After working with many years with RTKL on different projects, with different offices, also by comparing with my experiences with other architecture firms, I have to say working with RTKL is such a shame to my life and my resume. I regret spend my valuable life with such a low quality firm and low quality bosses. In contrast, I have finished much more valuable architectural work for the world other than with this firm, and which made me proud of my life.
Too many Cons:
The worst bosses I have ever known:
Design skill=0; technique skill= -500 or the lowest score could be; management skill= -500 or the lowest could be;
RTKL has the majority of employee who even cannot find a job in the market due to their poor capability. The most characters of the managers here are talking nonsense, shallow ideas, making stupid judgment in the work, and flattering their upper bosses whenever they could.
The lowest quality of employees I have ever worked with:
Any people who work in RTKL can even predict each year's promotion surely by counting how many times the most incapable co-worker visit the boss's office and even treat boss a meal. Ridiculously here, the lower the working quality of the worker, the bosses like them most since these employees create the least competition to the boss themselves.
In general impression, RTKL's people are more like social workers without skills, rather than the architectural professionals.
This firm uses the cheapest and even free design software like sketchup to initiate all designs, rarely employees know other software, it is because the principles here have very poor computer skill themselves. Occasionally, there are new hires with a little better quality, but very quickly the skillful employees will quit RTKL and go to other firms.
RTKL treat architectural technique poorly, the firm currently claim it to be a design firm rather than an architecture firm. Once there are recessions, the employees who have technique skills will receive the cut first, since there is a belief in the firm: to be a design firm, the only need is to keep the management jobs safe and equipped with a couple modeling persons which are the ones entitled as principle.
It is funny that due to the poor judgment of the management, the company is also famous on collecting and promoting the losers which were fired from the other firm due to low work capability. Any person who come to RTKL would be a project manager, because that is a position in RTKL does not require other kills than flattering boss. One of the classic cases is a person who was out of job from all over every country who has been to, without an architectural or management master major, and has no project leading experience. But RTKL not only rescued him from jobless, but also right away entitled him to be a project manager principle, which was the funniest joke in the fields that year.
The lowest quality of products delivered by architecture or design firms I have ever worked with:
The firm's management level sold RTKL to Arcadis in 2007, which enable the managers receiving big pensions and bonus packages. Day by day, the firm has been turning itself to be more and more shallow and superficial in its company's goal. From the original fame on the planning and landscaping designs, the firm give up the originals and focus on architectural skin modeling, interior material selection. Then recently, RTKL kick off its architectural firm title and to be a so-called socially sustainable design firm, while the firm has never equipped itself with any environmental or architectural engineer specialties before, and with no future plan either.
RTKL may have been claiming bankruptcy many times during the recession if it does not have the projects in China to support. Under the pressure of Arcadis, the pure profit driven reason, the offices in U.S. has been experienced many times of staff cuts.
Domestically, RTKL is gradually fading out on the architecture firm list. Especially in the Middle West and central area, no developer wants to hire it on a complete project from design to build. Rarely it is already very lucky that when RTKL got a chance on a couple thousand dollar projects like concept level design on a facade of a store front, or the floor paving arrangement in the lobby. Year by year, as a so called design driven firm, RTKL even cannot win a single famous prize in architecture or design field.
Currently, the only hope of the firm is to rely on the China market. Even in that area, my Chinese friend told me that RTKL has been losing more and more shares when more and more competitor has been showing stronger full service design to build capabilities. In contrast, RTKL can only deliver a couple concept renderings.
