Statement of Purpose
Founded in 2003 by the husband-and-wife team of John Rowland and Sarah Broughton, Rowland+Broughton (R+B) Architecture and Interior Design is a 50-person firm headquartered in Aspen, Colorado, with satellite locations in Denver, and Palm Springs and Sacramento, California. Our passion and purpose are to create and deliver the exceptional with personalized design and unparalleled service – whether the project is a luxury home or estate, boutique or branded hospitality venue, or a significant cultural institution.
R+B began as an alternative to the then- (and, indeed, still-) prevailing practice, by most architecture firms, of focusing on form-making – creating the shell and the core of a home – while ignoring the totality of the residential experience. The subsequent ‘silo-ing’ of the related essential disciplines, notably interior and landscape design, too often resulted, in Rowland and Broughton’s view, in a dispiriting absence of unity, producing homes that lacked cohesion and, consequently, failed to answer the most basic programmatic, aesthetic, and aspirational needs of their residents.
In response – inspired by the Italian tradition of the bottega, a workshop overseen by a master builder who coordinates multiple creative disciplines in the service of a holistic outcome – Rowland and Broughton created a ‘convergent’ practice that remains uniquely their own. This, as the term implies, provides clients with a comprehensive, fully integrated experience that ensures that architecture, interior design, and landscape – as well as craftspeople, artisans, and fine artists – collaborate and cooperate step by step, to produce a comprehensive residential harmony that sets the client at the center of the process.
Although Rowland and Broughton draw together the disciplines under the aegis of a single creative vision, the studio’s welcoming, collaborative ethos ensures that all the participants – and especially the client – contribute their knowledge and experience in a free-flowing, non-hierarchical exchange of ideas. Rowland and Broughton, moreover, have constructed a multi-modal, multidisciplinary studio that supports and amplifies the convergence model, ensuring that every project, regardless of typology or scale, is executed reliably, imaginatively, and effectively. All of this sits atop a bedrock of historic preservation and sustainability best practices; engineering, fabrication, and technical collaborations; the essential minutiae of construction services, permitting, outreach, and troubleshooting; and a respect for community values and regional traditions. R+B’s award-winning, internationally recognized singularity and expertise has led to the firm’s participation in design conferences, summits, architectural biennales in the US and abroad.
As creative individuals, leaders in sustainable practice, and committed participants in the local and global environments in which they live and work, R+B has embraced the powerful interconnectedness of architecture, interior design, furniture selection, landscape design, and planning. As such, the firm exemplifies what has become known as the Aspen Ideal: the seamless interweaving of Mind, Body, and Spirit.
