Richard Fleischman + Partners

long lasting success

Richard Fleischman + Partners

Richard Fleischman + Partners Architects maintains a long history of efficient, high quality design through a thorough and intense design process.

ARCHITECTURE LEADERS TODAY

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midwest

| architecture

richard

fleischman

& partners

2 Architecture Leaders Today

architecture

| midwest

Long lasting success through dedication, passion &understanding

by Joel Cornell

Immediately after founding his firm in 1961, Richard Fleischman knew that he wanted to encompass a scope that was beyond the idea of a niche or singular design role. Today, the firm of Richard Fleischman + Partners Architects embodies a range of design that transcends sectors and industries, with a reach all across the globe.

Upon receiving his undergraduate degree in Architectural Design from Carnegie Mellon University, Fleischman went on to finish his graduate courses at Columbia University. He furthered his studies via a Fellowship throughout Europe, before returning to his

native Cleveland to begin his career as an architect. He served as an associate through the late 50s for a local firm, eventually rising to the position of partner. Although Richard Fleischman Architects was founded in 1961, Fleischman stayed on staff as a partner with the former firm until 1971, when the two firms became one to form Richard Fleischman + Partners Architects.

“We always go out of our way to talk about the true concept of space with each of our clients,” Fleischman said. “Space is created by size, shape and surface. We try to be very philosophical about what we do. If you’re not

OPPOSITE: University of Akron Polymer Science Building, Akron, Ohio. Exterior: twin glass towers with each focusing on chemistry or physics research (Chihuly Glass Sculpture). Interior: Llbs are designed to allow research in each 1,000 sq. ft. labs, with floor to ceiling glass on the exterior walls. Photos by Eric Hanson.

BELOW: University of Toledo College of Engineering, Toledo, Ohio. Engineering complex retrofitting an existing glass manufacturing plant area plus new construction for research and classroom activities. Photo courtesy of Richard Fleischman Architects.

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midwest

| architecture

OPPOSITE PAGE: Blessed Sacrament Parish, Warren, Ohio. 70-foot high facility with the Sanctuary is in the center and liturgical elements arranged in a processional manner. The procession starts in the Gathering area and continues through the Baptistery, Pulpit, and the Table for the Consecration of the Eucharist. All photos by Eric Hanson.

BELOW: St. Paschal Baylon Church, Highland Heights, Ohio. A 70-foot high structure built with mirrored glass reflecting the community. 1,200 members of the congregation surround the Sanctuary.

Steel construction building is enclosed with Cedar boards creating ideal acoustics.

Photo by Eric Hanson.

4 Architecture Leaders Today

out on the edge, you’re taking up too much room and can wind up stagnant. Thus, we are constantly changing and challenging ourselves so that we can stay on top.”

From Guatemala to Milan and across Africa, RF+PA has maintained a vast portfolio that has garnered the firm over 250 awards over their history. With offices in Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio and also in New York City, the firm is poised to provide personal, innovative and daring designs to clients across the globe.

Additionally, the firm keeps an intense schedule that allows it to cater to clients around the world, no matter how demanding dispersed they may be. With an average work day 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., RF+PA’s extreme dedication to design is apparent.

“Our work is focus on specific clients who have specific ideas,” Fleischman said. “Dedication and passion are required to bring these ideas to life.

“We often do work for federal governments, which is a sector that takes a great understanding of politics to navigate. We often have to push ideas through 10 to 15 people, all of whom are trying to maintain 10 to 15 different agendas.

We’ve succeeded through our dedication and our persistence. We provide our clients with a

very rigorous and painstaking design process, which can come off to some clients as pushy, overpowering or uncomplimentary. Labels like that can be deadly in architecture and some clients can’t take that strain and tend to shy away from that kind of design process. Still, many of our clients demand such a scrupulous process, and we refuse to compromise our design quality for anything less.”

For RF+PA, everything they do is a goal, not a task. Their dedication to improve every single element of design for a project has given them a strong emphasis on sustainability.

“Design cannot be sustainable unless it is also functional,” Fleischman said. “In order for sustainable design to be a full part of the design process, we have to work constantly to integrate every resource we have available into a project that ends up being sustainable, functional and aesthetically pleasing. It can never do to leave any of these things behind.

“For us, architectural design is about mathematics, language and art. Mathematics gives us the ability to think spatially and critically; language allows us to understand diversity; art teaches us the meaning of passion. All of these things are necessary in creating quality architectural design.” ALT

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Fall 2010 5

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