Who We Are
Founded in Aspen in 2003 by John Rowland and Sarah Broughton, R+B was built on a simple premise: do fewer things, but do them completely. More than two decades later, that focus continues to define our work—from private mountain estates and boutique hotels to civic and cultural spaces designed to endure for generations.
With studios in Aspen and Denver, R+B works across scales and geographies, following clients wherever projects demand. Our portfolio spans luxury residences, hospitality destinations, and cultural institutions—diverse in scale, unified by precision, craft, and a strong sense of place. The firm’s work has been published internationally and is documented in Designing Aspen: The Houses of Rowland+Broughton, a monograph reflecting two decades of practice in a demanding architectural landscape.
How We Work
The Italian Renaissance bottega brought together all disciplines of making under one roof—architecture, engineering, and the crafts of construction and art—producing work defined by unity rather than fragmentation.
At R+B, this idea is expressed through convergent design: architecture, interiors, and landscape are developed together from the outset, in collaboration with artists, craftspeople, and specialists who help shape the work early, not after decisions are fixed. The result is a single, continuous process—no silos, no handoffs—carrying one clear design intent from concept to detail.
Why It Works
Convergence depends on openness. R+B operates as a collaborative, non-hierarchical studio where ideas can come from anyone—clients, designers, or consultants—and where the strongest thinking is what best serves the work.
That creative freedom is supported by deep technical rigor: expertise in new construction, interior design, historic preservation, sustainable design, long-standing engineering and fabrication partnerships, precise construction administration, and a fluency in the regulatory and community contexts that shape every project.
The profession has recognized this balance of creativity and execution. R+B is a perennial PSMJ Circle of Excellence firm and 2024 Platinum Award recipient, with honors from ASID, IIDA, and AIA Colorado, including Firm of the Year in 2020. The studio has also been ranked by Interior Design Magazine among its Hospitality, Sustainability, and Rising Giants, and by Luxe Interiors + Design on its Red Awards and Gold List. Mountain Living and Colorado Homes & Lifestyles consistently name R+B among the region’s leading practices. In 2022, principal Sarah Broughton was elected to the AIA College of Fellows, an honor held by fewer than three percent of architects. R+B leadership regularly contributes to juries, panels, and design forums across the United States and abroad.
Where We Come From
Aspen has long attracted those who do not separate intellect from physical experience, or either from responsibility to place. That sensibility is embedded in the culture of the Roaring Fork Valley and reflected in R+B’s practice.
At its core is a belief that architecture, landscape, interiors, and planning are not separate services, but interconnected expressions of a single whole—shaped by history, ecology, community, and craft. For R+B, this is not an aspiration but a working principle: beauty, sustainability, and civic responsibility are inseparable.
R+B’s presence in Aspen is foundational to this ethos, while its Denver studio extends it into an urban context. Together, they reflect a practice that moves between mountain and city, scale and density, craft and infrastructure—rooted in the same belief that design is both a cultural and civic act.