Catherine (Kate) Ailsa Macintosh (1937- ), RIBA, MBE, is an architect and educator celebrated for her contribution to civic architecture. She has been described as “one of Britain’s great unsung architects of social housing” by the architecture critic Rowan Moore.

After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 1961, Macintosh worked briefly with Denys Lasdun on his early designs for the National Theatre. From there, she went on to work for several County Council Architects' Departments. As architect for the London Borough of Southwark, Macintosh designed Dawson’s Heights, a social housing development in Dulwich. Between 1969-72, as architect for the London Borough of Lambeth, she designed No. 269 Leigham Court Road (now called Macintosh Court in her honour), a sheltered housing development for older people. In 2015, this development received Grade II listing for its historic and architectural interest. Both of these projects are featured in the celebrated 2010 documentary, Utopia London, directed by Tom Cordell.

Between 1974-95 Macintosh worked for East Sussex County Architects and then subsequently Hampshire County Architects. In this period she worked on civic projects, including Fire Stations, Old People’s Homes, Family Centres and Schools.

Macintosh and her partner George Finch (1930-2013) set up Finch Macintosh Architects in 1995 and continued until 2008. Their design for Weston Adventure Playground, Southampton, won an RIBA award in 2005.

Macintosh was elected to the RIBA Council in 1972 and was Vice President for Public Affairs in 1996. She was the first chair of the “Women’s Architect Group’ and was both an organiser and exhibitor in the exhibition Women Architects – Their Work held in 1984 at the RIBA. Throughout her career Macintosh taught at a number of Universities including Portsmouth, Brighton, Edinburgh and the Bartlett (UCL).