'Chase everything'

Architects have had to put aside pride, ego and specialization during the current downturn. Fortunately for Rojo Architecture LLC, it got a head start on all three.

The nine-employee design firm on Tampa's east side saw the slowing of local commercial real estate development early on in 2008, thanks in part to some accounting expertise from the father of one of its three principals. They began cutting costs on most everything from drinking water (filtering their own now) to expensive magazine subscriptions, while at the same time freezing salaries and not replacing employees who left.

The strategy is working well so far, as the company posted more than $1 million worth of work both this year and last. The firm has declared itself debt free and is positioning itself to be ready for the recovery and anticipated pent-up demand for services.

“We're trying to be smart, not frivolous,” says Rob Glisson, Rojo's co-founder. “We're not making a ton of money, but we're alive.”

Glisson founded Rojo — named for the first letters of its founders, rather than the Spanish word for red — in 1998 with fellow architect John Saldana. Their third partner, Jonathan Moore, joined the company four years later.

Starting out with less-visible projects such as church restorations and luxury residential redesigns, Rojo is getting back to basics as it emerges from the recession. The firm even moved back into its original, smaller office at the Netpark complex on East Hillsborough Avenue after occupying larger space during the boom years, when it had billings as high as $3 million.

Among its most recent projects are:

• The Portland, a 12-story affordable housing project in downtown St. Petersburg that brings “hip” design to a normally bland building segment. The 68-unit tower, set to open next November, earned the firm recognition in the new book “100 Florida Architects and Interior Designers.”

• BayCare Imaging Center, part of St. Joseph Hospital's northern expansion along Van Dyke Road west of Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa.

• Park Square Cellar, an upscale wine bar at FishHawk Ranch in Lithia that needed a more contemporary design after expanding its space.

“We want to bring design to the table wherever we can,” says Moore, who also handles business development for Rojo. “We wanted to prove that we could do it affordably.”

In trying to stay on the leading edge of technology, Rojo has stepped up its use of building information modeling, which allows architects to produce more accurate cost estimates by putting various elements in a computer model (even a specific brand of bathroom fixture) and determining more precise amounts of building materials. Advantages of the modeling include minimization of waste, better use of subcontractors and value engineering, Glisson says.

“It all works to the benefit of the owner, a better project for less money,” he says. He notes that the modeling should help Rojo attract new business for years to come, citing the firm's internal credo: “Chase everything.”