RODE Architects Marks 20 Years: Expanding Leadership to Design the Future
Milestones are a great time to look back, but for our South End-based firm we are celebrating our 20th anniversary this month, and we are all about looking ahead. To mark two decades of shaping Boston’s communities, founders Eric Robinson and Kevin Deabler have announced the firm’s very first leadership expansion, promoting longtime employees Ben Wan and Jessica Haley to partners.
RODE was built on the organic mission statement “Build like we live there,” growing from within was our natural next step.
From a Closet Office to a 35-Person Studio
RODE's origin story reads like a classic partnership. Founders Robinson and Deabler first met in their freshman design studio at North Carolina State University in the 1990s. Years later, after both found themselves living on the same street in Dorchester, they decided to start a firm that would uplift their own neighborhood.
What began in 2006 as small-scale bathroom and staircase renovations for neighbors has blossomed into a dozen-deep portfolio of majorurban projects. Today, the firm has grown to a team of 35 people.
The two new partners have been there almost since the beginning:
- Ben Wan (Partner): Joined in 2009 as RODE's very first employee, working out of a tiny "closet of an office" right after graduating from Northeastern University during the 2008 recession.
- Jessica Haley (Partner): Joined in 2013, bringing interior design fully in-house and helping transform RODE into a full-service architecture and design firm.
Both were named principals in 2023 and credited RODE’s hands-on, micromanagement-free culture for giving them the space to challenge themselves and take ownership of major projects.
Leaving a Lasting Legacy
Wan and Haley have already driven some of RODE’s most recognizable and award-winning community spaces, including the Dorchester Brewing Co. building.
Currently, the team is working on what Robinson calls a "once-in-a-generation" project: FieldHouse+, a 75,000-square-foot community and athletic facility rising on Columbia Point.
By passing the torch to leaders who have helped build the company's culture, RODE's founders are ensuring the firm remains a community-first legacy for decades to come. As co-founder Kevin Deabler puts it, the goal remains the same: "To raise expectation levels on what good design is, what good construction is, what good housing is, and how to treat your neighbors properly."
Check out the Dorchester Reporter article below!
