CHRISTOPHER P. RATCLIFF, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP

After practicing as an architect for more than 40 years, Kit found his vocation 10 years ago in regenerative thinking and development. With this approach, he endeavors first to find new growth opportunities for our clients’ organizations and then to design architecture that supports them. While this approach is similar to what architects have traditionally done in the past, it leads to much deeper insights into developing new opportunities for our clients that we can support with architecture.

Client organizations are living systems which enjoy mutually beneficial relationships with other human and natural systems. In the regenerative approach, we engage stakeholders both inside and outside of the client organization in conversations to ascertain the potential roles and new value our clients can bring to their communities. In this way, we gain insight into relevant evolutionary pathways our clients could follow. We can then design an architecture that supports these pathways into the future, and over the long lives of their built environment.

This process builds capital in human, social, natural, built and financial systems and we are mindful not to deplete any of these capitals in our work. In addition, we have a moral responsibility to use the sacred resources of the earth appropriately in our work.

Ratcliff was founded 114 years ago, and Kit joined the firm 50 years ago. He led the firm for over a third of a century and continues today as Chairman of the Board. Developing our firm to keep up with our changing times has been one of his central concerns. He introduced sustainable design and lean strategies into our practice on a wide array of academic, medical and civic projects well before they were widely practiced in our industry and he is presently introducing regenerative thinking and development.

Long term relationships, based on thoughtful and relevant service, continue to sustain our practice. Kit deeply believes that architects, in their pivotal role of converting natural resources into the built environment, must facilitate the regeneration of their clients’ organizations as well as the ecosystems of the earth.