Robert Steedman RSA was born at Batu Gajah, Malaysia in 1929. From 1949 Steedman studied at the School of Architecture, Edinburgh College of Art where he was awarded a travelling scholarship in 1952. His future partner James Shepherd Morris also gained a travelling scholarship in the same year and together they made their way across Switzerland, Italy and Greece. In 1953 they returned through France and Spain to resume their studies at ECA.
After graduation Steedman travelled extensively throughout the United States, visiting houses and other buildings by Mies van der Rohe, Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson, and Louis Khan, architects whose work he had admired as a student in Edinburgh and camping wherever possible in the impressive national Parks. He then visited Japan studying the traditional gardens, houses and palaces, where the modular plans and flexibility of spaces were inspirational.
