Ruskin Lulworth Darrel Punch was born in Trinidad in 1937 and educated at Queen’s Royal College, Port of Spain. He won a national scholarship and in 1961 travelled to the UK where he enrolled on the five-year Diploma course at the Architectural Association (AA), London. During his AA Fourth-Year he elected to take part in an exchange programme between the AA and Kwame Nkruma University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in Kumasi, Ghana, spending the academic year with KNUST and living on the Kumasi campus. Following that experience, Punch opted to study within the AA’s Department of Tropical Studies for his Fifth-Year. Following his graduation with an AA Diploma and a Certificate in Tropical Studies, Ruskin returned to Trinidad and Tobago, taking up a position with the Ministry of Works, which he held for 18 months before joining Anthony C. Lewis and Associates, one of the leading architecture firms in the Caribbean. The firm was the first indigenous architectural practice in Trinidad and Tobago and during Ruskin's time with them were responsible for major Port of Spain projects including the TATIL Insurance headquarters (the first multi-storey building in Trinidad), completed in 1970, and the financial complex housing the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance (1978). Amongst other important works in the same city, which Ruskin made major contributions to are the Halls of Justice, the British Gas Headquarters on St. Clair Avenue, the Citibank Headquarters at Queen’s Park Savannah, and the refurbishment of the Cruise Ship Terminal. Having joined the practice as an Associate, Ruskin was made a partner in 1972 and Director in 1984 – in which capacity he remained, alongside fellow AA Tropical Studies alumni, Brian Lewis, until 2001. The practice, now Acla Works, remains amongst the foremost contemporary practices in Trinidad and Tobago. Ruskin was held in high esteem by his architectural peers and served as President of the Trinidad and Tobago Society of Architects from 1972-1974 and the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Architects from 1982-1984. He chaired the ‘Housing and Urbanization’ conference held by the Pan-American Federation of Architects Association in 1977 and was elected as Vice President of the Commonwealth Association of Architects from 1988-1991. Ruskin was also a contributing figure in the establishment of the Caribbean School of Architecture, at the University of Technology, Jamaica, which now honours him with a biennial Ruskin Punch Memorial Lecture.
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
- Architectural Association Council Minutes, 18th July 1966
- Punch, R. ‘Climate, culture and cricket—a Caribbean response Proceedings of the Commonwealth Association of Architects Conference "Climate and Architecture", Mauritius,’ 1994
- Lewis, B., Maclean, G. (eds.) ‘Manikin : the art and architecture of Anthony C. Lewis,’ Acla:works, c2009.
- Lewis, B. ‘Contemporary Caribbean Architecture,’ Lumis Photography + acla:works, 2015.
- Past Presidents, 1954-2025, Trinidad and Tobago Society of Architects website. Accessed 14th November, 2025: https://architecture.tt/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/past-presidents.pdf
- Personal correspondence, Sony and Karen Punch, 17th November, 2025.
