Egon Riss was educated at the Weiner Technische Hochschule (it was believed that he also studied at the Bauhaus but this has proved to be unfounded) and following his studies he quickly established a reputation by winning a competition to design a clinic and health insurance office, followed by other public buildings and private houses of advanced design. Fleeing Nazi Europe, he lived at the Isokon Building during 1939 and in collaboration with Jack Pritchard, designed the Donkey, the Gull, the Bottleship  and the Pocket Bottleship. He later relocated to Scotland, where he worked from 1949 to 1964 as the chief architect for the Scottish Coal Board, for which he built mine structures.