Edward A. Feiner, who as the chief architect of the U.S. government revolutionized the public image of countless federal agencies by hiring renowned architects to design hundreds of courthouses, government laboratories, border stations and office buildings, died on July 1 in Falls Church, VA. He was 75.

He brought great design to projects both high-profile and obscure. His list of collaborators amounted to a Who’s Who of modern American architecture, including Richard Meier, I.M. Pei, Robert A.M. Stern, and Kohn Pedersen Fox.

One might say that Mr. Feiner took bad civic design as a personal affront. He kept photos of what he considered architectural “horrors” pinned to his office wall. Of the Jacob Javits Federal Building, he said, “You look at that building and you say why? Why would you build a piece of schlock amid landmarks?”

Mr. Feiner’s emphasis on design consciousness over budget consciousness often put him at odds with fiscal hawks in Congress. “Bad design,” he said repeatedly, “could only diminish the public’s respect for government and what it could achieve; good design, on the other hand, was critical to creating a vibrant civic culture.”