The United States currently has 115,316 practicing architects. With several good architecture universities, students are choosing a career in this field. There has been a rise in the percentage of architects in the States. There have been an increasing number of firms, with a unique and creative architectural practice. There are a number of firms to look out for, which stand out among all the firms around the globe. Atlanta is favored as the best city for architecture professionals. Works worth studying and ideas that inspire, make the firms aspiring among fellow architects.
Here is a list of the 100 firms/Architects to watch in the US:
1. Alda Ly Architecture
Alda Ly Architecture (ALA) is a New York-based design studio, founded in 2017. ALA is a leading firm in biophilic design. ALA has been featured in a number of publications nationally and internationally like Metropolis, Contract, Interior Design, etc. ALA has projects ranging from multi-million-dollar construction to start-up buildings. ALA focuses on ethnographic research, deep listening and hands-on collaboration indulging the client; achieving thoughtful, custom design solutions. The firm starts every project with a discovery phase, where the organization’s founders, team members, and users share their thoughts with the brand.
Alda Ly Architecture is a Minority and Woman-owned Business Enterprise with NYC.
2. Mike Riscica
Michael Riscica is an architect, keynote speaker, blogger as well as the founder of the website YoungArchitect.com. The winning website helps architects looking forward to passing the Architect Registration Exam and for further practice, to be financially resilient architects. He works through blogging, speaking tours and teaching workshops. He is motivated to create a better future generation of architects and hence Michael Riscica is involved in writing, speaking, consulting, teaching, and volunteering for the architecture community.
3. Chris and Fei Precht
Chris and Fei Precht are the cofounders of a new firm ‘Precht’. Before Precht, Penda, where they worked, won the Architizer’s ‘Emerging Firm of the Year Award’ in 2016. The firm aims at architecture, design and all creative fields. Chris and Fei Precht are young, emerging architects, forward-thinking with content and context-based design. They focus on innovative and ecological solutions to social, urban, functional problems. They emerged in the imperfection of materials, natural touch, and smell of things. They are ‘strategic dreamers.’
4. Hou de Sousa
Hou de Sousa is a New York-based studio, notable for winning several competitions in 2016. The firm focuses on innovative, environmentally responsible and culturally progressive design solutions. They focus on creative and detailed planning of spaces, with emphasis on materials and craftsmanship.
5. WCRA
WC Ralston (WCRA) is a contemporary based residential design studio. WCRA is based in Northern Virginia and focuses on designing intimate homes with passion. The focus is on design around views, bringing in light and details that beckon. WCRA designed homes in the neighbourhoods from Florida to New York.
6. Agency–Agency
Agency-Agency, founded by Tei Carpenter is an award-winning architecture and design firm based in New York. The practice is involved with various types of design work: non-profit, client-based built projects, competition-winning speculative designs, and self-initiated research. Their work engages both buildings and the systems beyond buildings: objects, interiors, speculations, infrastructure and environment.
7. MABU
Matt Burgermaster (MABU) aims at a well-tailored approach to the client’s needs and believes in the step-by-step process. Their experience includes residential, commercial, educational and arts-related projects. With a focus on material, spatial, and environmental factors, they have sought out to achieve “outside the box” solutions for the designs. They aim to create beautiful yet useful and well-crafted buildings, adaptable over time.
8. Spaceagency
Spaceagency is a design-based, multi-award-winning architectural practice. Their experience includes housing, commercial, educational, institutional, hospitality, and urban design. They intend to achieve excellence and innovation through their design, with interest in spatial poetics. The primary aim is to achieve improvement in the sustainability of urban and social environments.
9. NHDM
Nayhun Hwang and David Eugin Moon (NHDM) was founded in 2010, with practice in design and research in architecture and urbanism. Based in New York, they believe to articulate and address the complex social, cultural, political and environmental issues. They explore the underexplored spatial concepts through their projects, engaging a wide range of scales and methods of practice.
10. SCHAUM/SHIEH
SCHAUM/SHIEH started by Rosalyne Shieh and Troy Schaum in 2009 is a small architectural collaboration operating between Houston, TX and New York City. SCHAUM/SHIEH has projects ranging from buildings and installations to urban plans. They showcase their interest in art, form, and the city.
