and then India.

[citation needed] He completed his studies under Sir Albert Richardson at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, graduating as an architect in 1949.

In terms of architectural production, Wilson is best known for co-designing with MJ Long the current British Library building in London, begun in 1962 and finally completed – after a 35-year history of political wrangles, budget overspending and design problems – in 1997.

The use of finely detailed brickwork, multi-layer terraces, interplay of pitched roof elements and gradual stepping up of the entrance are all direct references to Aalto, in particular his Säynätsalo Town Hall.

The entrance area features pendant lamps designed by the Finnish architect Juha Leiviskä, whom Wilson knew personally.

The unashamedly modern block stands next to the original gallery, housed in a Grade 1 listed Queen Anne townhouse, was shortlisted for RIBA awards in 2007, and won the 2007 Gulbenkian Prize.

Wilson's share of the collection, worth £5m, included works by Michael Andrews, Victor Willing, Peter Blake, David Bomberg, Patrick Caulfield, Lucian Freud, Richard Hamilton, R. B. Kitaj, Eduardo Paolozzi and Walter Sickert.

The book's contents include diary entries recollecting Wilson and Long's own design processes, and their reflections on being painted by Kitaj.

National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C467/17) with Colin St John Wilson in 1996 for its Architects Lives' collection held by the British Library.