[1][2] His student contemporaries included Miles Warren and Peter Beaven, and the three would go on to become the most significant figures in Christchurch architecture of the second half of the 20th century, producing works with clean, modernist lines.
[1][2] However, unlike Warren and Maurice Mahoney, who were strongly influenced by brutalism, Donnithorne followed Scandinavian cues in his work.
[3] One of Donnithorne's earliest designs was for the Evangelistic Temple, at the corner of Colombo Street and Moorhouse Avenue in Christchurch.
[2] His later works included the Wigram Air Force Museum, the Netball Centre in Hagley Park, and the Millbrook Apartments in Carlton Mill Road.
[4] In the 1987 Queen's Birthday Honours, Donnithorne was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to architecture.