Along with contemporaries including Peter Hemingway, Jack Long, and Douglas Cardinal, Atkins is credited with developing a distinct Canadian prairie style of architecture.
After a suggestion by his high school principal, Atkins decided to study architecture in university.
After working a year in Winnipeg, in 1961 Atkins moved to Calgary where he joined the partnership Alton McCaul Bowers.
In 1977 he formed a partnership with Robert E. Weston called Gordon Atkins and Associates Architects.
Atkins lived in a home at 1008 Durham Avenue South West in the Mount Royal neighbourhood in Calgary.