Commercial Architectural Rendering Services - Varda Architecture
                     VARDAARCHITECTURE
Rich Varda, FAIA, ASLA, is a consulting architect with extensive 
experience leading the design of corporate, institutional, 
commercial, and residential building types.
VARDAARCHITECTURE.COM  -  RICH VARDA, FAIA, ASLA 19105 EAST TONTO VERDE DRIVE RIO VERDE, AZ   85263 
[email protected] - 612-382-9641
After retiring from Target in 2017, Mr. Varda has served a a design consultant on a variety of 
projects working independently and with RSP Architects. Clients have included U. S. Bank (retail 
nationally), HEB Corporation and Target Store Design. From 2001 to 2017, Mr. Varda served as 
Vice President, Senior Vice President and Senior Advisor for Target Store Design, leading an 
internal staff of almost 300 architects, engineers and planners. Over 800 new stores, both 
prototypical and unique designs, totaling more than $12 billion in construction cost, were built 
under his leadership. He was instrumental in the 2014 to 2018 Next Generation redesign of the 
store prototype, which is currently being implemented across the Target Store chain. Before 2001, 
he was a Principal for 18 years at Ellerbe Becket and RSP Architects. While with Ellerbe Becket, 
Mr. Varda was the lead designer of the 3.5 million square foot Kingdom Centre complex in Riyadh, 
Saudi Arabia which, in 2002, was voted International Skyscraper of the Year by Skyscrapers.com. 
He was also named lead designer of the Musical Instrument Museum, a $200 million cultural 
facility founded by former Target CEO, Bob Ulrich. Mr. Varda has received over 25 awards for 
design excellence and his work has been published in Architectural Record, Architecture, The Wall 
Street Journal, World Architecture, Building Design and Construction and other trade periodicals. 
Rich Varda graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Science in Landscape 
Architecture in 1975 and the University of Minnesota with a Master of Architecture in 1977. In 
2006 he was named to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows, and in 2010 he was 
AIA Minnesota President.
Design and Project Leadership
Extraordinary architecture and planning can best be achieved through a process of collaborative design leadership, where the schedule and work plan are 
developed from the normal steps of the creative design process:
• Research and discovery
• Scope and space programming
• Development of conceptual alternatives
• Refinement of schematic design
• Detailed design development
• Execution of construction documents.
This website presents Mr. Varda's extensive experience in master planning and architecture, as well as his success in the leadership of a major corporate 
building program. Included are summaries of the awards and recognition that his work has received from his peers.
All of the work was created with his direct leadership of the design process through collaborative team efforts, as well as drawing ideas with his own hand.
Additionally, as a firm principal and corporate officer, Mr. Varda has staffed and developed architectural and engineering groups, and has assembled teams 
of specialized consultants and contractors to address the requirements of large and complex projects.
He was the leader in the process of creating the Musical Instrument Museum, a highly successful, 190,000 square-foot cultural center in Phoenix Arizona. 
Bob Ulrich, MIM founder and CEO of Target corporation, identified a lead project manager and then asked Mr. Varda to act as principal designer. Together they 
assembled the architectural, engineering, consulting and contractor team who then worked in a collaborative process with the founder to create this unique 
cultural and academic institution.
THANK YOU
vardaarchitecture.com
612-382-
9641
RICH VARDA, FAIA, ASLA 19105 EAST TONTO VERDE DRIVE
RIO VERDE, AZ   85263