Emile Simeloff was born in South Africa in 1935 and attended the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, where he studied Architecture between 1953-59. He then enrolled on the Third Year of the Architectural Association’s (AA) five-year Diploma course, in London, in 1962. By the time he reached the AA he had travelled extensively in Africa, visiting Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, as well as Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. His journey to London from Johannesburg was made on his own, on a motor bike. Prior to starting his studies at the AA Emile appears to have worked for a period, gaining experience with the London County Council Architect's Department. As part of his final year’s studies at the AA, Emile elected to join the programme of the Department of Tropical Architecture, where he teamed up with classmate Dan Darin-Drabkin to work on a project to design a development plan for a new town at Eliat, in the Gulf of Aqaba, Israel. A letter in the AA Archives reveals the ambitious scale of the project (and the fact that Darin’s car, containing a draft thesis, had been stolen) meant that the students were permitted additional time to complete the work, formally graduating a year later, in 1966. A set of 21 photographs of the presentation panels for the work are preserved in the AA Archives. Details of Simeloff’s subsequent career are not yet known to us.

Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register, 1945-71. AA Archives
• Architectural Association, Registrar’s Office student records, 1960-66. AA Archives
• Architectural Association Diploma Roll, 1966. AA Archives