Malcolm Wilson is based in Devonshire Street, Carlisle, where he runs his architecture practice Black Box. Along with associate Chris Day, he is currently working on the second phase of the Halston Aparthotel in Warwick Road.

They won a design competition to get the contract for creating the building on the site of the Lonsdale Cinema and revamping the former Lloyds Pharmacy to expand the hotel.

Malcom, who grew up in Durham, is also well-known for his landscape paintings – he is acknowledged by the Royal Academy of Arts and his work has found favour with artist David Hockney.

Malcolm ran a successful practice in central London before moving to Carlisle in the late 1990s. He lives in Denton Holme and regularly paints in Cummersdale, Dalston and around the Caldew. He is single and has a 22-year-old daughter Amy.

Photo 1: David Hockney saw some of my paintings and wrote a very kind letter about them a few years ago. Like me he believes landscape is the backbone of all British art and should be cherished.

Photo 2: I’ve always worn specs - I’ve got really bad eyesight. When I was little I’d wear National Health specs so when I had the chance to get nice ones I did. When I was in London I’d go to Cutler and Gross in Knightsbridge, which sounds grand but it was quite a grotty little shop. Mr Cutler used to do my eyes. In those days the specs were handmade. I still always get Cutler and Gross. They’re the best specs. I’ve got 12 pairs.

Photo 3: Graham Coxon from Blur bought a house I used to own in London many years ago when he was with Blur and we’ve stayed in contact ever since. He gave me the original artwork for his album Love Travels at Illegal Speeds and I gave him a painting. He’s a brilliant musician.

Photo 4: I found Woodstock in a junk shop in Brighton and felt really sorry for him. I’ve moved house 14 times and each time I think I’ve lost him but he turns up in a jar or the bottom of a bin. He’s grown on me. I admire his resilience! He takes pride of place in the office.

Photo 5: This is my grandfather Captain Andrew Rooney’s Military Cross from World War One. He was in the Somme and Cambrai. He never talked about it. We found out from the Durham Light Infantry that with his platoon he held ground and there were only about a dozen of them left. We lived with my grandparents when I was little. He died when I was 16. He used to take me for walks up the fells – adventure walks he called them. He used to point out the clouds and tell me what they were. I think that’s when I got interested in landscapes.

Photo 6: I first saw The Cure on New Year’s Eve in 1980 and have followed them ever since. I took my daughter Amy to see them in November and she was blown away. If I had to pick a song, it would be Pictures Of You, all about holding on to lost photos and memories of someone gone.

Photo 7: It was Turner’s work that opened my eyes to English landscape art when I was 14 and I’m still amazed by the brushwork and depth of colour. Painting was always going on for me. I was sent down to the Royal Academy when I was 14. It was my art teacher who got me involved. My headmaster, who was a science man, said you should do something more substantial and looked at the list and saw architecture. The other book is about Frank Lloyd Wright, an American architect. I like his theories about working with nature and making your buildings look like they’ve grown out of the ground.

Photo 8: Amy lives in Glasgow and we see each other regularly. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about her.

* This article first appeared in Carlisle Living. A special 100th souvenir edition of the magazine, featuring 100 Faces of Carlisle, is for sale from Thursday, January 26.