CallisonRTKL

About CallisonRTKL

CallisonRTKL is the global architecture, interior design and planning brand created by Arcadis, bringing together two long-established practices: RTKL, which became part of Arcadis in 2007, and Callison, acquired in 2014. The combined identity launched in 2015 and became one of the largest architecture organisations in the world.

The two firms complemented rather than duplicated each other. RTKL brought breadth across commercial, healthcare, workplace and mixed-use architecture with a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. Callison contributed roughly 1,000 people, a reputation as a global leader in retail design and mixed-use development, and offices in the United States, China, Europe, the Middle East and Mexico, including more than 500 staff in China.

Formation and Market Position

Arcadis first announced the Callison acquisition in August 2014 and completed it in October 2014, with final clearance from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce. At the time, Arcadis stated that combining RTKL and Callison would make it a top five player in the global architecture market, the clear global leader in retail design, the leading firm in mixed-use and commercial development in Asia, and the largest international design and architecture firm operating in China.

Tim Neal was appointed chief executive of CallisonRTKL in 2017. Unlike other Arcadis acquisitions such as EC Harris, Hyder Consulting and Langdon and Seah, whose names were retired in the 2015 group rebrand, the architecture brand was deliberately kept separate because the market for architectural services operates on different dynamics from engineering and consultancy.

Design Sectors

• Retail and mixed-use – the practice's best-known specialism, spanning shopping centres, department stores, urban retail districts and large mixed-use developments.
• Commercial and workplace – office towers, headquarters buildings and corporate interiors.
• Residential – high-density housing and residential towers.
• Hospitality – hotels and resort developments.
• Healthcare – hospitals and clinical facilities carried through from RTKL's practice.
• Urban design and planning – masterplanning and district-scale development strategy.

Current Status Within Arcadis

The CallisonRTKL brand has since been folded into Arcadis. The callisonrtkl.com domain now redirects to the Arcadis Architecture and Urbanism service page, and the design work formerly delivered under the CallisonRTKL name is offered through three linked sub-services: Architecture, Interiors, and Planning, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design. Karen Cvornyek leads the Architecture and Urbanism practice.

Anyone researching CallisonRTKL for current work should therefore look to Arcadis. The team continues to operate as a global network of designers, engineers and digital specialists, with an explicit emphasis on integrated design that combines architecture with engineering, digital optimisation and environmental science rather than a linear handover between disciplines.

Recent Work Under Arcadis Architecture

The Curv, Vancouver

A 60-storey residential tower designed to the Passive House standard at an unprecedented scale for a building of its height. As lead architect and landscape designer, the team resolved the airtight, highly insulated envelope using modular wall systems and a triple-glazed facade that also reduced site waste. The building is projected to use up to 90 per cent less heating and cooling energy than a conventional high-rise, and delivers 501 homes, a quarter of them social housing.

River Green Village, Richmond

A 27-acre waterfront development constrained by Vancouver International Airport glide-slope height limits and long-term flood risk. Acting as master planner and design architect, the team used stepped building forms to work within the height restrictions while maximising density, supported upgrades to the local dike system, and added public access points to the Middle Arm Trail.

Technology and Carbon Performance

Recent reported outcomes from the wider Arcadis architecture practice include a 54 per cent reduction in concrete emissions for an automotive client following a Whole Life Carbon Assessment, a partnership with Autodesk applying artificial intelligence to identify hidden structural elements, and a 54-storey LEED Gold tower delivering 443 residential units.

Why CallisonRTKL Matters to the AEC Industry

CallisonRTKL is a significant case study in consolidation within architecture. It shows how a large engineering and consultancy group assembled a top-tier design practice through acquisition, kept it under a distinct brand for roughly a decade because design clients buy differently from infrastructure clients, and eventually absorbed it once integrated design became the group's central proposition. For anyone tracking how architecture practices scale globally, or how retail and mixed-use design expertise migrated into multidisciplinary consultancies, the CallisonRTKL story is worth understanding.