RATCLIFF possesses a vibrant vision, a zest for innovation and a commitment to sustainability. With a
legacy in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1906, the firm is a living, adapting organization, dedicated to evoking a world in healthy balance with time, purpose and place.
RATCLIFF’s partners engage clients who share our values and serve as strategic partners in designing sustainable building solutions. Our primary practice areas of academic, healthcare and civic architecture present limitless opportunities for a sustainable architecture that is driven not only by formal questions of image, allusion and program but by deeper issues of global survival.
From this modest step and in keeping with its
Core Purpose, Values and Mission, RATCLIFF remains committed to influencing change within the practice of architecture and in society so that people and nature thrive over the next hundred years and beyond.
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Christopher (Kit) Ratcliff, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP
CEO, Principal
"Be known as explorers and discoverers of what is important and be valued for creating extraordinary outcomes."
B. Architecture, cum laude, University of California, Berkeley, 1968
Licensed Architect, California #C-8321, 1975
Advanced Management Institute/The Discovery Group, Member
AIA California Council Capital Forum, Member
AIA California Council Firm of the Year, 2005
(510) 899-6400
kratcliff@ratcliffarch.comKit Ratcliff is the third generation head of the firm and has guided the century-old, award winning, collaborative regional enterprise to its present stature as leaders in health care, academic, and civic architecture. He has pledged the firm's resources toward sustainable practice in concert with AIA's 2030 Challenge and ensures that sustainable concepts and technologies are incorporated into the firm's work. Kit crusades for the environment by urging clients and colleagues to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions in their facility operations and strives to educate a global constituency through firm-sponsored efforts including two websites, GreenMatrix and GHG Calculator for Facility Operations.
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Dan Wetherell, AIA
COO - Principal, Director/Business Development - K-12 and Civic Practice Area
“Work with people through architecture to evoke the world to which together aspire.”
M. Architecture, University of Berkeley, 1984
B. Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley, 1982
Licensed Architect, California #C-18257, 1987
(510) 899-6467
dwetherell@ratcliffarch.comDan Wetherell directs the firm's K-12 academic practice, leading clients from the master planning and programming phase through design, construction, and post-occupancy. A member of RATCLIFF since 1986, he has designed a wide variety of non-profit, academic, and community buildings. Education leaders rely on Dan to support their unique missions and teaching philosophies through the built environment. He is recognized for his ability to include historic references in new buildings, which facilitate the connection from the past to the present for a school's alumni. Dan's recent pro bono efforts include the master plan for a school for orphaned children who have lost their parents to AIDS in Uganda.
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David Dersch
Principal - Chief Financial Officer
“Insist on excellent performance that supports profitability.”
B.S., Business Administration, University of Wisconsin, 1971
B.S., Accounting & Business Administration, University of Wisconsin, 1971
Associate AIA, Member
(510) 899-6420
ddersch@ratcliffarch.comDavid Dersch, with over three decades of financial expertise, supervises both the finance and administration departments for the firm. He provides a thorough knowledge of financials, cost controls, budgeting, forecasting, and profit accounting for projects, thereby carefully monitoring the economic success of each and every RATCLIFF project. Due to his 20 years of experience within the architectural industry, clients and owners can appreciate his specialized approach to budget and cost control throughout all phases of a project. David's career has included international work in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong.
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Steven Steinberg, AIA
Principal - Healthcare Practice Area
“Solicit input; hear, value, understand and respond with respect.”
B. Architecture, Pratt Institute, 1974
B.A., History & Art History, Hofstra University, 1971
Licensed Architect, California, #C-9929, 1978
Licensed Architect, Arizona, #29652, 1995
Licensed Architect, Colorado, #402626, 2011Adams Design Award, Community Outpatient Center, New York, NY (one of three recipients at Pratt Institute)
NAIOP 2nd Place, Build to Suit, over 75,000 s.f.: SW Regional Council of Carpenters New Regional HQ, 2004
(510) 899-6422
ssteinberg@ratcliffarch.comSteven Steinberg leads RATCLIFF's healthcare practice and sources new opportunities with major healthcare, corporate, mixed-use and biomedical research and laboratory systems. Having held key principal roles in national architectural and real estate industries, he is a seasoned leader whose strengths include guiding the architectural process; analyzing needs assessment and service line analysis to formulate preliminary programs; leading architectural teams in crafting site studies for new and existing hospital campuses and MOB/ambulatory care facilities; and incorporating "evidence-based design" and Planetree-criteria (plug `n play central spine concepts) facility plans for both early penetration models and major hospital campuses. With more than 25 years' experience, his significant projects include a site feasibility analysis for a new "Greenfield" 300-bed community hospital for Catholic Healthcare West in Arizona and programming and planning services for the University of Southern California's Norris Cancer Research Institute in Los Angeles.
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Bill Blessing, LEED® AP
Principal – Design, Academic Practice Area
Graduate Studies in Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 1983
B.S. Architecture, magna cum laude, Lawrence Institute of Technology, 1978
Registered Architect, California, #C-16988, 1986
(510) 899-6440
bblessing@ratcliffarch.com
Mr. Blessing, with RATCLIFF for nearly thirty years, has consistently demonstrated the ability to design buildings sensitive to their context and in alignment with the client goals and objectives. As project designer, Bill assumes the overall responsibility for the design approach, creativity, quality, contextual strategy, and the overall design conformance to the program. He is also adept in the requirements of historical renovations and additions and the mandates these put on building systems. In addition, Bill is a LEED® Accredited Professional and an active member of the firm’s Committee for Environmental Design Resources (CEDR) group. He keeps abreast of the latest advances in this field and consistently incorporates green building strategies into his projects.
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Tom Patterson, AIA
Principal – Senior Project Manager, Healthcare Practice Area
Master of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 1978
Bachelor of Arts, History of Art, University of California, Berkeley, 1974
Licensed Architect, California, #C-19663, 1988
(510) 899-6458
tpatterson@ratcliffarch.com
Tom Patterson has twenty-five years of experience, specializing in technologically complex projects for healthcare clients. He is a skilled project manager who is particularly adept at navigating California’s healthcare regulatory system. Currently he is managing the 400,000 s.f. expansion for John Muir Medical Center. Among his strengths is his owner’s perspective, gained by nearly a decade of experience as a corporate architect where his responsibilities included management of a multidisciplinary design, engineering, and construction team. In addition, he is able to provide project management for clients undertaking multiple simultaneous projects.
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Mike Matson, LEED AP
Associate Principal
B. Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 1989
Licensed Architect, California #C25627, 1995
(510) 899-6431
mmatson@ratcliffarch.com
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Joseph Nicola
Associate Principal
B. Architecture, University of Minnesota, 1980
B. Environmental Design, University of Minnesota, 1980
Licensed Architect, California, #C-21418, 1990
Licensed Architect, Massachusetts, #6288, 1984
(510) 899-6461
jnicola@ratcliffarch.com
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Peter Tsugawa, AIA
Associate Principal
B.A. Architecture, University of
California, Berkeley, 1983
Licensed Architect, California,
#C-20953, 1989
(510) 899-6439
ptsugawa@ratcliffarch.com
