Richter Architects

Richter Architects thoughtful, functional, stimulating Choosing architecture over law school was just one of the many good decisons David Richter has made. The Corpus Christi firm of Richter Architects is a small powerhouse of talent that values quality over growth.

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Built on Creativity, Quality & Service

by Joel Cornell

THIS PAGE & OPPOSITE PAGE: Harte Research Center for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University campus, Corpus Christi, Texas. View from the Corpus Christi bay and an insive view of the laboratory office area.

Photo by Aker.

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Years ago, David Richter had two career paths in front of him: lawyer or architect.

“Originally, I went to the School of Architecture at the University of Texas, Austin in 1970 thinking that I would later on progress into law school,” Richter said.

“Quite simply, architecture was too much fun. I really took to the planning and design aspects of it. Within days of starting architecture school, I left the idea of law school behind and never looked back.”

In his senior year, David met his future wife and partner.

David and Elizabeth Chu Richter currently serve as President and CEO of Richter Architects, respectively.

Initially, they had planned to take their talents to Miami, Fla. to start up their own firm. The economy, however, had other plans and the pair started by designing a home for David’s parent in Texas. This led to a job opportunity, and David joined a smaller existing firm in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1975. Four years later, he was named Design Principal of the firm. After some time spent raising children, Elizabeth joined the firm in 1989. Over time, the firm remained a small powerhouse of talent that valued quality over growth.

“The architectural market in Corpus Christi, Texas has always been small to medium, at best,” Richter said. “The size of the market made it easy to maintain a very diverse practice, whereas larger markets tend to favor firms that have pigeonholed themselves into one certain niche. Here, rather than doing just hospitals or

just schools, architects are more likely to compete for every kind of project based on their quality as designers and builders, not just their portfolios. Because of that experience, we’ve developed a firm that is focused on culture, design and community as a whole.”

Over time, Richter Architects has evolved into a practice that is at once broad and specialized.

“We always maintain an expertise on many different types of projects, actively avoiding becoming a singularly focused firm. The market seems to want that sort of firm, so clients can go to a school architect when they need plans and management for a school project. But, when a client needs unique skills for a fishery or border crossing facility or hospital, they will go elsewhere. We try to maintain substantial base of specialized expertise over a broad range of project types so that we can compete for a specialized projects.”

One of Richter Architects’ many specializations is in port of entry facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border.

These projects for the U.S. government require a wide array of technical and design skills, which is exactly Richter Architects’ strong suit. These types of facilities include everything from vehicle and personnel inspection apparatus and security and law enforcement facilities to kennels and efficiently planned roadways. Richter Architects has designed three different port of entry facilities, two in El Paso, Texas and one in Columbus, New Mexico.

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“Projects like these are exactly why we try to maintain such a broad base of expertise,” Richter said. “We work with different governmental agencies to achieve a very high and symbolic level of design. These facilities can be a person’s very first impression of the United States, so we strive for meaningful and prominent design.

At the same time, functionality, efficiency and security are all vital.”

At just 17 total staff members, the firm is of a manageable size so that Richter and his partner are able to keep intrinsically involved in the daily operations of the firm. From feasibility assessments, through conceptual design and construction management to post occupancy work, Richter strives to ensure every client contracting his firm won’t simply be handed off to one of the six architects that he employees; they are getting the full scope of expertise that the entire firm has to offer. Many of the architects that Richter employs are also licensed interior designers.

Nearly all of the design work that Richter Architects does is completed using BIM and CAD 3D visualization techniques. Richter and his partner still do a large portion of the initial hand drawn sketches and conceptual work for each project. He and Elizabeth also handle the majority of the firm’s marketing as well.

“Because of the size of our firm, the scope of our projects and the talented architects, designers and technicians we employ, we are able to be incredibly agile and fluid in expertly encompassing all conceivable aspects of the design process,” Richter said. “Our broad portfolio means that we never have any preconceived notions or images set for the design process. Each project is vastly different from the last, so our work never shows any dominant signs of the designer or creator.

The end result is always derivative of the most relevant conceptual underpinnings that come directly from the owner’s ideal image.

“We are a firm that conceives design based on ideas, not images,” Richter said. “We have no set notion of what the client’s project should look like when they first bring it to us. When we allow the idea to drive the process rather than the image, the projects and designs that come out are always grounded in the client and the site.”

An example of this design ethic is the recently completed the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. Its design merges its quaint small town context with the global gravitas of World War II in the Pacific.

The amount of involvement that both David and Elizabeth Chu Richter maintain within their geographic and architectural communities is staggering. Both Richters are actively involved in the AIA. In fact, they are the only couple working as architects to both have served as President of the AIA in Texas. In 1998, David served as President of the Texas Society of Architects. Elizabeth has just recently finished a term serving as a chairman of the San Antonio Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, a position she held as the only architect in the Fed system. She is also heavily involved in the local hospital system in Corpus Christi and is 4 Architecture Leaders Today

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TOP LEFT: View of the entry of the Texas Travel Information Center, Amarillo, Texas. Photo courtesy of Richter Architects.

TOP RIGHT: Rose Haggar Park Pavilion, Dallas, Texas. Photo courtesy of Richter Architects.

BOTTOM FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Commercial cargo primary inspection area of the Ysleta Land Port of Entry, El Paso, Texas; Foyer view of the National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredericksberg, Texas; Monumental shade canopy at the Del Mar College of Health Sciences and Emerging Technologies complex, Corpus Christi, Texas. Photo by Aker.

also director of the region’s Economic Development Corporation.

Richter Architects has undertaken several projects located on the Gulf coast of Texas, including a fisheries laboratory.

“In the Gulf of Mexico, near the outfall of the Mississippi River is a large dead zone that is the result of runoff contaminated with urban and agricultural pollutants,” Richter said. “In our work on the Gulf Coast, we understand the impact development can have on the marine environment. LEED gives same certification points out for water quality, whether you’re building on the coast or up in the high plains.

But on a sensitive estuary, storm water runoff quality is crucial. While we believe that LEED certification is a valuable over-all environmental benchmark, it is even more critical to identify the essential elements to sustainability to each particular site.

Richter Architects believe that architecture is the foundation for culture in every age, and that the opportunity to contribute to that legacy is a privilege and a challenge for every architect. ALT

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