Richard Rauh & Associates (RRA) is an architecture and planning firm with a history supporting and facilitating objectives of progressive Owners and developers who take on idiosyncratic and unusually challenging building programs. Since 1984 RRA has completed millions of square feet of distinctive new construction in many of the most dynamic urban expansion markets in the United States. Owners that face such programs rely on effectively focused, time sensitive management control of design and construction to accomplish their goals. RRA's experience on such project teams has addressed a variety of building types, sizes and budgets. RRA principals have provided archtectural and design management services for 30 years chiefly in hospitality design, office and retail development, facilities capital improvement, health care, adaptive re-use and preservation of large scale historic structures, and in code compliance and commercial re-marketing of aging high-rise buildings. Completed hotels include dozens of Marriott, Hilton and first-tier properties for other flags in 19 states from Texas to Pennsylvania. Many RRA clients gain community, trade and professional recognition for exemplary quality of their construction and development efforts. The privilege of joining clients in their passionate pursuit of their goals is one of the great satisfactions of of architectural practice.

Typical RRA clients are institutional, corporate, public and private concerns with real estate interests in the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the USA including selected urban areas in western states of Colorado, Arizona, Oregon and California. Public sector clients have been municipal economic/development planning agencies interested in maintaining or re-establishing the signature urban characteristics of their central business district while encouraging large scale commercial development. RRA's NCARB licensing certification is recognized by all jurisdictions in North America and the Caribbean. Statutory professional registrations are current and in effect in 31 states making document filing simple, direct and uncomplicated for clients who build nationwide. Non-stop links from Atlanta's air transportation hub assure prompt, in person, business response to project schedules and owner requests in most urban locations.

Has been with RRA since 1987; formerly Corporate Design Manager, multi-disciplinary consultants for convention class hotel developments, MARRIOTT CORPORATION, International Headquarters, Bethesda, Maryland, Architecture and Construction Division. Primary and secondary schooling in Okinawa and Germany; Frankfurt International School; Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina; Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, B.S., College of Engineering; MArch. with graduate research assistantship, College of Architecture; MBA, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University. Citizenship, USA; place of birth, Lubbock, TX; family heritage: Dunn/Nash (Sumter, SC).

Regardless of what architects may do artistically, or must do to safeguard public health, safety and welfare pursuant to their duty as licensed professionals, the central priority of architectural practice is advancement of an Owner's interests. An Owner who builds at a scale large enough to need professional design services from an architect confronts a bewildering array of choices, many intensely complex and technical. Errors in judgment can be costly. Construction and development take place in a culture outside the experience of ordinary people. Owners who undertake to construct large public structures are usually individuals who are accustomed to success in their regular lives. However, becoming expert in the subculture of the construction industry is likely peripheral to their main mission, and an Owner knows that the need for such expertise is a temporary one. An experienced architect is a permanent resident of the construction culture. She/he is the Owner's ally, advocate and confidant in the complicated games played there.The architect's job, like that of a trail guide, is to understand where an Owner wants to go and then, using knowledge of the native terrain and experience with those who inhabit it, to carry out a safe and successful journey to the Owner's desired destination. The trip may be short or long, may follow a new or a well-traveled path, and may contain some calculated risks. An experienced architect understands that part of the job is to inform the Owner of choices and risks, to listen to reactions and to proceed cautiously but confidently making use of all available skill to help the Owner along the way. At RRA we take seriously our position of responsibility and trust on the journeys we take with our Owner/Clients. We take satisfaction in our record of many trips completed and in the Owners that we have delivered to their destinations sucessfully. Ultimately though, we reflect with admiration on the achievements of the clients and friends who ask us to join in their quest and to participate in their experience and success. We recognize that constructing a building is one of the most significant, challenging and worrisome things our clients will do in their lives. We know that often our clients take on their task out of a profound sense of duty to others. The support we provide is fine-tuned to those individuals, to their needs and to their sense of responsibility.

Has been with RRA since 1984; previously architect/principal at firms based in GA and KY; intern years at firms in OH (Cincinnati). NCARB (National Council of Architectural Registration Boards) 30 years; architect in 31 states USA; formerly faculty, College of Architecture at Univ of KY; formerly research associate, Julia Amory Appleton Fellow, Frederick Sheldon Fellow and teaching fellow at Harvard University GSD; BArch/MArch, Harvard; A.B. (art history), Columbia; early education, KY public schools; author (with D.G. Wright), Beginning Design Courses at Schools of Architecture in Western Europe, (Architecture Research Office, Harvard Univ.); recipient, GA Young Architect Award (1987, Georgia AIA); honor awards: National Trust for Historic Preservation; Miami Design Preservation League, Atlanta UDC, AIA KY, AIA GA, OH Historical Society; Citizenship, USA; place of birth, Ft. Thomas, KY.