RIBA Fellow Members 2021

RIBA Fellow Members are inspirational Chartered Members who have made a real contribution to architecture and the community. Below, we give an overview of RIBA Fellow Membership and the assessment process, as well as announcing the eight new faces joining our list of RIBA Fellows for 2021 and outlining what makes them so inspirational.

RIBA Chartered Members, who through demonstrable evidence meet at least three out of five of the criteria, are eligible for Fellow Membership.

Have led or played a proactive role in a project that has had a positive social or environmental impact at a local, regional, national or international level
Have contributed to the advancement or thought leadership of the profession through education, research or technology
Have served on a local, regional, national or international working group that has effected change, influenced or supported the profession, architecture or built environment
Received an honour or an award for a significant contribution in architecture
Have made a significant contribution to architecture through local, regional, national or international initiatives and activities

Successful applicants are judged by our assessment panel, comprising of a diverse group of individuals who are renowned for their outstanding knowledge and contribution to architecture.

This year, our assessment panel were particularly impressed with the high standard of applications received and agreed that the following individuals would join the current list of inspirational RIBA Fellow Members.

Robert Barker FRIBA

Co-founder of Stolon Studio, specialising in Sociable Architecture such as ‘Forest Mews’, winner of RICS residential development of the Year 2015 and other awards and commendations
Jointly set up Baca Architects in 2003 and developed a specialism in Aquatecture and delivered the UK’s first ‘Amphibious House’
Responsible for innovative flood-related projects which led to various accolades including: the RIBA President's Award for Research in 2009, and a commendation in 2014 for the Long-term initiatives for Flood-risk Environments (LifE) project and the Climate Adaptive Neighbourhoods (CAN) project, respectively
Co-author of the Metric Handbook Flood Aware Chapter (2015) and the RIBA book – Aquatecture (2016). Robert also made written contributions to Cities and Flooding (2012 World Bank) Urban Flood Management (2010 Taylor Francis) and Flood Hazards – Impacts and Responses for the Built Environment (CRC Press)
Part of the BRE team for the Flood Resilient Repair Home in Watford, a showcase for technological solutions to flood-resilient housing

Mark Dudek FRIBA

Founder of Mark Dudek Associates, specialist education design consultant and award-winning design architect focusing on school and pre-school environments
Design work over the past 20 years has included public and private sector education projects and residential and leisure developments such as the Glasshouse Cafe at RHS Wisley, UK
Commissioned to design landmark innovation projects such as the Department for Education’s ‘Classroom of the Future’ at Yewlands Secondary School and has completed numerous nurseries, children’s centres, school refurbishment projects and high-end residential projects
Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow at several architecture schools, UK and Internationally, most notably serving as a Research Fellow at Sheffield University School of Architecture, 1997 to 2014
Prolific writer and has most recently completed an architectural biography entitled Practice: the Work of Stiff and Trevillion. His first book, Kindergarten Architecture, a comprehensive guide to early years architecture, was published in 1995 and was described as ‘a landmark publication’. The third edition of Schools and Kindergartens - a Design Manual, is being published by Birkhauser shortly.

Richard Frewer FRIBA

Lead architect in award-winning ‘The International Garden Festival Hall’ in Liverpool in 1984. The hall and landscape attracted over three million visitors from around the world and was the recipient of various awards including the Civic Trust Award and RIBA Award
As Chair of Architecture in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Bath, he championed the interdisciplinary design studio culture and, with his colleagues, assembled the first computer city model which was ultimately exploited beyond the university and became ‘mainstream’
Later became Chair at the University of Hong Kong, where he identified a pressing need to establish Asia’s first and only master’s degree programme in interdisciplinary design & management
Co-founded ‘The Green Room’ – a forum for research and practice in life cycle assessment, low-energy buildings and other environmentally friendly construction methods towards greater adoption in Hong Kong and China
He has served on several working groups and judging panels, most notably the Steel Industry’s Architecture Committee in 1992, where, as First Chair, he helped to set up the Young Architect of the Year Awards. He is also an honorary member of HKIA

Wayne Head FRIBA

Managing director of Curl la Tourelle Head Architecture and lead architect in award-winning projects ‘Revitalise Peckham Rye’ and ‘Morland Gardens’
Director of ‘Big House of the Arts’ project which won the Civic Trust Award in 2014 and Norwich Arts Society award
Founder and editor of ‘DETAILS – Volumes 1-5’ published by The Everyday Press which takes an in-depth look at architectural details and their overall impact
CABE Design Council-appointed Built Environment Expert and serves on several regionally based design review panels. He is a formally appointed Public Governor to NHS HUHFT – Homerton University Hospital Hackney for five years
RIBA Client Adviser and has been an RIBA Part 3 professional practice examiner for over five years. He is also a regular critic at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Westminster University School of Architecture

Henry Hepburn FRIBA

Principal of Henry A. Hepburn Associates, Architects-Urban Planners-Interior Designers and Associate Professor at the University of The Bahamas. In collaboration with Florida A&M University, he engaged students to produce the first ever digital-based map of Nassau to identify historic buildings for the Antiquities, Monuments & Museums Corporation (AMMC)
Former Coordinator of the architecture curriculum where he led the establishment of a professional Bachelor of Architecture Degree that is comparable to worldwide accredited programmes
Founded the ‘Architecture Endowment Fund’ where he and other colleagues made personal donations to financially support young Bahamians in their higher education studies
Former member of the Construction Seminar Group (CSG) Planning Committee and founding member of ‘Blueprint’ – local radio programme created to inform small/medium-sized construction practices of the latest technology in the industry. This was later expanded to include an exposition by local companies and was the first construction trade show (Bahamas Home and Builders Show) ever to be held in the Bahamas
Received two awards from the Institute of Bahamian Architects (IBA) for Civic and Interior Architecture for ‘Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church,’ Hamilton, Long Island, Bahamas

Peter Jackson FRIBA

Invited to join HH the Ruler’s Office, Sharjah and successfully initiated the ‘Heart of Sharjah’ Master plan, established a professional Historic Buildings Unit within the Heritage Department, prepared a Historic Buildings Register and oversaw restoration of Sharjah Souk, including archaeological survey and partial reconstruction, successfully maintaining its traditional life and vitality
Other notable projects include designing and helping establish Garden Trade School in Lusaka, Zambia, providing training for employment where it was most desperately needed, and designing and implementing essential new growth point infrastructure with appropriate markets, bus shelters and public toilets throughout rural Zimbabwe, in the aftermath of its freedom war for independence
Historical research and writing, contributed extensively to numerous architectural publications, and has won several prestigious awards including a 2016 Education Building of the Year Award, and a 2019 Agha Khan Architecture Award with X-Architects Wasit Wetland Interpretative Centre, for which he was client Architect Advisor
Actively furthered local architectural education within the Zambia Institute of Architects and as Chairman of the Architects Council of Zimbabwe registration body, coordinated Part 3 professional training and examinations
A founding member and Hon. Treasurer of the RIBA Gulf Chapter, securing both its legal recognition and premises for the Institute’s first Gulf office in Sharjah, UAE

Cameron Rashti FRIBA

Director at AKTC where he led the ‘Historic Cities Programme’ which consisted of a portfolio of conservation, restoration and urban regeneration projects in various parts of the developing world with an emphasis on environmental and community socio-economic development and preservation of historic districts
Projects included Al Azhar Cairo – a 32-hectare transformation of a barren urban site alongside the Ayyubid Walls of Historic Cairo into a metropolitan park
Al Azhar Cairo has received over 1.7 million visitors per year since completion in 2006 and was awarded the 2005 Global Vision Award for Innovation (Travel + Leisure)
Responsible for numerous publications relating to his work at AKTC, which have allowed for important research into complex urban systems in significant historic cities in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and South East Asia, many of them classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Since 2018, he has been a member of Politecnico di Milano Advisory Board which gathers academic and practising professionals to evaluate the educational path of the Faculty with regard to the current job market and civil society

Philip Watson FRIBA

Led the team that designed two special needs schools in Barnsley as part of the Building Schools for the Future initiative. Most notably, Springwell Academy for social, emotional and mental health issues (SEMH), which was the subject of study visits by the British Council for School Environments and was highly commended in BCSE’s Design Awards in 2013
Later co-authored a paper exploring how the kinaesthetic educational approach promoted at Springwell and the manifestation of this physically helped deliver a step-change in student outcomes. Leeds City Council subsequently adopted the Springwell model of delivery for all its SEMH provision and have recently completed a further three schools
After initiating a study with Imperial College London to measure the impact of high quality, sustainable environments on people and their 'performance', Philip was granted funding to explore the creation of a new digital tool for engagement with building users. The resultant piece of work, 'WellBriefing’, won the AJ100 Best Use of Technology Award in 2017 with the judges recognising that the tool attempted to ‘make the invisible, visible’
He led the team that created a further digital ‘Thoughtful Design Toolkit’ that seeks to define and deliver building occupant needs to support their wellbeing. This was shortlisted in the BCIA Digital Initiative of the Year 2020 and in the Building Awards Digital Innovation category, also in 2020
In 2018 he was awarded ‘Visiting Professor’ at University of Leeds

The eight Fellows who have been elected represent a broad range of backgrounds and specialisms and continue to effect change from all corners of the globe. They will be joining our list of current Fellows.

Errol Charles Alberga FRIBA
Charles Joseph James Andrews FRIBA
John Sydney Assael FRIBA
Page Ayres Cowley FRIBA
Raj Barr-Kumar FRIBA
Donald Bates FRIBA
Harbinder Singh Birdi FRIBA
Richard Alexander Blenkharn FRIBA
David Christopher Sturgess Bonnett FRIBA
Jason Michael Boyle FRIBA
Nelson K Chen FRIBA
Richard Coutts FRIBA
Nela Manjeri de Zoysa FRIBA
David Dunbar FRIBA
Valerie Kathryn Evans FRIBA
Jonathan Mark Falkingham FRIBA
Richard Douglas Ferraro FRIBA
Joseph Bernard Fitzgerald FRIBA
Gordon Alexander Gibb FRIBA
Robert Charles Greenstreet FRIBA
Gary Haney FRIBA
Christopher John Heuvel FRIBA
Barrie Ho FRIBA
Tzena Nesheva James FRIBA
Alan Montgomery Jones FRIBA
Paul Keogh FRIBA
Dave King FRIBA
David Edward King FRIBA
Martin Charles James Knight FRIBA
Khee Poh Lam FRIBA
Anna Lira Luis FRIBA
John Adrian Lyall FRIBA
Robin William John Machell FRIBA
Peter Magyar FRIBA
Ingval Maxwell FRIBA
Hitesh Mehta FRIBA
John Leonard Melvin FRIBA
Mervyn Keith Miller FRIBA
Maurizio Mucciola FRIBA
Teri Vivienne Daphne Okoro FRIBA
Adam Viorel Pantelimon-Negrut FRIBA
Valeria Passetti FRIBA
Wolf Wolfgang Pearlman FRIBA
Andrew Geoffrey Purves FRIBA
Robin Hayden Roberts FRIBA
Anwar Said FRIBA
Richard Gilbert Saxon FRIBA
Nasrine Seraji FRIBA
Roger Francis Stephenson FRIBA
John Goold Stewart FRIBA
Helen Sian Taylor FRIBA
Ruffina Sharmila Thilakaratne FRIBA
Lanre Hubert Towry-Coker FRIBA
Peter Lindley Ullathorne FRIBA
Morley Stuart von Sternberg FRIBA
Stephen Nigel Burnham Waldron FRIBA
Nigel Hugh Walter FRIBA
John Joseph Seymour Watts FRIBA
Keith Ronald Williams FRIBA
Sandra Woodall FRIBA
James Macdonald Wright FRIBA
Bernard Wilson Zingano FRIBA