Photography by Kevin G. Reeves
Interview by Jennifer Proe
Who: Ron Lloyd
Where: Van Aken District
Business: RDL Architects, Inc., on Chagrin Boulevard between Chelton and Hildana roads (in the
former Glin Medical Building)
Mission: People: treating others with respect and humility. Places: designing positive innovative
environments for work, live, and play. Possibilities: creating new opportunities for clients and
communities.
What I Love About My Work: The collaborative process is what gives me the most satisfaction:
working together with staff, consultants, and clients, both large and small. When we bought our
current building 10 years ago, there were seven of us. RDL now employs 40 design professionals
organized into five different “studios” that serve a variety of markets: Placemaking, Residential,
Senior Living, Commercial, and Interiors. I enjoy using our collective expertise to serve our
clients’ needs to see them through a project, from comprehensive planning and design to
construction documentation and administration.
Personal Background: I grew up in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Some of the early influences
for my interest in architecture came from family vacations spent with relatives in Boston. I spent
a lot of time with a neighbor whose dad was an architect. They were British and their home was
very modern. Having grown up in a really small town in central Pennsylvania, this environment
had an enlightening influence on me. ¶ I attended Texas Tech University, where I met my wife
Sharon at a house party. We’ve been married for 37 years. When I incorporated RDL architects in
1994, we were living in Lake Lucerne in Bainbridge Township, where we raised our two children,
Haley and Charley. Haley is now the director of the Interiors Studio here at RDL, and Charley is
in real estate development in Austin, Texas. Sharon is retired from a career in early childhood
education. ¶ After the kids were grown, it didn’t make sense to have a three-bedroom house any
longer, so we decided to downsize to a condo and move closer to my office in Shaker.
On Working and Living in Shaker Heights: We like that everything is walkable and
convenient, that the resident population is diverse, and that our environment is rich in character
and beauty. Sharon and I just love to walk the neighborhoods of Shaker. We prize the fabric and
diversity of architecture, scale, and landscape of each neighborhood. ¶ I enjoy running around
the Shaker Lakes and the High School, and Sharon is very active in vocal performance and
community theater. She’s had several roles in productions with the Happy Ending Lyric Players
at Fairmount Baptist Church, as well as in Chagrin Valley, Hudson, Aurora, and Canton. I like
to shop at Heinen’s and cook at home. I’ve been told I make a mean tuna casserole. ¶ One of
our favorite things is to walk to Shaker Square or Fairmount Circle for breakfast on Saturday
mornings. We also like to get ice cream on a summer evening and walk it off on our way back.
We are looking forward to the new restaurants coming in at the Van Aken District, especially
Mitchell’s Ice Cream. Though I guess we won’t be able to walk that off as easily.
Contact:
RDL Architects, Inc.
16102 Chagrin Boulevard, #200
Shaker Heights, OH 44120
216.752.4300 | rdlarchitects.com
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