Ralph Allen

Virtually all architects have to compromise their ideas to satisfy clients. Ralph Allen, a canny 65-year-old Nebraskan, has figured out how to get around this: work for public school districts. "The architect?" Allen said, giving his low-key, cracker-barrel voice the brisk intonation of a school superintendent. "He's going to do the best he can. I'm not going to tell him how to do it because I have no background in it."