Rich Varda, FAIA, ASLA

In late 2006 Rich Varda was selected as the lead architect for the Musical Instrument Museum.

 

He is currently the Senior Vice President of Store Design at Target. He oversees an internal corporate team of 256 architects, engineers and interior designers responsible for maintaining the Target store prototypes and managing the design of new store and remodel projects.

 

Before joining Target in 2001, he served as a Principal at RSP Architects for three years and at Ellerbe Becket for 15 years. His largest project is the Kingdom Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, completed in 2002. This $750,000,000 mixed-use complex includes a Four Seasons Hotel, a three-level shopping mall and a 1,000-foot high, 'world icon', mixed-use tower.  
 
He has received over 25 awards for design excellence from the American Institute of Architects and other industry programs. His work has been published in Architecture, Architectural Record, The Wall Street Journal, World Architecture, Building Design and Construction and other trade periodicals. In 2004, he served as a juror for the Business Week / Architectural Record Design Awards.
 
He holds an NCARB certificate and is a registered architect in 9 states. He received a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Architecture from the University of Minnesota. He was named to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 2006.