John G. Ellis

He grew up in London, the son of Tom Ellis, the Brutalist architect and was a student at Cambridge University 1965–70 under Sir Leslie Martin, Colin St John Wilson and David Roberts.

While a student he ran the Architectural Society and invited numerous distinguished architects to speak including Louis Kahn, the Russian Constructivist Berthold Lubetkin and the American Jack MacAllister.

He then returned to Cambridge and worked with David Roberts on a number of projects including an extension to the Fitzwilliam Museum and a Music Room for Trinity Hall.

They designed public and affordable housing master plans for several HOPE VI projects at Othello Station in Seattle, Hunters View in San Francisco and Jordan Downs in Los Angeles.

In 2001 the firm undertook an ambitious plan to transform the Market/Octavia neighborhood in San Francisco after the demolition of the Central Freeway following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake into a demonstration project for urban repair.

They also produced a master plan in 2004 for Coyote Valley in San Jose for the Greenbelt Alliance entitled 'Getting it Right' to demonstrate how to accommodate the projected growth in the area in a compact, transit-oriented, mixed-use design without resorting to sprawl.