Taking some time out from their hectic schedules, Roth and Sheppard participated in an e-mail Q&A, sharing their thoughts on design influences, industry changes and their futures. Related Links: Colorado Architecture Firm of the Year: Roth + Sheppard Architects MSC: What influences your work, outside of architecture or other architects? HR: Separating myself from the everyday workplace and relationships allows me to observe behavior in how others solve the ordinary obstacles encountered in their lives. How they walk isn’t as important as the path they take. What they eat isn’t as important as how they dine. Understanding the simple patterns

Roth + Sheppard Architects is having a phenomenal year. Photo Courtesy of Roth + Sheppard Photo Courtesy of Roth + Sheppard The new 18,000-sq-ft Boulder Regional Fire Training Facility is located adjacent to the Boulder Reservoir and consists of a 10-acre fire training center that includes administrative buildings, burn building, drill tower and various training props. Related Links: Herbert Roth�s & Jeffery Sheppard�s Thoughts on Design Influences, Industry Changes and Their Futures Recently named Firm of the Year by both AIA Denver and AIA Colorado, the Denver-based firm has also garnered seven design awards from AIA Denver and an additional

Straight-shooting engineer Renee Azerbegi wants to be as accurate as possible when describing the Denver consulting firm she co-founded with her husband. Since its start in 2004, Ambient Energy has been identified by a golden logo and the tagline, �solar and sustainable design solutions,� but Azerbegi is considering a tweak. �The Ambient name was his idea�my husband�s a solar guy and he was a consultant for us�but now he�s with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, so we�re thinking of changing the tagline.� And so it goes at an evolving firm led by a perfectionist. Located in a retrofitted Victorian-era building

She recently returned from Paris, the “first real vacation” she and her husband have taken without their son. She’s also resumed taking piano lessons, willfully making time now instead of waiting until retirement, when “I won’t have the memory any more.” She has resumed taking piano lessons, willfully making time now instead of waiting until retirement. Also important to Azerbegi is her mother-son time. Once a week, no matter the demands of the office, she picks her son up from school, and they also take weekly taekwondo classes together. Azerbegi says she believes that �people think I�m too serious because

At a time when many firms are in survival mode, trimming costs and eliminating risk, Architectural Nexus is thriving, and it�s encouraging employees to pursue work they�re passionate about, even if it�s not a fi rm specialty. Formed in 2003 by the merger of Jensen Haslem Architects and Thomas Petersen Hammond Architects, Architectural Nexus now has 100 employees among offi ces in Logan, Utah; and Tempe, Ariz.; and a new LEED-Platinum Salt Lake City headquarters, an energetic design studio coaxed from a bland fi tness facility. President Donald Finlayson, who joined Jensen Haslem as a health-care specialist in 1996, became

When the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden released its 506-page RFP for a non-negotiable LEED-Platinum-certified office building, it wasn’t clear how something jammed full of sustainable elements would take shape. The RFP laid out not what the building should look like but how it should perform; it was up to the design-build team to come up with the rest. At 222,000 sq ft, the Research Support Facility, completed in June, is the largest net-zero-energy building in the nation, and is supported by a matrix of innovative features, most of which were designed by NREL scientists.

Nearly 40 years have passed since Dick Saunders started his own company to provide himself with a retirement fund and a �little bit of ownership.� He got more than he bargained for. Saunders Construction now has more than 350 people in skilled field positions, and it consistently has ranked among the top contractors in the Rocky Mountain region. The firm also has been named Mountain States Construction�s 2010 Colorado Contractor of the Year. �Most satisfying to me is that throughout our history, the company has had a great reputation and accolades,� says Saunders, who turns 70 in August and still

Today�s MKK Consulting Engineers Inc.�three bustling offices tackling a full docket of projects�is a far cry from the company that began in the 1950s as a sole practice. A lot has changed, but the values and discipline instilled by founder Jim Konkel have continued in earnest. �We like to hire around a person�s value system; it needs to match ours,� MKK President Stuart Monical says. �We�re about customer service, innovation, integrity, knowledge, passion and teamwork. You can train people in the technical aspects of the work, but it�s harder to train values. They have to have those already.� Birth of

After working for CTA Architects Engineers for more than 35 years and rising to principal and president of the internationally known firm, Jim Shepard still displays an old rejection letter on the wall of his office. The letter is from CTA, which hired Shepard two years after initially rejecting him. “I came to the firm as a student intern, and they treated me wonderfully,” he says. “I was lucky enough that they said, ‘If we have work, you have a job.’ I call myself the ‘oldest student intern,’ since I never had to submit a portfolio.” Shepard’s long tenure with

He may be best known for his airport designs, but Curt Fentress doesn’t readily accept that designation – or any other. Photo by Ellen Jaskol Denver International Airport Photo by Nick Merrick The firm�s portfolio includes the Jefferson County Government Center. He waters down the often-heard “airport architect” moniker with, “We are a firm that is good at many building types in the public realm.” Fentress and his firm, Denver-based Fentress Architects, have been honored as a 2010 recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award, the American Institute of Architects’ highest award for public architecture. The firm’s portfolio includes an impressive