My friend John Donnelly, who has died aged 84, was an architect and teacher. His projects included work in housing, waterside redevelopment and conservation design.
In 1964 he qualified as an architect, following studies at Birmingham School of Art, and his early career included positions at the firm York Rosenberg and Mardall, and with the Greater London council/Inner London Education Authority architecture department.
After the completion of further studies in urban design at the Architectural Association (1966-67), he worked with Stuart Beatty on a number of notable housing schemes in London and Kent (1969-71).
John then began a long association with schools of architecture as a tutor at what were then the polytechnics of Central London (1971-74) and the South Bank (1981-85), at Birmingham School of Art for two years, and at Canterbury College of Art for a decade from 1971, which is where I met him as a member of his postgraduate tutor group.
I was immediately struck by the eye for detail, simplicity and clarity that informed his teaching. This pursuit of precision and meticulous approach to design was a constant throughout John's working life, as evidenced by numerous built projects, including those as a consultant to British Waterways, designing mooring schemes and canalside buildings in the 1970s and again in the 90s, and at Leaside Canoe Centre, in Hackney, east London, where he redeveloped the clubhouse at the turn of the millennium.
In 1985 John had a key role in co-ordinating the design for the comprehensive restoration and extension of Michelin House with Conran Roche and YRM Architects, after the building was acquired by Sir Terence Conran and Paul Hamlyn.
Born in Rugby, John was the son of Kathleen (nee Clarke) and Victor Donnelly, an engineer who served in the merchant navy during the second world war. He was educated at Lawrence Sheriff school in Rugby, before studying architecture at Birmingham. In 1956 John met his wife, Penny, at church in Rugby, and they married in 1964, settling in Beckenham, Kent.
Later work included numerous historical buildings requiring sensitive conservation design, undertaken as private commissions and in his role as consultant for the heritage regeneration scheme in Harwich, Essex.
John and Penny's relocation to Orford in 2000 enabled them to pursue their love of the rivers of Suffolk. There they would sail the beautifully restored wooden clinker boats that were the embodiment of John's dedication to perfection and accuracy.
He possessed an almost forensic interest in people's abilities and had a profound appreciation of the skill and dedication of others. His fascination with an individual's creative processes, whether music, craftsmanship, design or fine art, was countered by a sense of fairness and equality and a wariness of the self-righteous and entitled; all aspects of the honest humanity that defined a wonderful man.
He is survived by Penny, his daughter Clara, two grandchildren Alfie and Nell, and by his sister Linda.