Ryan Roettker, AIA

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ryan has lived and worked across the United States, Europe, and Middle East designing projects covering a diverse set of programmatic, cultural, and urban conditions. Employing a research-based design process, he has developed award-winning designs that are innovative, but grounded, in a deep understanding of the context, culture, and client of each project. This range of experience, working at the intersection of architecture and urban design, has instilled a belief in the power of design to improve the public realm and strengthen communities and cities.

While studying at the University of Cincinnati, Ryan interned with renowned design firms including NBBJ, Perkins&Will, JDS Architects, and Johnston Marklee through the University’s Co-operative Education Program. After graduating in 2010, he worked in both the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Copenhagen, Denmark, offices of Henning Larsen Architects, providing him experience in a broad range of project types and contexts.

Shortly after moving to Dallas in 2012 to join the Design Studio of Perkins&Will, Ryan co-founded the non-profit organization Design Future Dallas with like-minded design advocates to bring together design professionals from multiple disciplines to elevate the quality of design discourse in Dallas. The group hosts community design charrettes, organizes design competitions, and creates installations resulting in renewed public dialogue about the city’s urban condition and sparking real change, such as the summer-long closure and transformation of Crowdus Street in the historic Deep Ellum neighborhood into a linear public park.

Ryan lives with his wife and two daughters in East Dallas and enjoys cycling around White Rock Lake and teaching his daughters how to use the rock-climbing wall he built during the pandemic in the garage.