Today we remember Richard Buckley – our founder and friend - who passed away in October 2008, age 44.

The breadth of work undertaken by Buckley Gray Yeoman remains a testament to Richard’s belief that design is a sensual experience and as such can create emotion across all human activity.

Along with his wife Fiammetta Gray and partner Matt Yeoman, Richard was the founding partner of one of the ‘new wave’ of young design led architectural practices that sprung up in London in the mid 1990’s. He continually chased new challenges, often stating, “pushing your luck is bloody hard work”. Once replying to a journalist’s question about why he had started his own practice rather than climbing the career ladder in a big firm with the answer “partly naivety, partly bloody mindedness, but mainly because there was no safety net. If we hadn’t made it work, we could never have done it again because we just wouldn’t have had the mental energy”.

Richard believed that what you don’t put into life you don’t get out, that energy leads to a sense of energy, which then breeds more energy. He remained committed to inspiring and helping others and particularly enjoyed sharing his enthusiasm for architecture with young people starting out on their journey. Buckley Gray Yeoman has always made sure there is work experience opportunities for young people within the practice.

Richard possessed another rare quality amongst design professionals, that of calmness and consideration. He was passionate but not egotistical. Very rarely raising his voice, he did not enjoy confrontation and would rather walk quietly away than argue. He could however be extremely single minded and stubborn when he believed something was right!

As the practice grew, Richard developed into a father figure. He enjoyed wondering around the office, sitting next to staff at their desks and ensuring that everyone was happy. Happiness played an important part in his life. His aim was always to make people happy, whether through exceeding a client’s expectations, telling a witting story or creating enjoyable spaces through architecture.

There were two things Richard emphasised most to those interested in studying architecture: firstly how important it was to travel, to expose themselves to as many cultures and building vernaculars as possible in order to open their minds to the world; and secondly to pick up a pencil and sketch, to fill books with what they saw. He felt strongly that the art of sketching in architecture was losing out to the computer and recognized that it was imperative that young architects should be able to sketch their ideas successfully.

In memory of Richard a memorial fund was set up and the money raised is used to fund an Educational Award in Architecture related to travel and sketching in Oxford Brookes University, where he started out on his successful journey into the world of architecture.

Richard is survived by his wife, Fiammetta and three children, Bea, Millie and Teddy.