ROMA Design Group


ROMA Design Group is an interdisciplinary firm of architects, landscape architects, and urban planners based in San Francisco, California, USA. It was founded in 1968 by American architect George T. Rockrise.

History

ROMA Design Group was founded in late 1968 by George T. Rockrise, FAIA, ASLA, AICP. Rockrise was an architect with a strong interest in landscape and site design. He began his career in Panama during World War II, and then returned to New York City, working for Edward D. Stone and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. Rockrise then worked in California, for the landscape architect Thomas Dolliver Church.
In 1950 he established his own practice in San Francisco; George T. Rockrise, A.I.A. In 1968 Rockrise formed George T. Rockrise and Associates with Robert A. Odermatt, Robert C. Mountjoy, and James J. Amis becoming principals. The firm later became Rockrise, Odermatt, Mountjoy, and Amis, and ultimately ROMA Design Group, as it is known today.
In the 1980s Boris Dramov, Bonnie Fisher, and Jim Adams became Principals, having met at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Jim Adams later went on to open ROMA's offices in Austin, Texas.
In 2000, ROMA's design for the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C. was selected as the winning submission in an international architectural design competition.
The firm is currently under the leadership of Boris Dramov, FAIA, FAICP, Design Principal and Bonnie Fisher, FASLA, Landscape Principal

Notable projects

Since the 1950s ROMA Design Group has become known for a wide variety of architecture projects, including San Francisco's Cathedral School, the Bahrain's U.S. Embassy in Manama, the Domaine Chandon Winery in Yountville, California, Oregon's Sun River Resort, and the Inn at the Tides in Bodega Bay, California.
ROMA Design Group has become known for revitalizing declining urban districts of at least 25 cities, for example Suisun City, California. In particular the firm has long been associated with the transformation of the San Francisco waterfront after the demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway, ROMA's new Ferry Terminal was welcomed by the Baycrossing Magazine, saying the terminal created new hope for the city. According to Boris Dramov, "The effect is intended to speak to the role this space has as a gathering place, counter-pointing the modern and the traditional. You see it with the granite portals through which passengers pass to enter the floats. The stainless steel on floats’ canopies recalls the new trolley stops." In 2006 ROMA's 637-foot long Pier 14 was completed, which the San Francisco Chronicle described as "compelling". It designed Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade and other projects in the Santa Monica downtown and Civic Center.

International

Awards