William Gillitt was born in Antofogasta, Chile, in 1929, the son of a British engineer. He is recorded as entering the UK as a student in 1946, aged 16, and subsequently serving in the British Army as a Royal Engineer between 1948-49, presumably as part of National Service. He completed a BSc at University College London in 1951 and is documented as enrolling as a Third Year student at the Architectural Association in 1952/53. As part of his final year’s studies, in 1954/55, he joined the first cohort of the newly formed AA Department of Tropical Architecture (DTA). After receiving an AA Diploma, with Honours, he began working as an architect for New Scotland Yard, London, then working for James Cubitt and Partners, in London, before moving to Israel where, by 1959, he was appointed the Co-ordinating Architect for the construction of the Knessett, Jerusalem, working with his DTA colleague, Ram Karmi and his father Dov Karmi. By 1964 he had re-located to Montreal, where he became an Associate at the practice of Moshe Safdie. Around 1970s he also served as the Principal City Planner, Baltimore City Department of Planning, before moving to Moshe Safdie and Associates Inc, Boston, as a Principal – a position he was to hold until 1996.
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