Raul Rodriguez, principal of Rodriguez & Quiroga Architects, shares how his firm has endured and thrived.

The firm of Rodriguez & Quiroga Architects, which is marking its 30th year, has long enjoyed a reputation as one of Miamis premier studios for its versatility and its technical and design chops.

The firms architects are now tackling what principal Raul Rodriguez says is easily the most complex building ever attempted in South Florida: the new Miami Science Museum, which is under construction in downtown Miamis Museum Park.

Rodriguez & Quiroga is associate architect to Britains Grimshaw, the design firm. That means the locals must sweat the nitty-gritty details of the high-tech, $275-million project, which includes a new planetarium, an aquarium and a panoply of built-in, eco-friendly elements.

Even before that, the Coral Gables-based firm had left an extensive imprint on South Florida, where its practice has focused on civic and collegiate buildings. Rodriguez has been its sole principal since co-founder Tony Quiroga retired a decade ago. Another original partner, Jorge Khuly, left in 1988 to go into practice with his wife, architect Maggie Khuly.

Equally conversant in traditional and modern styles, the firm has long been one of Miami-Dade Colleges go-to architects, responsible for numerous MDC academic and athletic facilities as well as two compact urban campuses Homestead and Interamerican in Little Havana. It also has designed buildings at Florida State, Florida International, Florida Atlantic and several private schools, including the University of Miami.

The firms range has extended from federal courthouses in Miami and Jacksonville to the main terminal at Miami International Airport, a 20-year improvement project that only recently wound up. Rodriguez & Quiroga also served as executive architect to Cesar Pellis firm at another highly complex project, the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. It also developed a sideline in the restoration of historic buildings, including the Freedom Tower and Ponce de Leon Middle School in Coral Gables.

Two long-stalled Rodriguez & Quiroga designs may now be nearing realization: a classically inspired city hall for Homestead and the Cuban Museum just off Coral Way.

We sat with Rodriguez in the Le Corbusier LC-series chairs at his Coral Gables office, where he told us how the firm has thrived in a notoriously cyclical, fickle field, and why hes nowhere near ready for retirement.

Q: How did the firm get its start?

A. Tony and I were together at what was then Ferendino Grafton Spillis Candela. And the firm brought us in as partners when they changed to Spillis Candela and partners. I guess the easiest way to say it is that we didnt like the terms. We would have had to sign a long-term noncompete agreement. And I was 35. What I thought at the time was, we must all leave the nest sometime. So we decided to strike out on our own.

Original post:
Raul Rodriguez, principal of Rodriguez & Quiroga Architects, shares how his firm has endured and thrived.