Thomas Warnett Kennedy [commonly known as T. Warnett Kennedy, and as Warnett Kennedy] was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 23 March 1911. He founded the architecture and design firm Warnett Kennedy & Associates (WKA) and worked as an architect and designer in Britain for a number of years before moving to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1952 to create Annacis Island, the first planned industrial community in Canada and was to remain in Canada until his death nearly 50 years later.
Kennedy designed a model of a spaceship for the Designers Look Ahead section of the ‘Britain Can Make It’ exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 1946. During the 1940s Kennedy also designed an exhibition for the Department of Health of Scotland and the Metropolitan Plywood Company's stand for the British Industries Fair in London in 1948. WKA were display designers for the the Power and Production Pavilion at the South Bank site of the Festival of Britain in 1951.
Following his move to Canada Kennedy became secretary of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and a local alderman. He also wrote books on his adopted city including ‘Vancouver Tomorrow: a Search for greatness’ (Vancouver, British Columbia: Mitchell Press, 1974) and ‘Vancouver: fight for it or lose it! An insider looks at the attempts to take over the city’ (Vancouver, British Columbia: Ailsa Publishing, 1982) and several magazine articles.
Kennedy was an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA), Member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (MRAIC) and a Member of the Society of Industrial Artists (MSIA). He died on 2 July 1999 [or January 2000 - sources differ]
Kennedy, Warnett, et al. Rooms Without Ceilings: A Portfolio of Sketches by Ten Vancouver Architects and Landscape Architects. Vancouver, British Columbia: British Columbia Lumber Manufacturers Association, 1965