RTKL was a global
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
,
planning and
design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...
firm. The firm was founded in 1946 by Archibald Rogers and Francis Taliaferro in Rogers’ grandmother’s basement in
Annapolis and grew to be one of the largest architectural firms in the world prior to its acquisition by
Arcadis NV
Arcadis NV is a global design, engineering and management consulting company based in the Zuidas, Amsterdam, Netherlands. It currently operates in excess of 350 offices across 40 countries. The company is a member of the Next 150 index.
Arcadi ...
in 2007. In October 2015, RTKL was formally merged with another Arcadis subsidiary, Seattle-based Callison, to form
CallisonRTKL
CallisonRTKL is a global architecture, planning and design firm formed from the October 2015 merger of Callison and RTKL Associates, both of which were subsidiaries of Arcadis NV.
Chief Executive Officers (Effective Date)
* Kim Heartwell ( ...
headquartered in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
.
"RTKL" comes from the initials of the initial members: Rogers Taliaferro Kostritsky Lamb.
History
The firm was founded by Archibald Rogers in his grandmother’s basement in
Annapolis. Francis Taliaferro joined shortly afterwards.
In 1949, the pair hired Charles Lamb, whose design for the
Anne Arundel County
Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, whi ...
Girl Scouts Teepee Lodge gained the firm national attention by winning an award from the
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
.
Rogers and Taliaferro's reputation grew when, in 1954, internationally renowned architect
Pietro Belluschi
Pietro Belluschi (August 18, 1899 – February 14, 1994) was an Italian-American architect. A leading figure in modern architecture, he was responsible for the design of over 1,000 buildings.Belluschi, Pietro. (2007). In ''Encyclopædia Britannic ...
selected the firm as his associate architect for the design of the Church of the Redeemer in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
.
The project received an AIA Award of Merit and, in 1986, a special 25-Year Award from the AIA's Baltimore Chapter. In 1956, Lamb was made a partner in the firm, which changed its name to Rogers, Taliaferro and Lamb.
The addition of
urban design
Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban d ...
specialist George Kostritsky in 1961 completed the foursome, and the “Rogers, Taliaferro, Kostritsky and Lamb” name was condensed to “RTKL”. In that same year RTKL was commissioned to design the public spaces for the
Charles Center
Charles Center is a large-scale urban redevelopment project in central Baltimore's downtown business district of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Beginning in 1954, a group called the "Committee for Downtown" promoted a master plan for arresting th ...
, which contributed to Baltimore’s
urban renewal
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
movement. Largely because of the success of this involvement, the firm was commissioned to develop downtown plans for
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio,
Hartford, Connecticut, and
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
, among other US cities.
The firm continued to expand in the next decades, opening offices across the company and overseas.
RTKL also grew through acquisitions. In 2000, RTKL acquired
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
-based FDS International, a health practice ranked among the top ten in the country. Later in 2000, RTKL bought the Miami-based Howard Snoweiss Design Group, a design company, with an eye towards expanding its business in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In 2007, RTKL became a wholly owned subsidiary of
Arcadis NV
Arcadis NV is a global design, engineering and management consulting company based in the Zuidas, Amsterdam, Netherlands. It currently operates in excess of 350 offices across 40 countries. The company is a member of the Next 150 index.
Arcadi ...
, an international company that delivers consulting, design, engineering, urban planning, architectural and project management services for infrastructure, environment and buildings.
In August 2010 the firm purchased Beijing-based AHS International, a practice that specialized in healthcare and medical-facility architecture.
In 2011,''
Building Design
Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less complica ...
'' ranked RTKL’s retail sector first in the world, its planning services third and its urban design services fifth.
Notable RTKL Projects
![Royal Pavilion Aldershot 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Royal_Pavilion_Aldershot_2016.jpg)
*
Edward A. Garmatz United States Courthouse, Baltimore, MD, USA (1976)
*
Fifth Third Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA (1991)
*
Chase Financial Plaza
The Chase Financial Plaza is a 1991-built 14 story 165 foot high rise office building on the Tower City Center property of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The postmodern building was erected in 1991 when Forest City Enterprises sought to improve the ...
, Cleveland, Ohio, USA 1991
*
Fairfax County Government Center
The Fairfax County Government Center is the headquarters for the Fairfax County, Virginia local government. Located west of the City of Fairfax in an unincorporated area of the county, it is the meeting place of the Fairfax County Board of Superv ...
, Fairfax County, Virginia, USA (1992)
*
Katy Mills
Katy Mills is a shopping mall in Katy, Texas within the Houston metropolitan area, and it is one of the tourist destinations in Houston. It was developed by The Mills Corporation and is now managed by Simon Property Group, who owns 62.5% of it. T ...
, Katy, Texas, USA (1999)
*
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Miami, Florida, USA (2000)
* Redesign of the
damaged Pentagon following the
September 11th attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
which occurred in 2001.
Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...
, USA (2002)
*
North East Mall
North East Mall (previously as Northeast Mall) is an American super-regional shopping mall located in Hurst, Texas, United States, a suburb in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. It is located below highways SH 121, SH 183, and is east of Interst ...
,
Hurst, Texas
Hurst is a city in the U.S. state of Texas located in the densely populated portion of northeastern Tarrant County and is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. It is considered a Dallas and Fort Worth suburb and is part of the Mid-Cit ...
(2001)
*
Royal Pavilion
The Royal Pavilion, and surrounding gardens, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a Grade I listed former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Princ ...
, Aldershot, UK (2002)
*
Shanghai Museum of Science and Technology, China
* Chinese Museum of Film, Beijing, China
* Principe Pio, Madrid, Spain (2004)
* The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano,
Plano, Texas
Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
History
European settlers came to the area near ...
(2005)
* New Jiang Wan Cultural Center, Shanghai China (2005)
*
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, Baltimore, Maryland, USA (2005)
* Silver Cross Hospital Campus, New Lenox, Illinois, USA (2005)
*
John Radcliffe Hospital
The John Radcliffe Hospital (informally known as the JR) is a large tertiary teaching hospital in Oxford, England. It forms part of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is named after John Radcliffe, an 18th-century physic ...
, Oxford, England (2006)
*
Westfield San Francisco, USA(2006)
*
Community Hospital North
Community Hospital North is a hospital in the Castleton neighborhood of Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. It is part of the Community Health Network group of hospitals.
History
What is now Community Hospital North originally opened in 1985 as a satel ...
Expansion, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (2007)
*
Naberezhnaya Tower
Naberezhnaya Tower ( rus, Башня на Hабережной, r=Bashnya na Naberezhnoy, literally means Tower on the Embankment) is an office complex composed of two skyscrapers and a high-rise located on plot 10 in the Moscow International Bu ...
, Moscow, Russia (2007)
* Tokyo Bay Rehabilitation Hospital, Tokyo, Japan (2007)
*
L.A. Live
L.A. Live is an entertainment complex in the South Park District of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It is adjacent to the Crypto.com Arena and Los Angeles Convention Center.
L.A. Live was developed by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), Wach ...
, Los Angeles, California, USA (2008)
*
U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, Washington, DC, USA (2008)
* City Crossing, Shenzhen, China (2009)
*
American Society of Hematology
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is a professional organization representing hematologists. It was founded in 1958. Its annual meeting is held in December of every year and has attracted more than 30,000 attendees. The society publishes t ...
, Washington, DC, USA (2010)
*
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...
Data Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA (2010)
*
Mirdif City Centre
City Centre Mirdif is a shopping mall in the residential area of Mirdif, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It opened on 26 March 2010, and is developed and managed by Majid Al Futtaim Properties. City Centre Mirdif has a gross leasable area of 1 ...
, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2010)
*
Food and Drug Administration Headquarters, White Oak, MD, USA (est. 2012)
* Shanghai Changzheng New Pudong Hospital, Shanghai, China (est. 2014)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rtkl Associates Inc.
Architecture firms based in Maryland
Design companies established in 1946
1946 establishments in Maryland
Design companies disestablished in 2015