Laurie, Michael

Michael Mackie Laurie was born in Dundee. He was one of Ian Laurie's three sons and a grandson of James Laurie who founded the family business of nurserymen and landscape gardeners in Dundee in 1860. After National Service with the Black Watch in Malaysia he joined the landscape architecture course at the University of Reading in 1953. It was led by Frank Clark. After graduating Michael Laurie worked for a short time with  Brenda Colvin and Sylvia Crowe. He then studied Liverpool University and at the University of Pennsylvania under Ian McHarg. Most of his working career was spent in the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley. He also spent a sabbatical year at the University of Edinburgh (where he taught Seamus Filor, Mike Cregan, Ian Firth, Gilbert Thompson, Tom Turner and others).