The next 100 years...designing purposefully within nature’s limits
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.
Ratcliff’s creation of the Green Matrix website, a tool aiding millions of users around the world to make “greener” design decisions, is an offspring of the firm’s pledge to be a steward of the environment.
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.
Principals
Gary M. Burk
AIA, NCARB
Principal - Strategies, Healthcare Practice Area
“Lead a process of strategic thinking and thoroughly engage with the client in a holistic process to arrive at a balanced, artful solution.”
M. Architecture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1970
B. Architecture, Texas Tech University, 1968
Licensed Architect, California, #C-27364, 1998; Texas, #4930, 1973
California Hospital Association, Associate Member
AIA Academy on Architecture for Health
American Institute of Architects, Corporate Member
Research Associate, Rice University Building Institute
Society of Professionals in Healthcare, former Member of the Board
American College of Healthcare Executives, Member of Regents Council
Gary Burk is a leader in healthcare architecture and guides Ratcliff’s prominent healthcare clients in envisioning today’s needs with an eye toward addressing future care trends that may involve smaller, diversified, and decentralized solutions. Gary directs the firm’s services for utilization analysis, facility assessment, space programming, user group interviews, planning standards development and master planning. His clients appreciate the innovative work-load based analytic tools he uses to help them study the most effective ways to provide value in healthcare delivery while being sensitive to costs and ease of implementation. Gary has than four decades of professional experience as a healthcare facility planner in major architectural offices; as the senior planner for a prominent healthcare provider; and as an educator in design studio and architectural history at Texas Tech University’s College of Architecture.
(510) 899-6428
Dan Wetherell
AIA
COO, Principal, Director/Business Development – K-12 Practice Area
“Work with people through architecture to evoke the world to which together we aspire.”
M. Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 1984
B. Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley, 1982
Licensed Architect, California, #C-18257, 1987
Dan 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.
(510) 899-6467
Crodd Chin
Principal – Design, Academic Practice Area
“Discover the creative new idea that best solves the client’s problem.”
B. Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 1966
Licensed Architect, California, #C-11392, 1980
California Professional Design Award of Merit, Community College Facility Coalition, Berkeley City College, 2007
Best of 2007: Higher Education, N. California, California Construction, Berkeley City College, 2007
STRUCTURES Commercial Design Award, East Bay Business Times, Berkeley City College, 2006
Award of Excellence, National Commercial Builder’s Council, National Association of Home Builders, ValleyCare Medical Center Expansion, 2004
Gold Nugget Merit Award for Best Commercial Project, Pacific Coast Builders Conference, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Fresno, 1992
East Bay AIA Award of Merit for Excellence in Design, Metropolitan Oakland International Airport, Terminal II, 1986
Crodd Chin is responsible for the conceptual framework and design of Ratcliff’s most significant and award-winning commissions. A key Ratcliff design leader for more than three decades, Crodd develops macro-level organizational concepts arranged around circulation strategies, adjacency logistics, site access requirements, and urban context filters for academic and healthcare projects. Valued by his clients for his ability to envision future outcomes not readily apparent, Crodd has caused many clients to completely change design direction based on his solution. He has been instrumental in enhancing the firm’s capabilities for computer-assisted, three-dimensional modeling studies.
(510) 899-6471
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
David 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.
(510) 899-6420
Christopher P. Ratcliff
FAIA, NCARB, LEEDŽ AP
President, Principal, Director of Sustainability
“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
Global Design Alliance, Member
Advanced Management Institute/The Discovery Group, Member
AIA California Council Capital Forum, Member
AIA California Council Firm of the Year Award, 2005
Kit 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.
(510) 899-6400
D. Roger Hay
Principal - Design, Healthcare Practice Area
“Demonstrate commitment to collaboration, common purpose, and team-building.”
M. Architecture, University of Wisconsin, 1985
M. Urban Design, University of Wisconsin, 1985
B.S. Architecture, Kent State University, 1982
SFAIA Best of the Bay Award, BART, 1997
AIA-California Council Merit Award, BART, 1997
CACAIA Merit Award, Hayden Ferry Development, May 1999
PA Design Citation, The Terraces, January 1988
Roger Hay is a key leader of Ratcliff’s design team with a particular expertise articulating the design goals and aspirations of leading healthcare providers. He is recognized for his successful synthesis of creative design with functional pragmatism. By closely collaborating with the firm’s healthcare planners, Roger blends macro scale elements of circulation, access, security, and safety to develop designs that emphasize each provider’s unique image. With nearly two decades of experience, his portfolio of health care, commercial, and public facilities includes projects in major California metropolitan areas and India, Bangladesh, and China.
(510) 899-6405