Ed Feiner to the rescue

Due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Hon. FRAIC, will not be able to participate in this year’s Festival of Architecture, held in Halifax June 5–8, and presented by RAIC |Architecture Canada in partnership with the Nova Scotia Association of Architects. Ed Feiner, Hon. FRAIC, has graciously agreed to be the keynote speaker at the College of Fellows Convocation Ceremony on June 6.

Ed Feiner serves as director of the Perkins+Will Design Leadership Forum. The Forum, which includes all Perkins+Will design principals, is chartered to ensure the continuity and furtherence of design excellence throughout the firm. Mr. Feiner is considered to be among the leading experts in the US Public Buildings Design and Planning, most notably for the design of courthouses. In 2009, Ed Feiner assumed a leadership position in the Washington, DC office as a firm-wide resource. He is best known for his role as Chief Architect of the US General Services Administration (GSA) from 1996 until 2005, where he led the agency’s nationwide design and construction program, which included the development of Federal courthouses, office buildings, national laboratories, border stations and special-use projects. Mr. Feiner held the most senior professional architectural position in the United States Government. While at GSA, he founded the Design Excellence Program which reinvented the federal procurement process for architecture. The program streamlined the process of commissioning a new building and focused on design quality. He was instrumental in the development and execution of GSA’s Green Building Standards, program management, and the design of GSA’s first LEED certified projects. Mr. Feiner personally reviewed and approved the concept designs of all Federal courthouses developed by GSA from 1985 through 2005.

Prior to his tenure at GSA, Mr. Feiner served as Master Planning Director for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command. Mr. Feiner is a graduate (BArch) of The Cooper Union, New York and The Catholic University of America, Washington DC (MArch in Urban Design). He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Mr. Feiner received the AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for public architecture and the United States Government Distinguished Service Award.

For more information about  the 2013 Festival of Architecture, visit raic.org.