Rtkl

MARYLAND'S largest architecture firm, RTKL Associates, is well-known as a designer of office buildings and retail centers. It also creates hospitals, hotels and "urban entertainment" centers. Now, RTKL is part of the team tapped to design Baltimore's newest attraction, a $26 million Maryland Museum of African-American History and Culture. The Maryland African-American Museum Corp., a quasi-public group that is building the 72,000-square-foot museum, disclosed this month that it has selected a joint venture of RTKL and the Freelon Group, a design firm from Durham, N.C., as the new architects for the project, which is planned for the northeast corner of Pratt and President streets.

David C. Hudson yesterday was named only the second president in the more than 50-year history of Baltimore architectural giant RTKL Associates Inc., and one of a handful of contenders to lead the firm into the 21st century."

BEIJING -- It's not every day that the president of the United States unveils your design plans, but that's what happened in Shanghai last night to Harold L. Adams, chairman of Baltimore-based RTKL Associates Inc., one of the world's largest design companies.At a small reception at the Shanghai Art Museum, President Clinton and Shanghai Mayor Xu Kuangdi pulled away a red velvet cover to reveal a photo rendering of RTKL's design for a $200 million Shanghai science center."It went extremely well," Adams said in a telephone interview, adding that the president said he was pleased that the contract had gone to an American company and correctly pronounced the company's name.

After more than a decade of false starts, downtown Silver Spring may finally get the boost it needs to restore it as a vital commercial center.A team of four developers, including Baltimore's RTKL Associates, unveiled a $326 million proposal yesterday that would turn vacant lots, empty buildings and half-filled parking garages in Maryland's second largest community into a "town center" of stores, offices and a hotel.The plan centers on two hubs within the 26-acre wedge of land bordered by Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road: "Silver Circle," a cluster of businesses geared toward leisure activities and evening entertainment; and "Town Square," which would include a supermarket, hardware store and civic meeting building.

Montgomery County's latest attempt to revive downtown Silver Spring is smaller, cheaper, less glamorous -- and as a result, everyone appears much happier.County Executive Douglas M. Duncan announced yesterday that four companies -- including RTKL Associates Inc. of Baltimore -- will develop a blueprint for a town center. The choice comes six months after Duncan killed the $585 million American Dream megamall amid stiff neighborhood opposition and questions about the project's financing."The longer we wait, the more expensive it's going to be," Duncan said.

BALTIMORE'S largest architectural firm, RTKL Associates, has designed dozens of hotels around the world -- including one for Seoul, South Korea, that will rise 100 stories and contain 2,000 rooms.But the selection of RTKL to design a 44-story hotel overlooking the Inner Harbor has special significance for the firm, principals say, because it would give RTKL a chance to apply its expertise in hotel design and urban design to a project in its hometown.It also would be the first downtown hotel in Baltimore for RTKL since the 500-room Hyatt, which opened in 1981.

THE FOUR-LEVEL house at 49 College Ave. in Annapolis, now undergoing conversion to Naval Academy alumni offices, bears no sign of the unusual role it played in changing the face of Maryland.But 50 years ago this week, it was the birthplace of the architectural firm that quickly grew to be one of the country's largest.It's where Archibald Coleman Rogers first hung up his shingle and began to practice architecture -- the genesis of the international design firm now known as RTKL Associates Inc.Rogers still has the hand-painted sign, which shows a yellow triangle, a red T-square, and distinctive lettering that reads: Archibald Coleman Rogers, Registered Architect.

RTKL Associates Inc. Chairman Harold L. Adams yesterday was named the first recipient of the World Trade Center Institute's Governor's Award, for his work promoting Maryland businesses internationally.The 56-year-old head of the city's largest architectural firm received the award from Gov. Parris N. Glendening at a luncheon at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.Mr. Adams, who is chairman of the World Trade Center Institute, has been primarily responsible for expanding RTKL's scope beyond Baltimore and the United States.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke yesterday named M. J. "Jay" Brodie as the next president of the Baltimore Development Corp., a selection the mayor described as a "major move forward" for the much-maligned economic development agenCity Hall ceremony.Mr. Brodie, a senior vice president of RTKL Associates Inc. and head of its 70-person Washington office, will take over the BDC on Jan. 2 at an annual salary of $125,000. Mr. Schmoke made the appointment based on a recommendation by the BDC's newly created 11-member board.

Affirmative action challengeNationsBank Corp. has filed a lawsuit challenging how the federal government is monitoring the company's record on affirmative action.The suit seeks to stop the U.S. Labor Department from using bank-employment records in two cities to review the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking company's record on hiring and promoting women and minorities.NationsBank says in the suit, filed last week, that the department's "unwarranted and unreasonable designation" of its Tampa, Fla., and Columbia, S.C., operations for review could cause the bank "to suffer actual injury," because the department can bar the company from federal contracts.