Richard John Robert Feilden

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(29 March 1950 – 3 January 2005) was a British architect who co-founded Feilden Clegg Architects.

Life and work

Feilden was born in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

on 29 March 1950. His father,

Bob Feilden Geoffrey Bertram Robert Feilden (20 February 1917 – 1 May 2004) was a mechanical engineer, and an important part of the Power Jets team that developed the first jet engine with Frank Whittle in the early 1940s. He was Chair of the Committee on ...

, was an engineer who served as the Director General of the

British Standards Institution The British Standards Institution (BSI) is the Standards organization, national standards body of the United Kingdom. BSI produces technical standards on a wide range of products and services and also supplies standards certification services ...

from 1970 to 1981. His uncle

Bernard Feilden Sir Bernard Melchior Feilden Order of the British Empire, CBE Royal Institute of British Architects, FRIBA (11 September 1919 – 14 November 2008) was a conservation architect whose work encompassed cathedrals, the Great Wall of China and the Taj ...

was a conservation architect. Richard Feilden changed his university studies from engineering to architecture, graduating from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, followed by further studies at the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest private school of architecture in the UK. The AA hosts exhibitions, lectures, symposia and publications. History The Architectura ...

. In 1978 he set up his own architecture practice in

Bath, Somerset Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...

, with fellow architect Peter Clegg: now

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (also known as FCBStudios) is a British architectural design firm, established in 1978, with offices in Bath, London and Manchester. The firm is known for its pioneering work in sustainable design and social design ...

. The practice specialised in designing and constructing low-energy housing. He built his own house in

Warleigh Warleigh is a hamlet in the civil parish of Bathford, in the Bath and North East Somerset district, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It lies east of Bath, on the River Avon, it is primarily known as the location of Warleigh We ...

, Wiltshire. He was known to be outspoken, honest and critical of the problems with building design and wider issues, such as global sustainability. He argued that

head teacher A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management Management (or managing ...

s should be centrally involved in the design of their schools and criticised the mediocrity of school design. According to architect Sunand Prasad, Feilden's greatest achievement was to form Feilden Clegg into "a modern form of practice that explicitly embraces the collaborative nature of producing architecture." In 1998 he became part of Lord Rogers' Urban Task Force and, in 2000, was appointed to the

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for ...

. Feilden was accidentally killed in Warleigh on 3 January 2005, when a tree fell on him while he was clearing a patch of woodland as a memorial to his father, who had died eight months earlier. In tribute the 2005 RIBA President, George Ferguson, said of Feilden: "He showed that good architecture needn't be showy or iconic. What is great about his practice is that, although Richard led from the front, it wasn't reliant on one single person. They're the one firm we lose to graciously."

Personal life

Feilden married Patricia "Tish" Nielson in 1975. They had three children.

Richard Feilden Foundation

In 2005, the Richard Feilden Foundation was set up in his memory. The charity is a network of professionals, with expertise of the built environment and education sectors who provide skills and transfer knowledge to enhance educational infrastructure across Africa. It partners with like-minded organisations and individuals to collaborate on building education projects in Africa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feilden, Richard John Robert 1950 births 2005 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Architects from Lincolnshire

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

People from Lincoln, England Officers of the Order of the British Empire Accidental deaths in England