A Life Shaped by the Air Robert C. Barnfield was born in Gloucester, United Kingdom, in 1856. His early years were spent training in London, where he learned the precise, structured lines of an architect. This technical foundation remained with him, even as his physical needs forced a change in direction. His asthma made the heavy air of London difficult to bear, prompting a move to New Zealand in 1883. By 1885, he arrived in Honolulu…