Ernö Goldfinger was born in Budapest in 1902, the son of a lawyer and Transylvanian saw-mill owner.

After the family's land was taken into the new state of Romania, he moved to Paris to stay with a cousin and began training to become an architect in 1921.

Finding the study and concepts at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts too restricting and old-fashioned, he and other students persuaded the leading proponent of reinforced concrete design, Auguste Perret, to set up a more avant garde studio in Paris's Bois de Boulogne.

Establishing a partnership in 1929, before completing his diploma, he designed a number of interiors before completing his first building, a holiday home extension in Le Touquet, France, in 1933.

In 1931, Goldfinger had met English art student Ursula Blackwell, a member of the wealthy Crosse & Blackwell soup and pickle family.

They were married in 1933 and their son Peter was born later that year. Moving to London, the family took out a lease on a flat in Highpoint I, Highgate, an elegant new building by Berthold Lubetkin. Elizabeth, their second child, was born there.

Willow Road, the family home, was completed in 1939. Michael, their third child, was born there in 1945. Apart from Willow Road, the only other pre-war Goldfinger building executed was a house in Broxted, Essex.

Following the Second World War, Goldfinger was able to resume a fully operational architectural practice. After completing a number of small projects, he designed a much larger office complex, Alexander Fleming House at Elephant and Castle, for the Ministry of Health.

Goldfinger had always wanted to design tall buildings, but his ideas were controversial. He was, however, always prepared to stand by them.

In 1965, he built Balfron Tower, next to the north entrance of the Blackwall Tunnel, a 27-storey slab block of mainly maisonettes which attracted a mixed reaction.

In 1967, the Goldfingers lived there for two months to prove his faith in high-rise living. The similar but taller Trellick Tower, in North Kensington, provoked another round of debate.

Goldfinger closed his office in 1977, although he remained resolutely proud and unapologetic about his buildings.

Since his death, on 15 November 1987, there has been a reappraisal of the type of buildings and ideals Goldfinger held dear. His ideas and visions are now praised in many quarters and Trellick Tower is now a Grade II* listed building, to be permanently preserved.