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Design by heart

Emotion a tool of trade for Denver architect

Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 2, 2006 at midnight

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Architect John Rogers is the "R" in RNL Design, a firm that grew out of a one-man operation he founded in Denver in 1956.

He's designed numerous buildings here, including the Denver Service Center for Mountain Bell (now Qwest Communications's office tower), the Colorado State Judicial Heritage Center Complex (the Colorado Supreme Court and the Colorado History Museum), and the Rocky Mountain News building. Rogers also served on the citizens advisory board for the Stapleton development, as well as the board of the Denver Architectural Foundation.

Though he isn't in the office every day, he remains on the board of the firm, which now has several offices, including one in Dubai, where RNL is working on a mammoth mixed-use project.

The News building, completed in the mid-1980s, is scheduled to be demolished in December to make way for the new jail that will be part of the Denver Justice Center. Rogers cites the building as a favorite and has brought young staff from RNL here for tours.

Art and architecture writer Mary Voelz Chandler talked to Rogers about what it's like to see one of your buildings literally bite the dust.

Will you watch the demolition of a building of which you are clearly fond?

"I've decided I won't watch them tear down a 100-year building (that is, a building built to last 100 years). It's made of granite and limestone. They call it progress, but it partly has to do with planning for the city."

What is it like to know that something you designed only two decades ago is going to be razed?

"It hasn't gone away. There's an emotional thing to that. You really own that building when it is in the design stage. You think of it as your building, but it's not my building."

Tell me about City and County Annex No. 1, which has been incorporated into the complex of the Webb Municipal Office Building. It was built in 1949 as a classroom building for the University of Denver and was on the endangered-buildings list for years.

"I (designed) the toilets and stairs (working for G. Meredith Musick, with Smith, Hegner & Moore). I was the new guy." (Later, RNL would partner with David Owen Tryba Architects on the Webb building.)

When you're working with a corporate client, whether it's a newspaper or a phone company, how does the discussion begin? And has that changed over the years?

"The guts of it - it doesn't change. You still need to find out what is the heart of the building. You've got to find out what the client wants. It's a mistake to say, 'Here's what I'm going to do for you.' That's really the key. We hardly ever do speculative buildings. There's no client. It doesn't have any guts. The building that has the least character is a speculative building."A sturdy foundation

• Who: John B. Rogers

• What: Founding partner and principal emeritus of RNL Design; began in 1956 as John B. Rogers, Architect, then joined by Jerome Nagel in 1961 (Rogers/Nagel/architects) and by Victor Langhart in 1966, resulting in Rogers/Nagel/Langhart Architects.

• Age: Born July 23, 1922, in Nebraska but moved as an infant to Kansas. Moved to Denver in 1947.

• Education: Studied architectural engineering at Kansas State University, interrupted by service in the Army during World War II, then returned to graduate. After working in Denver, attended the University of Texas, earning a bachelor of architecture degree in 1951, and an MBA from the University of Colorado in 1984.

• Honors: Elevated to fellow status of the American Institute of Architects in 1979, AIA Colorado Architect of the Year in 1991, silver medal from Western Mountain Region of AIA for contributions to the area.