SEPTEMBER 2016 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \
113
A
rchitect Robert Outland, AIA,
AICAE, LEED, AP, is a cultural
interpreter, with a penchant
for designing spaces that deliv-
er to clients a perfect fit of the
tangible, functional and emo-
tional.
Since Outland and former partner Kiy-
oshi Murata founded MOA Architecture
in 1981, the firm has built an award-win-
ning, distinctly diverse design portfolio
with projects ranging from glass-wrapped
corporate towers and high-tech data cen-
ters to buildings that personify the shapes,
symbols and natural environment so val-
ued in Native American cultures.
“Great architecture is a collaboration of
listening, design and execution. Bob, and
MOA, excel at all three,” says Les Wells, AIA,
NCARB, president of The Wells Partner-
ship, a long-time Outland business asso-
ciate and fellow community service advo-
cate.
Through the decades, Outland and his
team have built a business that offers a
full range of architectural services from
its Denver, and Casper and Laramie, Wyo-
ming, offices. Reflecting the firm’s devout
belief in ongoing professional develop-
ment, 75 percent of its technical staff is
LEED certified, with the ultimate goal set
at 100 percent.
Outland, who reflects with a smile on
the giant technological leaps his profes-
sion has made since the days of a “parallel
bar and a box of pencils,” is retiring at the
end of 2016. He passes the baton to some 40
fellow MOA design professionals who are
committed to Outland’s business legacy – a
WORDS:
Stephanie Darling
Retiring long-time
Denver architect
Robert Outland is
leaving a legacy
of business
integrity,
progressive
thinking and a
lot of beautiful
buildings
