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Architecture

21st Century Architect Guide: 7 Visualization Tools Architects Can’t Live Without

By Zarkon Group,15/05/2023

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, learn more about Architizer’s Vision Awards. The Main Entry Deadline on June 9th is fast approaching. Start your entry today >

The architectural design process is an intricate dance between creativity and technical mastery. From beginning to end, as each act of a project unfolds, and visions come to life, every architect must rely on an array of visualization tools to help them successfully navigate project stages. These tools are our trusty partners throughout the performance that is design.

From sketching the earliest of ideas to unveiling new worlds in digital landscapes, many tools have revolutionized the way we work and transformed how we communicate our ideas. While we each have individual preferences, undoubtedly, from concept to completion, there are some visualization tools we can all agree we would rather not live without.

Conceptualization: Sketching and Diagramming – The Napkin Chronicles

Interior of the reimagined Autodesk Gallery, San Francisco, CA, United States Photograph provided by Autodesk

We’ve all been there — a moment of divine inspiration striking in the middle of lunch, hastily scribbling our ideas on a napkin, a receipt, even our hand. Be it through traditional (pen and paper) sketching or digital tools like SketchBook by Autodesk and Morpholio Trace, conceptualization is the wild west of design documentation, and that’s precisely what these programs are built for.

By allowing us to quickly test various design concepts, proportions, and relationships while providing a platform for experimentation and ideation, such sketching software helps to support and facilitate mark-making and disjointed thought. The intuitive interface and versatile features of these digital sketching apps enable architects to easily switch between mediums, layers, and scales, streamlining the concept process and ultimately helping us make sense of our own ideas effectively.

Schematic Design: 2D CAD Drawings – Back to the Grid

Autodesk Technology Center, Boston, MA, United States Photograph provided by Autodesk

With concepts refined, then comes the time to embrace the precision and orderliness of 2D CAD drawings. Bidding adieu to the delightful chaos of the napkin sketches, programs like AutoCAD and Vectorworks become our new best friends. During the schematic phase, meticulously articulating our visions is essential, ensuring that not even a single datum line goes astray.

Whatever your preferred platform may be, CAD programs allow us to create detailed, scalable drawings, facilitating coordination with consultants, and fine-tuning the review process for and with clients. Over the years, the software’s extensive libraries and automated tools have increased the efficiency of drawing tenfold, reducing errors and resources required at this stage of the design development process.

Design Development: 3D Modeling – The Taming of the Shrewd

Interior of the new reimagined Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco, CA, United States Photograph provided by Autodesk

The design process can often feel a lot like herding cats, chaotic and unpredictable. 3D modeling software such as SketchUp, Rhino, and Revit can feel like our trusty shepherd’s staff in times of uncertainty and compromise. With these tools, we can juggle competing interests — structural engineers advocating for fewer cantilevers and environmental officers requesting more green space alongside MEP consultants demanding cavernous service risers.

3D models give us the capacity to study the spatial relationships and materiality of our designs, enabling us to make informed decisions on practicality with as little impact on the design ambition as possible. The real-time rendering capabilities of these programs thrive in the quest for seamless collaboration between team members, promoting an iterative design process and ensuring that all disciplines are working in harmony.

Visualization: Rendering and Virtual Reality – The Picture-Perfect Performance

The Lumion office building by atelier PRO architekten, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Photograph by Jan Paul Mioulet

During the design process, renderings are akin to a grand soiree, a sumptuous feast for the eyes that unveil creations in all their splendor. With virtuosos like V-Ray and Lumion at the helm, 3D renders allow us to conduct a mesmerizing performance of light and texture, conjuring spellbinding visuals that leave clients entranced.

These rendering maestros boast an array of sophisticated features, from global illumination to physically-based materials and ethereal atmospheric effects, empowering architects to craft lifelike images that impeccably embody their design aspirations. Furthermore, VR technologies such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive transport us to a realm where we can meander through our masterpieces as though they already stand tall — always remember to mind your footing in the tangible world as you navigate the virtual one.

Construction Documentation: BIM – The Clash of the Disciplines

The pièce de résistance of the design process, construction documentation through BIM software, such as Revit, is where the rubber meets the road. Architects know that, in today’s world, coordination is the name of the game, and nothing tests resolve quite like the clash detection feature in our BIM software.

By consolidating architectural, structural, and MEP models into a single, comprehensive database, BIM enables us to identify and resolve conflicts early in the design process, preventing costly and time-consuming issues during construction. BIM’s powerful parametric capabilities also facilitate the generation of detailed schedules and specifications, ensuring that the information is accurate, consistent, and up-to-date.

Digital Fabrication: Parametric Design – A Brave New World

Designed using CATIA V&A Dundee by Kengo Kuma and Associates, Dundee, Scotland. Photograph by Hufton+Crow

As we explore the frontiers of design, the relatively new realm of digital fabrication beckons. Unlike days of old, armed with kappa board and scalpel, parametric design and computational tools like Grasshopper, Dynamo, and Catia empower us to translate complex geometries and intricate patterns into buildable forms. These tools enable us to visualize and rationalize our boldest ideas, bridging the gap between digital models and physical constructs.

We can optimize our designs for structural efficiency, environmental performance, and material utilization by scripting algorithms and generating parametric models. As we venture into the brave new world of 3D printing, CNC milling, and robotic assembly, these visual documentation tools are our invaluable guides, helping us push the boundaries of architectural possibility.

Interactive Presentations: Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality – The Future is Now

Autodesk, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Photograph provided by Autodesk

As the future of architecture unfolds before us, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies are poised to revolutionize the way we present and experience our designs. Tools like Microsoft HoloLens, Magic Leap, and Apple ARKit allow us to superimpose digital information onto the physical environment, creating immersive and interactive presentations that captivate our clients and collaborators. These cutting-edge technologies enable us to visualize and manipulate design elements in real time, engaging with our projects in novel and exciting ways. By overlaying digital models onto site photographs, AR can enhance client presentations by demonstrating the proposed design in context. As we embrace AR and MR, we stand at the forefront of a paradigm shift, forever changing how we document, present, and interact with architecture.

Throughout the timeline of a project, architects employ an ever-evolving array of visualization tools, from the nascent stages of conceptualization to the emerging realms of digital fabrication and interactive presentations. By embracing these tools and the many more sure to be introduced over our careers, we can continue to push the boundaries of architectural possibility, shaping the world around us with passion, precision, and innovation. As we salute the visual documentation tools accompanying us on our architectural odyssey, let’s not forget the camaraderie and ingenuity that defines our profession. Together, we can create spaces that inspire, transform, and endure for generations.

Reference

Architecture

30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina

By Zarkon Group,12/05/2023

From its conserved colonial architecture to its contemporary craft, Argentina’s built environment is colorful and individual. Cities like Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Mendoza have been heavily influenced by European architecture. From Spanish colonial to Art Nouveau to Neoclassical design, the architecture of Argentina offers unique translations of similar programs in 19th-century Europe.

In the 1930s, Argentine architects looked to the work of Le Corbusier, and many began to adopt a rationalist sensibility. The nation’s urban fabric began to shift: the ornate edifices from decades prior were now paired beside geometric and clean-lined designs. Decades later, skyscrapers began to dominate the skylines of Argentine cities, signaling a generation of designers who embraced modern techniques yet maintained a similar aesthetic to their predecessors. And today’s architects continue to push new limits through designs that respond to the country’s breathtaking landscape and celebrate Argentine culture.

With so many architecture firms to choose from, it’s challenging for clients to identify the industry leaders that will be an ideal fit for their project needs. Fortunately, Architizer is able to provide guidance on the top design firms in Argentina based on more than a decade of data and industry knowledge.

How are these architecture firms ranked?

The following ranking has been created according to key statistics that demonstrate each firm’s level of architectural excellence. The following metrics have been accumulated to establish each architecture firm’s ranking, in order of priority:

The number of A+Awards won (2013 to 2023)
The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2023)
The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2023)
The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2023)
The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2023)

Each of these metrics is explained in more detail at the foot of this article. This ranking list will be updated annually, taking into account new achievements of Argentina architecture firms throughout the year.

Without further ado, here are the 32 best architecture firms in Argentina:

30. BAM! arquitectura

We are a versatile design, urbanism and architecture studio created by young entrepreneurs, who have a comprehensive, creative and challenging look and who are aware of the social and natural environment. We believe that buildings, as people, are more than the sum of its parts. We believe that it is possible to accomplish a blend of design, functionality and context. We believe that in projects co-creation better
results are achieved thanks to teamwork.

Why BAM!? Because we believe in design process innovation as a problem solution. Our clients are those who dare a better living. We create spaces that enable people to interact and communicate.

Some of BAM! arquitectura’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped BAM! arquitectura achieve 30th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	2

29. Ça

Ça Arquitectura is an architecture firm based in Argentina. The studio specializes in residential design and commercial design.

Some of Ça’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Ça achieve 29th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	2

28. La Base Studio

La Base Studio is a workshop with a triple disciplinary approach, a synergy between architecture, furniture design and landscape. It was founded in Buenos Aires in 1985 by Alejandro Sticotti. Since 2021 is integrated by a group of professionals where Nicolás Tovo and Teresa Sarmiento lead the architectural area. The main goal is to combine all the knowledge in a coherent language from any scale of intervention. Materiality is fundamental in our work, it is a constant dialectic between thinking and doing. This search is supported by our workshop, where we experiment from construction details to prototypes and production of objects. Focusing on processes, trades and people. With a strong academic imprint in public and private, local and international universities, La Base Studio share this theoretical proposition and establishes new geographical contexts such as its spaces in New York and more recently in Barcelona.

Some of STICOTTI’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped STICOTTI achieve 28th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	2

27. Claudio Walter Arquitectos

WALTER Arquitectos is above all a team. The studio, founded in 1992 and led by Claudio Walter, produces rigorously contemporary architecture committed to the responsible use of natural resources . Its coherence is based on its own work methodology, deliberately avoiding the development of a style or formalisms. Each project is a specific search, with clients and technology as inalienable references . The response to program, context, budget and time is necessarily unique.

The WALTER arquitectos team pays special attention to the construction process in order to give the highest quality to the project . In this work, those responsible for the different areas are involved, in the design and development of architectural projects.

Some of Claudio Walter Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Claudio Walter Arquitectos achieve 27th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	3

26. forma

forma is a group of young architects and designers who aspire to provide a space for creation and innovation committed to architecture and sustainable development. Design and construction, architects and labor, carpenters, and masons. We seek to be present in every step of the process, we promote the use of both the mind and the hands. We specialize in design, in an integral Architecture, and as we want our projects to be done correctly and under our high standards of definition, we like to be very involved in the construction and execution of the projects. Working together with experienced carpenters and builders we generate a united human group with the same aspirations to offer a quality product.

As a young studio we are in a phase in which wood predominates over other materials. With each project we explore the limits and possibilities of the material with its logics and systems to reach a product that is coherent throughout the whole process from the idea to the material. Wood is a noble material that in addition to its thermal capabilities and malleability means a negative carbon footprint to the ecosystem so its use is highly sustainable. In any case, we look forward to the possibility of exploring new materials.

Some of forma’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped forma achieve 26th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	3

25. Nicolás Fernández Sanz

Nicolás Fernández Sanz is an architect based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His specialty includes cultural, commercial and retail architecture.

Some of Nicolás Fernández Sanz’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Nicolás Fernández Sanz achieve 25th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	3

24. Nidolab Arquitectura

Photo: Federico Kulekdjian – © Nidolab Arquitectura

Nidolab Arquitectura is an architecture firm based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Founded by Lucía Villarreal and Sol García del Río, the firm specializes in retail, restaurant and residential architecture.

Some of Nidolab Arquitectura’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Nidolab Arquitectura achieve 24th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	3

23. Najmias Office for Architecture NOA

Najmias Office for Architecture [NOA] offers a wide range of professional services related to the built environment, ranging from new buildings and master plans to small interventions in existing buildings. The common denominator in this diverse portfolio is our experience that is based on finding the balance between an innovative and strong identity with the level of customer expectations and the overall quality of projects.

Our experience, with both public and private clients, has given the team the flexibility to meet customer requirements and needs, while maintaining tight cost control. In NOA, we formulate solutions that create a unique architectural identity, optimizing costs and maximizing the value of the project while considering the social, emotional and intellectual implications both to the environment and users we serve.

Some of Najmias Office for Architecture NOA’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Najmias Office for Architecture NOA achieve 23rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	4

22. Salassa-tissot-castañeda / STC ARQUITECTOS

STC Arquitectos is led by partners Juan Salassa, Ivan Castañeda, and Santiago Tissot. All graduates of the School of Architecture and Design at the National University of Córdoba, secondary colleagues and friends, all three designers have different ideas and ways of thinking with the same goal, trying to reflect and make an architecture that is socially useful in the context that we live today.

The studio was founded back in 2006 and since 2010, the firm collaborates with other professional designers. Our business focuses primarily on two axes, first orders both private and public and other contests architecture.

Some of Salassa-tissot-castañeda / STC ARQUITECTOS’s most prominent projects include:

Suburban house, Alta Gracia, Argentina
Refuge in Cordoba, Argentina, Villa Serranita, Argentina
PH Solares, Alta Gracia, Argentina
Spinlock – Magnetic Resonance Solutions, Córdoba, Argentina
contest winners Convention Center Alta gracia, Alta Gracia, Argentina

The following statistics helped Salassa-tissot-castañeda / STC ARQUITECTOS achieve 22nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	8

21. BIAGIONI / PECORARI arquitectos

Our study brings more than 15 years designing and directing works of architecture with a mission of service to clients seeking effective responses to their needs and budgets, offering spaces with professionalism and quality design.

Some of BIAGIONI / PECORARI arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

Building in Seguí Street, Santa Fe, Argentina
Castelli Building, Santa Fe, Argentina
House in “Los Molinos”, Santa Fe, Argentina
Brew Bar in Belgrano Station, Santa Fe, Argentina
Building on Candioti street, Santa Fe, Argentina

The following statistics helped BIAGIONI / PECORARI arquitectos achieve 21st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	9

20. Botteri-Connell

Based in La Plata, Argentina, Estudio Botteri-Connell is known for their cultural and residential designs. The firm takes a collaborative approach to architecture, arising from a deep relationship with their clients and understanding of their needs.

Some of Botteri-Connell’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Botteri-Connell achieve 20th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	2

19. Morini Arquitectos

Lucio Morini is an architect based in Córdoba, Argentina. The firm specializes in hospitality and commercial architecture.

Some of Morini Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Morini Arquitectos achieve 19th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	3

18. Studio Cella Architects

Estudio Cella is an architecture practice based in Argentina. The firm has been around for over three decades and today, is executed by Daniel Cella, Lucía Cella and Pedro Peralta.

Some of Studio Cella Architects’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Studio Cella Architects achieve 18th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	2

17. Nicolas Pinto da Mota

Nicolás Pinto da Mota is an architect and lecturer based in Buenos Aires. He founded his practice Nicolás Pinto da Mota Arquitectos in 2008, which has seen developed an extensive portfolio of residential and industrial designs.

Some of Nicolas Pinto da Mota’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Nicolas Pinto da Mota achieve 17th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	4

16. Estudio BaBO

Estudio BaBO was brought to life in 2007 when, after having coincided in a diversity of academic and professional interests, Francisco Kocourek from Buenos aires, Francesc Planas Penad from Barcelona and Marit Haugen Stabell from Oslo, decided to settle in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. From the Colegiales area within the city of Buenos Aires, Estudio BaBO works in Argentina, Spain and Norway, both independently and in collaboration with local practices.

Some of Estudio BaBO’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Estudio BaBO achieve 16th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	6

15. Moirë Architects

Moirë arquitectos was founded by Mariel Cámara and Ezequiel Muñoz. Based in Mar del Plata, Argentina, the firm manage all aspects of a design project, from developing the architectural work, managing the construction and advising investors.

Some of Moirë Architects’s most prominent projects include:

House Lucerna, Mar del Plata, Argentina
Atelier Gael, Mar del Plata, Argentina
House Cronos, Pinamar, Argentina
Mio Building – Bonjo III, Mar del Plata, Argentina
Houses Strobel, Mar del Plata, Argentina

The following statistics helped Moirë Architects achieve 15th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	6

14. CCPM Arquitectos

At CCPM Architects we work between concept and matter, assembled and designed, landscape and object. We reflect con the place architecture occupies in contemporary culture and we seek in form the critical role of the project. We work in Buenos Aires on a wooden board on two industrial trestles with computers, drawings, models, books, photos, printers, mugs, and mate.

Some of CCPM Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped CCPM Arquitectos achieve 14th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	3

13. Pablo Gagliardo

Pablo Gagliardo is an Argentine architect who in 2003, founded the architecture practice within the construction company Obring. Pablo Gagliardo develops projects of various scales with a speciality in residential design.

Some of Pablo Gagliardo’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Pablo Gagliardo achieve 13th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	3

12. Besonias Almeida arquitectos

Besonias Almeida arquitectos is an architecture studio integrated by Argentinian architects María Victoria Besonias and Guillermo de Almeida. They both are engaged in the profession independently since 1975 and as holders of BAKarquitectos architecture office from 2000 until 2012. They leave the certainties to assume that doubt can be a valuable creative material and that any progress on those unknown frontiers should be done walking between boldness and caution.

Some of Besonias Almeida arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

Torcuato House Pavilion, Malvinas Argentinas, Argentina
Besonías Almeida House, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Wein House, Pinamar, Argentina
Mar Azul House, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Concrete House, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The following statistics helped Besonias Almeida arquitectos achieve 12th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	20

11. Estudio Ramos

Based in Buenos Aires and New York, Estudio Ramos has developed a distinctive style that relies on a well defined vision of modernism. Through 40 years of experience the firm has developed its work with a deep respect for architecture’s principles. In their long trajectory of residential and commercial building they seek to understand and interpret each project’s context, pursuing its ideal scale and sustainability. Their goal is to encourage reflection through a simple, pure, and honest architectural language.

Some of Estudio Ramos’s most prominent projects include:

Figueras Polo Stables, General Rodríguez, Argentina
Nacho Figueras House, General Rodríguez, Argentina
Yacht Club House, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Accesos Puertos del Lago, Tigre, Argentina
56th Street Apt., New York, United States

The following statistics helped Estudio Ramos achieve 11th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	33

10. REMY arquitectos

In 2004, architect Andrés Remy founded his studio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where projects with an original style matching functionality and design, are developed. With a focus on residential design and hospitality architecture, the firm has a presence in Argentina as well as the United Arab Emirates.

Some of REMY arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

The Black House, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Casa Carrara, Pilar, Argentina
Devoto House, Buenos Aires, Argentina
FSY House, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cabos House, Tigre, Argentina

The following statistics helped REMY arquitectos achieve 10th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	6

9. IR arquitectura

R architecture is a cooperative platform created in 2008 by Luciano Intile and Andrés Rogers. Composed by architects and industrial designers trained in different academic and practical areas, this platform serves as an open, malleable, and symbiotic system. It is its multidisciplinary nature which allows it to address the integrated management of work. IR architecture makes focus on social, environmental and economic issues with the objective of creating urban, architectural and object-based models, responding to functional and aesthetic requirements self-imposed, seeking higher energy efficiency records. The harmonious relationship with users and their environment mobilizes this thinking applied to each stage of the process, from the choice of materials, construction systems to the function of the parts themselves.

Some of IR arquitectura’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped IR arquitectura achieve 9th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	5
Total Projects	6

8. RTN Arquitectos

Founded by Javier Rivarola, Gustavo Trosman and Ricardo Norton in 2000, RTN is an architectural and urban planning firm based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The firm commits to high quality standards beginning with concept design phase up to construction documents. Our intent is to get involved in the overall process, even during construction phase, in order to maintain strict control over the final quality.
RTN develops projects locally and internationally.

Some of RTN Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

Beale Street Landing, Memphis, United States
Dashi, Buenos Aires, Argentina
White and Gray House, Buenos Aires, Argentina
MB House, Tigre, Argentina
Ruiz Huidobro, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The following statistics helped RTN Arquitectos achieve 8th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

A+Awards Winner	1
A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	9

7. MSGSSV

MSGSSS is an architectural practice based in Buenos Aires with more than 50 years of professional experience. Through unexpected pathways we develop an architecture far away from imitative procedures, for away from repeating models. Multi-dimensional approaches, minor interventions and major projects all form part of our background and they are all handled with the same interest. Each and every problem is worthy of an in-depth search for the right solution, because the magic of architecture lies in the intensity and passion that go into it.

Some of MSGSSV’s most prominent projects include:

HOUSE IN MARTINEZ, Martínez, Argentina
Coca-Cola Headquarters, Buenos Aires, Argentina
PRO.CRE.AR Buenos Aires Station Sector 10 , Buenos Aires, Argentina
Campus La Calandria, Pilar, Argentina
Paraguay Government Offices, Asunción, Paraguay

The following statistics helped MSGSSV achieve 7th place in the 32 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	5
Total Projects	9

6. Hitzig Militello arquitectos

We are an architectural firm which develops civil construction and interior design, according to the commission. We have a long experience in F&B, leisure and hospitality design, where we focus in generating creative concepts. We also take commissions of housing and multiple housing. The office counts with an integral team for each one of the phases required in the project, according to the commission, which works together with technical consultants and specialized suppliers.

Our philosophy is based on the idea of integral design. This means we merge aspects of a brand, use abstract concepts for its contextualization, work with artistic tools and visual communication, (archigraphy), and interior design.

Some of Hitzig Militello arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

Atelier Vilela, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Office + House Luna, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Goodsten, Martínez, Argentina
Victoria Brown Bar & Restaurant, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Art Gallery – Objeto A, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The following statistics helped Hitzig Militello arquitectos achieve 6th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	26

5. Alric Galindez

Alric Galindez began its activities in 1995, designing from the beginning different types of works with a special interest in the development of contemporary proposals. The firm has completed more than 250 works and projects of different scales and programs. With offices in Buenos Aires and San Carlos de Bariloche working together in the search for a proactive synergy in search of ideas.

Training and professional growth is of particular interest to the firm. Participation in national and international competitions and teaching at the University of Buenos Aires, as well as participation in exhibitions and conferences are part of this concern.

Some of Alric Galindez’s most prominent projects include:

MD House , San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
CS House , San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
Vizu Jaus , San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
RM House , Mar de Ajó, Argentina
Dachas , San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

The following statistics helped Alric Galindez achieve 5th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	6
Total Projects	8

Top image: MD House by Alric Galindez, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

4. Estudio PK – Ignacio Pessagno & Lilian Kandus

This architecture studio is oriented to the design, direction, and execution of works. Working as a team, they interpret the client’s needs through a different, global, and creative vision, which transforms project objectives into precise and uniquely efficient proposals, immersions in a real economic context. They follow up and evaluate throughout the creative process, select both in the project and in the operational technician, optimize and refine the results.

Some of Estudio PK – Ignacio Pessagno & Lilian Kandus’s most prominent projects include:

Casa Nido, San Fernando Partido, Argentina
Casa Tana, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Casa L, La Costa, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Graffiti House, Tigre, Argentina
Casa Rampa, Belén de Escobar, Argentina

The following statistics helped Estudio PK – Ignacio Pessagno & Lilian Kandus achieve 4th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	7
Total Projects	14

3. Estudio Galera

Estudio Galera is dedicated to the design, management, and construction of architecture, providing complete solutions and appropriate responses to challenges. In this sense, the architectural studio becomes the right place to reformulate conventional issues related to architecture considering the environment, climate, economic, and personal factors that might affect those people who will inhabit those places.

The methodology consists of the collection of data and analysis of the problem from different points of view towards ensuring the best results. Thus, the teamwork allows orderly planning and optimization of the resources. The organization of management, documentation, and communication enables developments to be achieved in a timely manner. Cordiality, respect and personalize attention are key factors to enjoy the process. Therefore, the active participation of clients is essential so that the completion of projects can meet their expectations.

Some of Estudio Galera’s most prominent projects include:

Casa AYYA, Pinamar, Argentina
Casa RINCÓN, Ostende, Argentina
Batin House, Pinamar, Argentina
KVS House, La Esmeralda, Argentina
Wanka House, Cariló, Argentina

The following statistics helped Estudio Galera achieve 3rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	11
Total Projects	17

2. Luciano Kruk Arquitectos

Luciano Kruk Arquitectos was founded in 2012 by Argentine architect Luciano Kruk. The practice is known for its residential designs.

Some of Luciano Kruk Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

House in the Dune, La Costa Partido, Argentina
S+J House, La Costa Partido, Argentina
10 House, Buenos Aires, Argentina
House in the Trees, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Casa Escobar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The following statistics helped Luciano Kruk Arquitectos achieve 2nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	15
Total Projects	13

1. BAK Arquitectos

BAK Arquitectos is an Argentine firm founded in 2000 by architects María Victoria Besonías, Guillermo de Almeida, and Luciano Kruk. The team believes that modern architecture should be flexible and responsive to the client’s wishes.

Some of BAK Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

Casa Carassale, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Casa Pedroso, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Casa JD, Mar Azul, Argentina
Casa en La Playa, Mar Azul, Argentina
AV House, Mar Azul, Argentina

The following statistics helped BAK Arquitectos achieve 1st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Argentina:

Featured Projects	14
Total Projects	13

Why Should I Trust Architizer’s Ranking?

With more than 30,000 architecture firms and over 130,000 projects within its database, Architizer is proud to host the world’s largest online community of architects and building product manufacturers. Its celebrated A+Awards program is also the largest celebration of architecture and building products, with more than 400 jurors and hundreds of thousands of public votes helping to recognize the world’s best architecture each year.

Architizer also powers firm directories for a number of AIA (American Institute of Architects) Chapters nationwide, including the official directory of architecture firms for AIA New York.

An example of a project page on Architizer with Project Award Badges highlighted

A Guide to Project Awards

The blue “”+”” badge denotes that a project has won a prestigious A+Award as described above. Hovering over the badge reveals details of the award, including award category, year, and whether the project won the jury or popular choice award.

The orange Project of the Day and yellow Featured Project badges are awarded by Architizer’s Editorial team, and are selected based on a number of factors. The following factors increase a project’s likelihood of being featured or awarded Project of the Day status:

Project completed within the last 3 years
A well written, concise project description of at least 3 paragraphs
Architectural design with a high level of both functional and aesthetic value
High quality, in focus photographs
At least 8 photographs of both the interior and exterior of the building
Inclusion of architectural drawings and renderings
Inclusion of construction photographs

There are 7 Projects of the Day each week and a further 31 Featured Projects. Each Project of the Day is published on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Stories, while each Featured Project is published on Facebook. Each Project of the Day also features in Architizer’s Weekly Projects Newsletter and shared with 170,000 subscribers.

We’re constantly look for the world’s best architects to join our community. If you would like to understand more about this ranking list and learn how your firm can achieve a presence on it, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at editorial@architizer.com.

Reference

ADU Portland. Exterior view and section.

Architecture

ADUs Bring Organic Growth to Suburbia, And We Desperately Need More Of It.

By Zarkon Group,09/05/2023

Browse the Architizer Jobs Board and apply for architecture and design positions at some of the world’s best firms. Click here to sign up for our Jobs Newsletter.

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) mandated by the State of California override local planning regulations to permit a second unit on almost any single-family zoned property. The law also allows any single-family zoned lot to be subdivided into two parcels. Additionally, it allows ADUs to be built with just a four-foot setback or no setback at the new interior property line of a subdivided parcel, in contrast with most towns, which have setbacks of more than 7 feet, up to 30 feet. It also mandates very relaxed parking requirements or no parking if the project is near public transit.

Is California paving the way for ADUs across the US?

ADU Portland. Left: Exterior view; right: building section. Courtesy of Webster Wilson Architect. Image by Caitlin Murray.

ADUs: A Solution for Affordable Housing Shortage

California has long grappled with an acute housing shortage, especially affordable housing. Local governments, under the thrall of NIMBY residents trying to preserve the rural/suburban “character” of their communities, have not been very cooperative with state goals for new housing.

Local planning departments bristle at their authority being usurped by the state, but for growing numbers of people, these ADU rules offer welcome flexibility and opportunities for growth in a place that is building better, more stable communities, providing housing, and stemming sprawl.

ADUs for Families of all Sorts of Forms

The endless swaths of single-family houses spreading across the hills and valleys of suburbia are the physical manifestation of a culture that fetishized the nuclear family — and conspicuous consumption. But, a simple nuclear family unit has never been anywhere near the universal living arrangement and is becoming ever less universal. Homeowners are using the ADU rules to build houses for a kaleidoscopic variety of living arrangements and “families” of all shapes, types, and sizes.

Drone view of suburban Utah town and Modern addition to existing house in the Salt Lake City area

Left: Drone view of similar houses, driveways, and yards in the Utah suburbs. Original public domain image from Wikimedia Commons via rawpixel; right: Modern addition to an existing suburban house in the Salt Lake City area. Image by Brian Babb via Unsplash.

From Granny Flat to Rental Property

Having a place for “granny” is hardly the only use for these units. Homeowners may be looking for something affordable for grown children and their partners that doesn’t force them to move hours away. They’re also looking for flexibility and future-proofing. What is grandma’s house today can become an income rental property that allows a homeowner on a fixed income to afford to stay in place.

Family party BBQ. Chicago. Image by Tela Chhe via Flickr.

Building Stronger Communities

The law allows a single-family zoned parcel to be subdivided into two parcels, and each of these parcels to have two units, so up to four units can be made from a single-family house. This lets people do what traditionally has often been standard operating procedure: houses are extended to accommodate growing and branching families. It can help keep extended families together, which in turn, builds stronger communities.

Breaking the Monotony of Suburban Architecture

These new units are also changing the look and feel of suburbia for the better as well. Blank two-car garage doors are being replaced by lively facades of windows and openings. The tighter setbacks help give the remodeled houses a different rhythm and feel on the street, breaking the monotonous sameness of cookie-cutter ranchers.

Courtyard DADU, Seattle, Washington. Left: View from the courtyard; right: floor plan. Courtesy of Robert Hutchison Architecture. Photo by Eirik Johnson.

YIMBY!

Until the advent of professional planners, towns and cities almost always grew and became more densely developed in small steps in exactly this way. This laisser-faire method of “planning” has produced most of the best, most treasured urban landscapes across the world. Our banal suburban sprawl may yet be redeemed through organic in-fill growth done by and for residents who are increasingly proclaiming YIMBY! (Yes, In My Back Yard).

This article was written in collaboration with Californian architect Ian Ayers.

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Reference

Architecture

“Yposkafo”: Have You Heard of Greece’s Underrated and Undercut Residential Typology?

By Zarkon Group,06/05/2023

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter.

For the past decade, Greek architects have had to tap into the tourist industry, Greece’s most prosperous sector, in order to deal with the country’s financial crisis. Suddenly, the bare landscapes in rural Greece went “under construction,” and a new typology of residential architecture emerged.

The term “yposkafo” stands for a building that exists partially into the ground and is also known as undercut architecture. These seven residential projects explore the different techniques, processes and morphologies of houses that blend in with a site’s topography. Spanning through multiple levels, these residences include both extraordinary underground spaces as well as limitless country and seaside views.

Xerolithi

By Sinas Architects, Serifos, Greece

Jury Winner 2021, A+Awards, Architecture + Stone

Photos by Yiorgos Kordakis

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Topography and landscape are the two essential ingredients of Xerolithi. Breaking the preconceptions of a typical Cycladic house, Sinas Architects have exaggerated the island’s topographical contours, designing a house that seamlessly integrates with its surroundings. With walls built from the island’s stone and a roof that is covered with local plants and vegetation, the house is gradually emerging from the Mediterranean hill. Finally, a long, singular façade arranges the house’s functions in a linear order, successfully orienting it towards the sea.

Aloni

By Deca Architecture, Antiparos, Greece

Photos by Erieta Attali

<alt= Aloni is also a house that trails the landscape. Still, in this case, the land is not raw or uninhabited, but rather a product of rural conversion practices. Following the agricultural motifs of the past, Deca Architecture employs a series of techniques such as carving, sinking and the use of existing retaining walls. They create a semi-artificial landscape that blurrs the edges between the natural and artificial ground morphology.

Ring House

By Deca Architecture, Crete, Greece

Jury Winner 2018, A+Awards, Private House (L 3000-5000 sq ft)

Photos by George Messaritakis In addition to being a refined addition to Crete’s natural setting, the Ring House fulfills a wider agenda. After countless random interventions to the hill’s topography, Deca Architecture approached the house’s design as an opportunity to regenerate the surrounding landscape. Pursuing a reduce-waste approach, they used the excavated material to reconstruct the hill’s original morphology. At the same time, the Ring House itself acts as an exemplar for sustainable design. Its careful insertion into the landscape, results in the formation of a temperate microclimate fit for Crete’s desert-like environment.

Sheltered Villas

By A&M Architects, Karpathos, Greece

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Sheltered but not concealed, A&M Architects designed three distinct villas in the island of Karpathos. However, instead of employing the classic “yposkafo” typology, they added a bit of a twist, treating the opposing facades of each house in the most contradictory way. On the one hand, a series of white retaining walls cut through the ground, clearly marking the back wall of each villa. On the front end of the house however, a single transparent façade creates a threshold between the inside spaces and the outside scenery.

KHI House & Art Space

By LASSA Architects, Methoni, Greece

<alt= <alt= <alt= Located in a shallow Peloponnesian slope, KHI is a house full of contradictions. Playing with height as well as enclosure, LASSA Architects have merged courtyards, unrestricted roofs, underground gallery spaces, and sunbathed rooms all within a single rippling wall. The wall gradually sinks into the ground, continuously reframing the two functions of the house: the residence and the art space. It becomes an animating apparatus that shifts the landscape conditions around KHI House, gently integrating it with the immediate terrain.

House 6 °

By Mado Samiou Architecture, Lagonisi, Greece

<alt= <alt= Built only a couple of miles away from Athens’s dense urban setting, House 6 ° celebrates the unspoiled nature of its setting. Emerging from the ground, the white solid structure compliments the incline of the adjacent hill. House 6 °separates its functional spaces into underground private areas, illuminated by a series of skylights, and common areas above the ground, strategically positioned towards the surrounding countryside views.

Villa Ypsilon

By LASSA Architects, Foinikounta, Greece

<alt= <alt= Villa Ypsilon is one of the most radical “yposkafo” residences, found inside a Peloponnesian olive grove. Instead of digging into the landscape, its design manipulates the ground’s surface, shifting it to a higher level. The roof of the villa becomes an integral part of the hill as well as a natural cooling mechanism for the entire space.

“Yposkafo” typology is predominantly established in rural areas in order to sustain Greece’s natural landscape. Greatly encouraged by Greek building regulations, it has become an intermediary solution for promoting international tourism without sacrificing its physical beauty.

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter.

Reference

Architecture

4 Novels About Architecture That Are Better Than “The Fountainhead”

By Zarkon Group,02/05/2023

Sooner or later, every architect is gifted The Fountainhead. Usually, this is done with good intentions: someone reads Ayn Rand’s 1943 novel about an idealistic architect at war with a cynical society and is reminded of the architect in their own lives, their friend or nephew or whomever. They buy the architect a copy, thinking they will appreciate seeing their profession represented in literature.

Sometimes though, Fountainhead pushers have another agenda. Rand’s 753 page doorstop was not just a work of imaginative literature; it was a vehicle for Ayn Rand to push her political ideology, an extreme form of capitalist individualism called Objectivism. Rand hoped readers of The Fountainhead would be convinced of the evils of collectivism, especially any kind of socialism, which in her view suppresses the entrepreneurial spirit of geniuses like her architect hero Howard Roark. She wanted to change the way people voted, not just how they thought about architecture.

As it is a work of political propaganda, The Fountainhead falls short of John Keats’s standard for authentic literature. In an 1817 letter to his brothers George and Thomas, the poet coined the term “negative capability” to describe the ability of great authors to put their own opinions to the side when they set out to write. The role of the author, in Keats’s view, is not to push an agenda but to give life to whatever ideas emerge organically within the imaginative space of the poem or novel.

A lofty standard? Maybe. But the novels listed here come closer to the mark than The Fountainhead. They run where Rand’s book only walks — that is, they give authentic literary expression to architectural ideas.

Daniel Burnham’s “White City,” constructed in 1893 for the Chicago World’s Fair. Unidentified Photographer, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The reader might here exclaim that I am cheating. “The Devil in the White City is not a novel at all,” they’ll say, “it is a work of non-fiction!”

True as that may be, The Devil in the White City is by Keats’s standard a clear example of imaginative literature. In re-telling the events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and its architect, Daniel Burnham, author Erik Larson set out, above all else, to tell a story and to do so as powerfully as he could. As New York Times critic Janet Maslin gushed, Larson “relentlessly fuses history and entertainment to give this nonfiction book the dramatic effect of a novel, complete with abundant cross-cutting and foreshadowing.”

Larson’s approach is well suited to his dramatic subject matter. The story alternates between two narratives: the planning and development of the World’s Fair under architect Daniel Burnham, who used the fair as an opportunity to showcase the grandeur of the Beaux Arts Style, and the exploits of serial killer H.H. Holmes, who used the fair as an opportunity to prey on naive out-of-towners.

In a grim ironic twist, Holmes was something of an architect himself, transforming a Chicago rooming house into a “Murder Castle” complete with trapdoors, greased chutes and soundproof rooms. Indeed, the parallels between Burnham and Holmes are the thematic heart of the book, lending this true story literary gravitas.

Italo Calvino riding a bike in 1970. Unknown Photographer, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Like a great building, Invisible Cities is a book that was designed to be inhabited rather than simply experienced once. The allegorical novel is structured as a series of conversations between Marco Polo, the 13th century Italian explorer, and Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor of China.

Polo and Khan did meet in history, but this book is not drawn from any historical sources. The conversations are merely a framing device, allowing Polo to describe 55 fictitious cities to the emperor, places he claims to have visited. Each city is a parable for a different aspect of human nature, and as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that the subject Polo has learned the most about in his travels is himself. Places, it seems, are illuminated by the preconceptions we bring to them.

While the story has a free-floating and dreamlike structure, there is a plot twist that occurs halfway through the novel. Pressed by Kubla Khan to describe his home city of Venice, Polo explains that he has been doing that all along. Fedora, Zoe, Zenobia, and all the other fictional cities he recounts are all just Venice seen from different vantage points.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (2000)

Leaves are much more intricate than they appear to be at first. Photo by Jon Sullivan, 2003, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

House of Leaves is sort of like the reading equivalent of being trapped within H.H. Holmes labyrinthine Murder Castle. The text is laid out in a fashion that is anything but linear, with copious footnotes leading to their own footnotes which themselves have footnotes, all making copious references to books and films that are sometimes real, sometimes not. At times, the text is arranged unusually on the page and the book must be rotated to be read. At other times, multiple narrators interrupt one another in a disorienting fashion. Even the genre is hard to determine. While most readers consider House of Leaves a horror story, the author himself has described it — bafflingly perhaps — as a love story.

But House of Leaves offers the reader much more than mere confusion. By traversing this experimental book, the reader is able to share in the protagonists’ disorientation, offering a unique, sometimes claustrophobic experience of imaginative identification. The book follows a family whose house contains an endless series of hidden rooms — an allegory, perhaps, for the psyche, family dynamics, academic criticism, history and more. (Perhaps the list is also endless). For architects, the mysteries of this novel are a potent reminder that clarity, rationality, and openness are not always preferable. Sometimes people are drawn to the darkness.

Am Gestade, one of many Viennese streets Austerlitz traverses as he searches for his hidden past. Photo by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Can a work of art speak to both the heart and head at the same time? Or do the intellect and the emotions respond to different kinds of artistic experience, one craving critical distance and the other empathic closeness? These are not just questions that Austerlitz poses to the reader, they are the questions faced by the novel’s eponymous protagonist.

Jacques Austerlitz is an architectural historian who lives a solitary, itinerant life. He is fascinated with the way buildings and street layouts can reveal the buried histories of places, leaving behind an objective record of how people lived — ordinary people, that is, not just the type of people whose names end up in history books. One day, Austerlitz stumbles across a startling fact about himself. He learns that the couple who raised him in England were not his biological parents. His actual parents were a Jewish couple from Vienna who perished in the Holocaust. They had sent their young son, then aged three, to safety in England using an underground program known as the kindertransport.

Austerlitz applies his skills as an architectural historian to research the buried history of his own parents, who seem to have left few traces behind. He is then faced with the possibility that he had unknowingly been looking for them all along. Could his interest in architectural history have been, unconsciously, a way of trying to uncover his own roots? This question, which would intrigue Calvino’s Marco Polo, is just one of the many tantalizing mysteries of this masterful novel about memory and loss.

Cover Image: Freepik, Attribution via Wikimedia Commons

Reference

Architecture

20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador

By Zarkon Group,28/04/2023

Ecuador’s architecture is a melting pot of cultures, traditions and rhythms. Home to incredible ethnic diversity, its architecture reflects the same hybridity of its population. Traversing the nation, the most commonly encountered architectural style is the Spanish colonial. And the capital city, Quito, is a prime example. As a former administrative center for the Spanish Empire, Quito is flooded with Baroque churches and neoclassical buildings. Conversely, in Guayaquil, a massive fire left very few traces of the Spanish, and today has given way to a modern architectural expression.

And the spirit of today’s Ecuadorian architects can be characterized by their welcoming of international trends and deep respect for the land – producing a sensitive yet exploratory architectural language.

With so many architecture firms to choose from, it’s challenging for clients to identify the industry leaders that will be an ideal fit for their project needs. Fortunately, Architizer is able to provide guidance on the top design firms in Ecuador based on more than a decade of data and industry knowledge.

How are these architecture firms ranked?

The number of A+Awards won (2013 to 2023)
The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2023)
The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2023)
The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2023)
The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2023)

Each of these metrics is explained in more detail at the foot of this article. This ranking list will be updated annually, taking into account new achievements of Ecuador architecture firms throughout the year.

Without further ado, here are the 20 best architecture firms in Ecuador:

20. Edwin Hurtado + Holger Cuadrado Arquitectura

Holger Cuadrado Arquitectura, is an architecture and landscape studio-workshop, which focuses its activities from the practice of the project and from the academy, understood as two necessary dimensions for the construction of knowledge.

Some of Edwin Hurtado + Holger Cuadrado Arquitectura’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Edwin Hurtado + Holger Cuadrado Arquitectura achieve 20th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	1

19. Juan Tohme

An architectural study that aims to respond and act on the needs of a city and architecture without reflection through new design methodologies based on the architectural discipline itself

Some of Juan Tohme’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Juan Tohme achieve 19th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	1

18. Leppanen + Anker Arquitectura

Leppanen +Anker Arquitectura is an Architecture office founded by Aaron Leppanen and Gabriela Anker in Quito Ecuador. Leppanen+Anker Arquitectura has worked across multiple scales, programs and cultures. Leppanen+Anker Arquitectura has a strong interest in developing spatial experiences through a merger of contextual, cultural, sustainable and formal influences. Leppanen+Anker Arquitectura has a diverse background with experience in Residential, Commercial, Cultural, Educational and Health Care projects both in the public and private sectors. The office is located in Quito, Ecuador.

Some of Leppanen + Anker Arquitectura’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Leppanen + Anker Arquitectura achieve 18th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	2

17. Siente Espacios

Siente Espacios is an architecture studio based in Guayaquil that seeks to generate experiences beyond traditional spaces, always offering practicality and connections with nature.

Some of Siente Espacios’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Siente Espacios achieve 17th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	2

16. ADAPTA

ADAPTA is an office/workshop dedicated to non-conventional methods of construction and design. The firm specializes in architecture and industrial design.

Some of ADAPTA’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped ADAPTA achieve 16th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	3

15. Jannina Cabal Arquitectos

The Jannina Cabal & Arquitectos studio was founded in 2003, after 4 years of work and various experiences as an architect in construction companies and architectural consulting studios. The members of our office are young architects with a lot of creativity and energy. Currently, the study has a work team of 10 architects, specialized in different areas, as well as a group of consultants in support engineering. In large numbers today, very varied residential projects, urban and commercial projects are developed throughout the country.

Some of Jannina Cabal Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Jannina Cabal Arquitectos achieve 15th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	3

14. Roberto Burneo – arquitectos

Roberto Burneo is the principle at Roberto Burneo – arquitectos, an Ecuador-based design firm. Roberto Burneo specializes in residential architecture.

Some of Roberto Burneo – arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Roberto Burneo – arquitectos achieve 14th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	4

13. arquitectura x

arquitectura x is a Quito-based design firm ran by award-winning architects Adrian Moreno and María Samaniego. The firm designs for the private, public and civic sector.

Some of arquitectura x’s most prominent projects include:

Las Naves Courthouse, Las Naves, Ecuador
RI HOUSE, Diffuse Borders, Tumbaco, Metropolitan District of Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador
Icono Building, Permeable Living, Quito, Ecuador

The following statistics helped arquitectura x achieve 13th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Total Projects	3

12. Emilio López Arquitecto

‘I live in Ecuador, a territory with one of the greatest biodiversity in the world, so its geography, plants, climates and cultures are great stimuli for me, and with architecture this possibility of immersion and mixture with the environment appears: the letting oneself be transformed by the other, from that envelope where the limit is suspended. Therein lies the strength of architecture, the product of the immersive affectation that comes with rethinking our relationship with resources and with the world in which we live.

I think of architecture as an open process, and always changing based on new demands, which are updated by experience like that of the Cocoon: a transitory envelope, in which the transition of the worm is expressed, its state between , of suspended existence or even shared. Therein lies its strength for change and creativity.

Some of Emilio López Arquitecto’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Emilio López Arquitecto achieve 12th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	1

11. Estudio Felipe Escudero

Founded by Ecuadorian architect Felipe Escudero in 2012, studio FE is an innovative firm focused on design, business tactics, and experiential innovation. We design urban strategies and architectural solutions by redefining challenging conditions as design opportunities. Collaborating with experts from all fields, we develop custom-made experiences for each one of our clients and end users.

Felipe escudero’s work is driven by his interest in becoming aware through the senses and by his drive to make the concerns of art relevant to society at large. Rather than identifying with any particular style or aesthetic, his work is best characterized by its working methodology as crucial means for turning thinking into doing.

Some of Estudio Felipe Escudero’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Estudio Felipe Escudero achieve 11th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	4

10. Sebastian Calero

© Daniel Moreno Flores, Sebastian Calero

Sebastian Calero Larrea is an architect based in Quito, Ecuador. The designer’s portfolio showcases several residential projects.

Some of Sebastian Calero’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Sebastian Calero achieve 10th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	2

9. Studio Alfa

Some of Studio Alfa’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Studio Alfa achieve 9th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	2

8. URLO Studio

URLO Studio is a family of nonconformist, pragmatic, visionary, and innovative professionals who seek to set a turning point in the development of the city, always through coherent and rigorous ideas and designs that range from the architectural detail, to the broader urban scale.

Some of URLO Studio’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped URLO Studio achieve 8th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	3

7. Al Borde arquitectos

Al Borde (2007), architecture firm based in Quito, Ecuador. Formed by David Barragán, Pascual Gangotena, Maríaluisa Borja and Esteban Benavides. It inhabits the territory of questioning, where certainties about what architecture should or should not be are under constant construction. Its ideas are developed in the making, and with greater precision and detail on site.

It pursues an architecture whose aesthetics is conscious of the energy expended in construction, seemingly effortless, where the way materials joined together is clear and logical. An architecture opens to the active participation of users in the design and construction process, where everyone can see the problem solved, with no more pretensions to address the project demands. The design faces the sustainability of life as the center of the discussion (resources, co-responsibility, consumption, gender, and social inequality).

It builds with the resources and techniques of the place, where the territory is always a particular and unique variable, the projects become an x-ray of the site, which speak of the customs of the people, their history, their problems, and needs. The diversity of the projects represents the people’s willingness to engage with ideas, taking risks, and participation in decision-making.

Some of Al Borde arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

Nueva Esperanza School, Manabi, Ecuador
Bricks, Blocks & Other Abandoned Elements / Patches, Mocha, Ecuador
Casa Culunco, Tumbaco, Distrito Metropolitano de Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador
Última Esperanza, Cabuyal, Ecuador
Esperanza Dos, Cabuyal, Ecuador

The following statistics helped Al Borde arquitectos achieve 7th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	7

6. Diez + Muller Arquitectos

Diez + Muller Arquitectos is led by Gonzalo Diez and Felipe Muller. They understand architecture as an intellectual response to a requirement that can vary in scale and function. Any architectural intervention is the answer to a problem, regardless of whether it is a house in the country or a building in the city. This intellectual response is given depending on the environment, the peculiarity of the place where it is implanted, the use, the economy, etc. Therefore, his attitude is based on giving a balanced response between these factors, it being essential that in each project there is a sensitive component, generator of emotions, since this is what will give a further meaning to architecture.

Some of Diez + Muller Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

2V House, Quito, Ecuador
Tumbaco Cabins, Distrito Metropolitano de Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador
Los Chillos House, Via A Los Chillos, Quito, Ecuador
Puente Bridge House, Quito, Ecuador
URBAN -A, Quito, Ecuador

The following statistics helped Diez + Muller Arquitectos achieve 6th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	12

5. Diego Guayasamin

Diego Guayasamin Arquitectos is an Ecuador-based architecture firm led by Diego Guayasamin. The firm specializes in commercial and residential architecture.

Some of Diego Guayasamin’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Diego Guayasamin achieve 5th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	4

4. NAJAS ARQUITECTOS

NAJAS ARQUITECTOS is an architecture design firm located in Quito-Ecuador that provides streamlined consulting, architectural, engineering and construction services for all typologies and scale.

Since 2006 we have had a very strong commitment with architecture design thru a very deep relationship with our clients and the environment. On each stage of design and during the construction process we search for a profound spatial and built quality that allow us to develop a coherent and creative architectural vocabulary in search for the high values of our profession.

Some of NAJAS ARQUITECTOS’s most prominent projects include:

Casa Pillagua, Quito, Ecuador
Mezze 2 House, Quito, Ecuador
Alambique House, Quito, Ecuador
Residencia Mezze, Quito, Ecuador
House Towards The River, Quito, Ecuador

The following statistics helped NAJAS ARQUITECTOS achieve 4th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	11

3. Daniel Moreno Flores

Artist, innovator, designer and craftsman, Daniel Moreno Flores has been working in architecture for over a decade. Practicing the profession independently, the architect has formed a network in both Ecuador and Argentina. Daniel Moreno Flores is interested in the processes of experimental design, inquiry into structural forms, collective work for social cohesion through the appropriation of public space and the construction of infrastructure after the 2016 Ecuador earthquake.

Some of Daniel Moreno Flores’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Daniel Moreno Flores achieve 3rd place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	4

2. odd+ architects

We are a group of highly skilled architects, planners, and creatives. we are innate problem solvers, dedicated to making the physical world a more habitable place. We work at every scale– from design to execution. We are inspired by nature, incorporating its systems and processes into our work– aiming for a healthier coexistence. We learn through history, science, and precedents– developing new design techniques for the improvement of humankind. We confront and question the norm– creating state-of-the-art design solutions. Together we help our clients solve their most complex challenges; together we harness our diverse ingenuity to make projects that are fantastical, affordable, buildable, and beautiful.

Some of odd+ architects’s most prominent projects include:

A House in the Andes, Ecuador
the ANTI-KIOSK, Quito, Ecuador
MIG 1.0, Quito, Ecuador
odD House 1.0, Cumbayá, Quito, Ecuador
Hampton, Catalina de Aldaz & Avenida Portugal, Bellavista, Quito, Ecuador

The following statistics helped odd+ architects achieve 2nd place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

A+Awards Winner	4
A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	6

1. Natura Futura Arquitectura

Base in Babahoyo, Ecuador, Natura Futura Arquitectura explores issues and themes in architecture within a Latin American context. The firm’s portfolio consists of various community-based and public projects.

Some of Natura Futura Arquitectura’s most prominent projects include:

The Little Atelier, Ecuador
El Triangulo de las Verduras; Productive Community Greenhouse, Quito, Ecuador
The House that Habitate, Babahoyo, Ecuador
The Tea Room, Baba Canton, Los Rios, Ecuador
Asadero Popular ¨Rico Pollo¨, Babahoyo, Ecuador

The following statistics helped Natura Futura Arquitectura achieve 1st place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Ecuador:

Featured Projects	18
Total Projects	18

Why Should I Trust Architizer’s Ranking?

Architizer also powers firm directories for a number of AIA (American Institute of Architects) Chapters nationwide, including the official directory of architecture firms for AIA New York.

An example of a project page on Architizer with Project Award Badges highlighted

A Guide to Project Awards

Project completed within the last 3 years
A well written, concise project description of at least 3 paragraphs
Architectural design with a high level of both functional and aesthetic value
High quality, in focus photographs
At least 8 photographs of both the interior and exterior of the building
Inclusion of architectural drawings and renderings
Inclusion of construction photographs

Reference

Architecture

20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong

By Zarkon Group,24/04/2023

Named the World City of Asia, Hong Kong is home to a diverse population that resides within a densely populated land mass. Covering a little over 1,000 k㎡, this Special Administrative Region maintains one of the most impressive skylines that is backdropped by a beautiful mountain range.

The region’s position as a global financial megahub has brought forth an influx of sophisticated skyscrapers, many of which have been built in the last two decades. The region has greatly evolved since it was relinquished by the British Crown, although some traces of its colonial and pre-colonial past remain visible today. Pre-colonial structures, such as stilt houses and walled villages, are extant (although a substantial amount of its Cantonese architecture was lost during the Second World War). Meanwhile, traces of Hong Kong’s British colonial period are still significant in today’s urban fabric.

As the region expands with world-class infrastructure, questions surrounding heritage conservation continue to play out. With a complicated colonial history, a strong economic agenda and a small landmass to work with, heritage conservation remains a hot topic of debate. What should remain and what can go? Nevertheless, architects in Hong Kong remain in accord on one objective: designing for the future.

With so many architecture firms to choose from, it’s challenging for clients to identify the industry leaders that will be an ideal fit for their project needs. Fortunately, Architizer is able to provide guidance on the top design firms in Hong Kong based on more than a decade of data and industry knowledge.

How are these architecture firms ranked?

The number of A+Awards won (2013 to 2023)
The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2023)
The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2023)
The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2023)
The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2023)

Each of these metrics is explained in more detail at the foot of this article. This ranking list will be updated annually, taking into account new achievements of Hong Kong architecture firms throughout the year.

Without further ado, here are the 21 best architecture firms in Hong Kong:

20. Spawton Architecture

Hong Kong-based Spawton Architecture was established in 2013 by British architect, Alex Jones, to provide exceptional design services in both the architecture and interior realms.
Whether looking at new buildings or re-purposing and reusing existing structures, Spawton Architecture strives to provide high quality, contemporary design meeting both the clients’ brief and the end users’ needs.

Spawton Architecture focuses on all aspects of a project from the initial space planning to the minutest detail to maximise the final finish and add value to the scheme.
The studio is always open to collaboration with other architects and designers and as such, can undertake a wide variety of project typologies and scales.

Some of Spawton Architecture’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Spawton Architecture achieve 20th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	3

19. Avoid Obvious Architects

With over 20 years of experience in architecture and urban planning, our award winning team deliver green buildings and sustainable cities to everyone. Avoid Obvious Architects have 15 awards with projects in 36 cities and 22 countries. They believe design excellence can improve the way we live, work and play. Holistic architecture that combines art and science will make good design for the people and the environment. Their design process will add value to your cities and investment. Their services include urban planning, architecture and interior design.

Some of Avoid Obvious Architects’s most prominent projects include:

The Artist House, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Street Basket for Walk DVRC, Hong Kong
Mahna Mahna, New York, NY, United States
FlashFly, New York, NY, United States
Organic Living, Guangdong, China

The following statistics helped Avoid Obvious Architects achieve 19th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	11

18. Theo Texture

T X T is primarily an architectural, interior design + contracting firm, established in 2002, and is managed by experienced architects, designers and project managers with international experiences. Our design philosophy is based on a theo-centric worldview to create innovative, inspiring and outstanding spaces and forms of the 21st century. T X T believes that a design should be carried through from micro to macro scale. The “total design” concept has been applied to many of our projects as we provide design services that range from names, logos, graphics, signage, furniture, interiors, architecture to urban planning.

Some of Theo Texture’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Theo Texture achieve 18th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	5

17. via.

Launched in 2009, via. is counted among Hong Kong’s most in-demand design studios. Within a ten-year span, via. has developed an impressive portfolio of retail, hospitality, commercial and residential projects. Led by founder Frank Leung, the client list includes leading developers, restaurant operators and hoteliers. The studio’s award-winning projects are defined by a logical, proportioned use of space, coupled with an appreciation for craftsmanship, creativity and comfort. Regardless of the project brief, each design reflects a refined sensibility, underscoring the relationship between simplicity and sophistication.

Some of via.’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped via. achieve 17th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	2
Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	14

16. Millimeter Interior Design

Millimeter Interior Design was established in 2007, specializing in professional residential and commercial interior design. Their primary focus lies in the quality of design, customer satisfaction and overall project management. After spatial planning, a functional analysis approach is adopted to achieve the very best results for our clients, well within time and budget.

Some of Millimeter Interior Design Limited’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Millimeter Interior Design Limited achieve 16th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Winner	1
Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	10

15. Lim + Lu

Lim and Lu is an award-winning inter-disciplinary interior design practice based in Hong Kong, initiated in New York City. Lim + Lu works internationally providing interior, branding, furniture and product design services. Lim + Lu’s designs, inspired by familiar images from everyday life, push the trend of individualization by presenting flexibility, practicality and a breath of fresh air in every project.

Some of Lim + Lu’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Lim + Lu achieve 15th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	2

14. AFFECT-T

AFFECT-T is an abbreviation in closing: Affectionately. Often used by the artist Marcel Duchamp in his correspondence with friends and fellow artists. The studio uses the term as a guide to the relationship with the client and a central aim of built space and objects- to design and construct something which is viewed and experienced affectionately.

Some of AFFECT-T’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped AFFECT-T achieve 14th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	2
Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	4

13. OPENUU

OPENUU is an award-winning design research lab that focuses on Space Conversions and Design Collaborations. They design and create with an approach of playful pragmatism and are interested in creating supernormal moments by re-searching and re-arranging super normal, everyday notions. The studio creates to engage with people, and engages with people to create. openUU’s wide-ranged clientele includes: Swire Properties Management Limited, Osage Gallery & Art Foundation, Hong Kong Tourism Board, and Hong Kong Arts Centre.

Some of OPENUU’s most prominent projects include:

platform(1×2), Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Osage Open: Phase 1, Kowloon, Hong Kong
modelScape, Zhuhai, China
urbanUPLIFT, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
AL-wch, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

The following statistics helped OPENUU achieve 13th place in the 21 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	9

12. TheeAe Architects

‘TheeAe’ is abbreviation of ‘The Evolved Architectural Eclectic’. The name means effort and dedication toward contextual beauties through place, history and culture of surroundings. TheeAe Architects pursue re-searching and re-defining elements that have been embedded or unseen so as to define the beauty of the architecture through design driven by context, evolved from rational notions and led toward unexpected discovery of nature.

To pursue this passion, they began their practice since 2011 in Hong Kong. The studio’s service has been extensively covered in various areas of architecture and interior design and master planning.

Some of TheeAe Architects LTD.’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped TheeAe Architects LTD. achieve 12th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	27

11. Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Architecture

The School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong is a leading architecture school and group of creatives who have won several prestigious architecture awards.

Some of Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Architecture’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Architecture achieve 11th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Winner	2
A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	3

10. Rocco Design Architects

Rocco Design Architects is a Hong Kong-based architectural firm dedicated to the uncompromising fundamentals of architecture and practice. Their works are guided by a persistent attention to the quality of the total environment, sensitivity to local culture and contexts, fulfilling users’ needs and clients’ expectations, as well as adherence to construction budget and programmatic controls. There are 170 staffs in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. They have demonstrated a prowess for design creativity over the years, with an impressive body of work across a wide range of sectors. Many of these projects have been honored with prestigious local and international design awards.

Some of Rocco Design Architects Limited’s most prominent projects include:

Yunnan Museum , Kunming, China
Guangdong Museum, Zhu Jiang Lu, Yueqing Shi, Wenzhou Shi, China
Jiu Jian Tang, Shanghai, China
LHT Tower, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong
Hotel ICON, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

The following statistics helped Rocco Design Architects Limited achieve 10th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

Featured Projects	5
Total Projects	9

9. LAAB Architects

LAAB is a laboratory for Art and Architecture dedicated to spatial innovations that firmly rooted in environmental and cultural contexts. From public space and public art to architecture and interior, their collective of architects, designers, engineers, makers and sociologists work together with forward-thinking clients and collaborators to bring visionary ideas to life.
Based in Hong Kong, our work has reached various global design communities, with recognition from Japan Good Design Award Best 100, German Red Dot and iF Awards, as well as American Institute of Architects International Region Awards.

Some of LAAB Architects’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped LAAB Architects achieve 9th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Winner	1
A+Awards Finalist	2
Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	8

8. One Plus Partnership Limited

© Jonathan Leijonhufvud Architectural Photography

Ajax Law and Virginia Lung established the Hong Kong-based interior design firm One Plus Partnership Limited in 2004. The design covers different interior scenarios such as cinemas, restaurants, retail stores, clubs, sales centers and commercial offices.

One Plus is good at spatial design driven by thematic concepts, and it makes a breakthrough and innovate each time during the design creation. Designers usually find a theme that fits with the project, then refine the expression of this theme, and finally make the visual experience appealing through artistic techniques.

In the past 19 years, One Plus has been totally awarded over 800 international awards: In 2012, One Plus was the sole winner of Andrew Martin the International Interior Design Awards – the International Interior Designer of the Year Award, the first ever Asia design company who has won this honor.

Some of One Plus Partnership Limited’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped One Plus Partnership Limited achieve 8th place in the 21 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	3
Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	34

7. 10 Design

10 Design, part of Egis Group, is an international architecture and master planning practice with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Edinburgh, Dubai, Miami, London, Shenzhen, and Singapore. Founded in 2010, the practice has designed and delivered work in 60 cities across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Americas. 10 Design has won over 80 international awards and major design competitions.

10 Design works at diverse scales, from the design of individual buildings to the planning of cities. The practice focuses on bringing innovative design solutions for multicultural projects, with economic and social integrity. Its works include large-scale mixed use development, retail, office, residential, hospitality, transport, education, cultural and civic projects.

Some of 10 Design’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped 10 Design achieve 7th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	7
Total Projects	81

6. PANORAMA Design Group

Established in 2003, PANORAMA Design Group has been famous for creating unique story-telling spatial experiences of large-scale composite interior spaces. With headquarter in Hong Kong and local offices in China, the company’s project categories cover Hotel, Property Development, F&B, Retail, Kids, Health & Wellness and received over 150 international design awards including 2016 IDA Design Award “Interior Design of the Year”, 2021 Red Dot Award “Best of the Best”, 2022 HKDA Global Design Awards “Hong Kong Best” & 2022 Architizer A+Awards “Best Interior Design Firm”. Projects have been featured in numerous international design magazines & journals. Inspired by the unique spatial characters of Hong Kong, PANORAMA’s design team adopts boundary-crossing strategy to produce new propositions and unique experience for different typologies of “multi-purpose/composite spaces” to respond to Asia’s rapid-changing lifestyles.

Some of PANORAMA Design Group’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped PANORAMA Design Group achieve 6th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Winner	1
Featured Projects	6
Total Projects	14

5. LWK + PARTNERS

LWK + PARTNERS is a leading architecture and design practice rooted in Hong Kong, with 1,100+ creative minds collaborating across a strong global network of 12 offices to deliver world-class solutions to the built environment. With over 35 years of growth, the diverse design team at LWK + PARTNERS shares expertise to provide a wide range of services including architecture, planning & urban design, interiors, landscape, heritage conservation, building information modelling (BIM), brand experience and lighting design. LWK + PARTNERS believes that great design has infinite possibilities and directs positive impact to people’s lives. The practice is a member of C Cheng Holdings Limited (HKEX stock code: 1486).

Some of LWK + PARTNERS’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped LWK + PARTNERS achieve 5th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	10
Total Projects	30

4. Orient Occident Atelier OOA

Orient Occident Atelier | OOA | 東西建築 is an interdisciplinary architectural, interior and urban design studio. We focus on discovering, researching and utilizing the interdependence of “objects” and connections with surrounding space as design inspirations. Design themes of OOA encompass modern interpretations of Eastern and Western aesthetics while integrating nature and function. We believe the intrinsic local culture and technology found at the project site should be respected. Through natural and synthetic materials, we research and develop new methods of architectural detail assembly.

OOA is committed to leveraging architectural design for the development of urban and rural villages with other professions on programs such as disaster prevention and relief. We design and build solutions to environmental and social problems with collaboration from government bodies and social enterprises.

Some of Orient Occident Atelier OOA’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Orient Occident Atelier OOA achieve 4th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Winner	2
A+Awards Finalist	2
Featured Projects	6
Total Projects	4

3. Architectural Services Department

The Architectural Services Department is a department of the Government of Hong Kong and is responsible for the design and construction of facilities throughout Hong Kong. The department’s three core functions are facility development, facility upkeep and monitoring and advisory services.

Some of Architectural Services Department’s most prominent projects include:

Hoi Ha Visitor Centre, New Territories, Hong Kong
Lung Mei Beach Bathhouse, Tai Po District, New Territories, Hong Kong
Beijing International Horticultural Exposition- Hong Kong Garden, Beijing, China
Crematorium in Wo Hop Shek, Hong Kong
Community Green Station, Sha Tin, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

The following statistics helped Architectural Services Department achieve 3rd place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Winner	4
A+Awards Finalist	3
Featured Projects	12
Total Projects	23

2. Bean Buro

Bean Buro is an inter-disciplinary architectural design practice led by Lorène Faure and Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui, with a network of British and international collaborators to providing architecture, interior, installation, furniture and product design services. The diversity of the practice with its collaborators reinforces a core vision for the practice: to respond to the exchanges of global cultural narratives, incorporating overlapping design disciplines specializing in the social, economical and political production of urban spaces. We believe architecture is an emotional, spatial experience constructed by both the user and the author. Their design methodologies stem from the observation, speculation and analysis of contextual narratives.

Some of Bean Buro’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Bean Buro achieve 2nd place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	14
Total Projects	48

1. Ronald Lu & Partners

Ronald Lu & Partners (RLP), established in Hong Kong in 1976, is an award-winning practice specializing in architectural and interior design and master planning. The firm has completed and is engaged in wide variety of projects, including large-scale integrated urban developments, integrated transportation hubs, commercial buildings, residential developments, and cultural and public developments. RLP has received over 300 local and international accolades for its exceptional projects, in particular the SK Yee Healthy Life Centre, Ko Shan Theatre New Wing, KGV School, and China Resources Building. The firm was ranked 58th on bd’s list of top 100 architects in 2021. RLP has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Taipei, housing its strong team of over 550 professionals.

Some of Ronald Lu & Partners’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Ronald Lu & Partners achieve 1st place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Hong Kong:

A+Awards Winner	1
A+Awards Finalist	5
Featured Projects	15
Total Projects	28

Top image: Tsimshatsui Waterfront Revitalization by Ronald Lu & Partners, Hong Kong

Why Should I Trust Architizer’s Ranking?

Architizer also powers firm directories for a number of AIA (American Institute of Architects) Chapters nationwide, including the official directory of architecture firms for AIA New York.

An example of a project page on Architizer with Project Award Badges highlighted

A Guide to Project Awards

Project completed within the last 3 years
A well written, concise project description of at least 3 paragraphs
Architectural design with a high level of both functional and aesthetic value
High quality, in focus photographs
At least 8 photographs of both the interior and exterior of the building
Inclusion of architectural drawings and renderings
Inclusion of construction photographs

Reference

Architecture

The Culture of Architecture Needs an Overhaul, Part II: Historical Background, Today’s Context and Future Steps

By Zarkon Group,20/04/2023

Evelyn Lee is the Head of Workplace Strategy and Innovation at Slack Technologies, founder of Practice of Architecture, and co-host of the podcast, Practice Disrupted. She takes inspiration from her experience in tech and outside of the profession to reimagine practice operations for firms.

The great resignation, the shesession, labor shortages, burnout and a reprioritization of life priorities have made culture conversations much more topical, but they aren’t new. This article explores some new(er) and old(er) organizations that have been making strides to address culture change at all points within the profession, starting in school.

The following is Part II of the three-part series looking at the need to redesign the culture of architecture.

Part I defined culture and explored recent events that bring to light the increasing need for cultural change at the industry level.
Part II looks deeper at the history of organizations working to change the profession’s culture for over a decade.
Part III looks at how to intentionally create a values-based teaching and learning culture.

Studio Culture in Architecture Schools

In their design for the Abedian School of Architecture in QLD, Australia, Crab Studio sought to rethink the traditional bounds of architecture’s pedagogical spaces.

Cultural change became a focus of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) in the late 1990s. It was made official by forming the first AIAS Studio Culture Task Force in 2000. The task force was created in response to unhealthy culture within architecture schools and a particular event where a student lost their life in a vehicular accident after leaving the studio with little sleep. Findings from the first task force were published in the 2002 report, The Redesign of Studio Culture.

That report opened conversations between the AIAS and the National Architecture Accreditation Board (NAAB) to add a Studio Culture Policy as one of their conditions for accreditation in 2004. However, a subsequent report in 2008 found that many things have stayed the same within studio culture with their publication, Toward an Evolution of Studio Culture.

I had the opportunity to sit down with 2007-2008, AIAS President and Vice Presidents on Season One of my podcast, Practice Disrupted, to talk with Andrew Caruso and Anthony Vankey, respectively, on their perspective of how Studio Culture translates into practice. Unsurprisingly some of the areas of concern that they address remain unchanged.

The subsequent report by the AIAS Advocacy Advisory Group, Studio Culture: Stories and Interpretations, published in 2016, raised questions about the lack of enforcement of school culture policies. Most students were unaware that a Studio Culture document/policy existed at their school, and the same individuals surveyed expressed a desire to have greater collaboration between students and faculty on conversations around studio culture.

In 2020 the AIAS redefined Studio Culture as a Learning & Teaching Culture to expand the conversation of culture to that of the students, teachers, and administrators. The subsequent AIAS Model Learning & Teaching Culture Policy is top of mind of the current 22-23 AIAS President, Cooper Moore, who notes that “The future of Learning and Teaching Culture needs to be student-led since students are the ones living it, although no culture can be truly healthy without input from all parties involved. The AIAS is committed to leading an inclusive and collaborative effort among allied organizations in the coming year to address the current environment and build a healthier and more positive culture for future architects and faculty alike.”

Separately, in a grassroots initiative. Alvin Zhu, a current M Arch student at UNSW Sydney, launched a docu-series called “Critiquing Architecture School” to bring to light the student perspective in University and bring about positive change on a broader scale.

Studio Culture in Practice

Alexander House (AH) is the home of Alexander &CO., (where their 24-person team actually works!). The purpose-built live/work set up aiming to challenge preconceptions of home, land, family and work. Conceived as a design laboratory, the space rethinks studio culture by supporting a diversity of uses including working environments for both collaboration, meeting and solo time.

The architectural labor movement, particularly unionization, is relatively new. However, there have been two previously successful union attempts in the US. The first was in 1933 with the Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians (FAECT), and the second was in 1934 with the formation of the Architectural Guild of America. By the 1950s, FAECT was defunct, and the Architectural Guild of America evolved to support engineers and construction workers, though, despite the name, architects were not included. Later, In the 1970s there was a failed bid by SOM’s San Francisco office to unionize.

Then, in 2013 the Architecture Lobby was launched to demystify architecture’s labor conditions, especially illegal and humane practices, and value its workers as much more than starving artists. Most recently, coming out of the SHOP Architects’ bid for a union, Architectural Workers United (AWU) was launched.

AWU is today affiliated with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) union. It is “a collaborative project with the goal of building on the tremendous inherent value the profession offers the industry, but is not recognized nor rewarded for.” The AWU has a full-time employee working on their behalf and coordinating several efforts.

I had the opportunity to sit down with AWU’s Andrew Daley and assistant professor at Rhode Island School of Design, Jess Meyers, to have an open conversation about the Architecture Labor Movement last year, including questions about misconceptions and benefits from unionization within the profession.

Late last year, efforts from AWU resulted in Bernheimer Architecture creating the Industry’s only Private-Sector Union, hoping “to prompt changes to industry-wide problems like long hours and low pay.”

Outside of the Union conversations, there’s been an uptick in the industry’s interest in mental health and burnout. In 2021 Monograph launched its State of Burnout in Architecture survey, stating that the Coronavirus pandemic didn’t cause burnout for architects but made it worse for 90% of its 225 respondents. In 2022, following their article “We Need a Safe Place to Address Our Mental Health,” the authors are working together to coordinate an effort similar to LAP, or the Lawyer’s Assistance Program, in an attempt to help those within the industry who struggle with anything from anxiety, burnout, depression, to substance abuse.

Redesigning Culture Going Forward

Steven Holl Architects‘ Nanjing Museum of Art and Architecture explores shifting viewpoints, an apt metaphor for the multi-perspectival type of rethinking the industry requires.

Firms are currently operating in an employee marketplace. 86% of respondents in the February 2023 AIA Architecture Billings Index (ABI) reported that recruiting architecture staff continues to be an issue at their firm, with 62% saying it is a significant issue.

This has led many individuals to discuss the need to fill the architecture pipeline, but ACSA’s most recent survey on Budget and Enrollment Survey Results shows a continuous growth in applications and corresponding faculty load. The greater question we need to ask is, are we truly experiencing a labor shortage, or do we find ourselves in a position where we are struggling to keep those who we already have in the pipeline?

The best way forward is to chart a new path and understand that organizational culture within a business is a strategic advantage to attracting and retaining talent. In Part III of the series on evolving culture, we look at the importance and history behind Petter Drucker’s famous saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” As well as some tactics that architecture firms can implement to have meaningful conversations with their employees on creating a culture that supports their individual needs and creates high-performing teams.

Browse the Architizer Jobs Board and apply for architecture and design positions at some of the world’s best firms. Click here to sign up for our Jobs Newsletter.

Reference

Architecture

Bend, Curl, Twist and Turn: 7 Steel Structures Establishing New Frontiers for Building Envelopes

By Zarkon Group,17/04/2023

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter.

Steel is a rather overlooked material when it comes to building facades. Most commonly used for structural purposes, its function is often limited to framing systems and building foundations. What happens when we bring steel to the forefront of a building’s design? Can these shifts tease out the material’s ‘hidden’ properties? These projects reveal different approaches to manipulating steel as an intricate façade element, revelling in its flexibility as a malleable cladding material. In these projects, steel takes the form of fins, perforated meshes, orthogonal steel patios and even metallic spider legs.

Barceloneta

By MiAS Arquitectes, Barcelona, Spain

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The Barceloneta Market project celebrates the local character and unique qualities of the Barceloneta neighborhood, currently one of the most popular destinations within Barcelona. Inspired by the work of Spanish artist César Manrique’s fantastic fish, MiAS Arquitects designed a series of steel beams that closely resembled fragments of fish bones. These were later attached on the existing market steel façade, creating a floating roof that playfully curls and uncurls over the market square.

The malleability of steel-constructed “fish bones” allowed MiAS Arquitects to capture the liveliness and enthusiasm of César Manrique’s art as well as the social ambiance of a coastal, local food market and expanding it towards the rest of the city.

The Spider’s Thread

By Hideo Horikawa Architect & Associates, Waco, Saitama

alt="The Spider's Thread-Hideo Horikawa Architect & Associates"

Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health

By Gehry Partners, Las Vegas, NV, United States

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When thinking of “dancing steel façades” a specific architect comes to mind: Frank Gehry. The Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health is a research facility in Las Vegas that aims at curing Alzheimer’s disease. Gehry’s intent was to design a building that served both as a statement to the facility’s ambition as well as a distinctive place for both researchers and patients to inhabit. A steel trellis skin wraps around two distinctive building blocks. In addition, by echoing the Las Vegas architectural typology, this flexible, freestanding structure creates a grand cathedral-like event space. This “dancing assembly” becomes a smart marketing gesture, whose aim is to bring the desirable attention to the foundation.

Augmented Structures

By Alper Derinboğaz, Salon, İstanbul, Turkey

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Argul Weave

By BINAA I Building INnovation Arts Architecture, Bursa, Turkey

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The Argul Weave building literally “threaded” its program on its façade. This new textiles hub is located in Bursa, home to Turkey’s historic textile industry. Meanwhile, inspired by the district’s manufacturing traditions, BINAA wrapped the building’s façade with interweaving, giant, white looms. Using digital fabrication tools, mathematical equations and detailed construction practices, a team of designers, architects and researchers developed a flexible steel structure that effectively generated “thread geometries” that enveloped the building. Through original steel fabrication practices the Argul Weave project materialised a symbolic façade that instigated the regeneration of Bursa’s industrial urban fabric.

P.E.M Vitré

By Tetrarc Architectes, Vitré, France

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Apart from shaping organic forms, steel can also be used to design intricate cladding patterns. P.E.M Vitré is a mixed-use planning and landscape project located in Vitré Station, France. It consists of an intricately designed footbridge and a much plainer underground car park. Still, Tetrarc Architectes designed the car park’s facade with a twist. Perforated steel cladding dresses its exterior elevation with an intricate pattern. Evidently, what could easily have been a blunt parking lot facade is now transformed into a playful pattern that interacts with the passing cars and pedestrians. The perforated pattern copies the footbridge’s linear form and creates a semitransparent visual threshold into the city.

Valby Machinery Halls – Assembly Hall

By C.F. Møller Architects, Copenhagen, Denmark

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This last project successfully uses steel both as a structural as well as a cladding material. Valby Machinery Hall is an old industrial, listed building that has transformed into Multi-Housing units and commercial spaces. Red-lead steel grating structure is the protagonist of the building’s façade. Consequently, C.F. Møller Architects followed this characteristic industrial motif through to the new building additions. The same rhythmic cadence clads the new residential halls, while serving as a structure for external balconies. This hybrid use of steel reveals the dual properties of the overlooked material and showcases new approaches to more sustainable and waste-less material practices.

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Reference

Architecture

20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru

By Zarkon Group,14/04/2023

Located on the western coast of South America, Peru is home to an incredible geography composed of vast mountainscapes, coastlines, rainforests and desert lands. From the Amazon rainforest to the Andes mountains, Peruvian civilizations have been shaped by the country’s unique geography, breeding an architectural language closely connected to nature. The incredible breadth of Peruvian architecture is hard to summarize in one sitting. From its pronounced archeology, diverse history, lively cities and rich landscapes, Peru is brimming with seemingly endless places to explore.

One can summarize the nation’s architecture through three lenses, which all remain visible today: pre-Columbian, colonial and contemporary. For example, the masterly craft of Inca stonemasons is seen in the numerous archeological sites across the country, like Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo. The Spanish colonial period is still reflected in the Baroque and Renaissance structures in cities like Lima. This well-preserved architectural landscape creates an interesting canvas for modern-day designers. Indeed, contemporary Peruvian design often fuses modern building ideologies with vernacular tradition, creating spatial expressions that are environmentally attuned and culturally significant.

With so many architecture firms to choose from, it’s challenging for clients to identify the industry leaders that will be an ideal fit for their project needs. Fortunately, Architizer is able to provide guidance on the top design firms in Peru based on more than a decade of data and industry knowledge.

How are these architecture firms ranked?

The number of A+Awards won (2013 to 2023)
The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2023)
The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2023)
The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2023)
The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2023)

Each of these metrics is explained in more detail at the foot of this article. This ranking list will be updated annually, taking into account new achievements of Peru architecture firms throughout the year.

Without further ado, here are the 20 best architecture firms in Peru:

20. ROMO Arquitectos

We are a design, architecture and construction studio. We take each order as unique. We work constantly reinventing our processes and adapting them in search of the best result. We do not believe in a standard for design and we seek to make it accessible to everyone. The firm was co-founded by Jose Luis Monteverde and Lorena Rotalde.

Some of ROMO Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped ROMO Arquitectos achieve 20th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	1

19. BENAVIDES & WATMOUGH arquitectos

Benavides + Watmough arquitectos was founded in Lima, Peru in 1993, as an office for research, design and architectural projects. Their work spans a wide range of scales and programs: from a small beach house, to a medium-scale multi-family building, to a new university campus. In their work there is a continuous exploration regarding the management of space and light, with the well-being of the occupants being a constant concern.

As far as possible, their projects seek to “create the city” by incorporating the urban space into its dynamics, while in the case of working in the landscape, respect for it and proper implementation on the ground is essential. The work of Benavides + Watmough has been published in various national and international magazines.

Some of BENAVIDES & WATMOUGH arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped BENAVIDES & WATMOUGH arquitectos achieve 19th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	2

18. DA-LAB ARQUITECTOS

Da Lab is a multidisciplinary team of architects, artists and designers with more than 10 years of experience in residential, commercial and office projects. It was founded in 2014 but the idea had already been born long before. Rodrigo Velasco and Javier Saavedra, partners and founders of the studio, both graduates of the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (UPC), met in 1997 at the Santa María Marianistas school and since then they dreamed of what Da Lab is today. In 2022, we expanded our horizons by opening a new office in Miami, USA.

Some of DA-LAB ARQUITECTOS’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped DA-LAB ARQUITECTOS achieve 18th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	2

17. Atelier Lima

ATELIER LIMA is made up of a team of professionals with the intention of contributing to the relevant aspects of the discipline, such as creativity, customer satisfaction, commitment to the environment, and knowledge generation through research and research. experimentation. Architecture is an experience in which people relate to their environment, their way of life, their thoughts and desires, for this reason we believe that the application of factors such as professional dedication, theory, technology and technology is necessary. economic strategy to innovate and create added value.

Some of Atelier Lima’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Atelier Lima achieve 17th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	4

16. Barclay and Crousse Architecture

Barclay & Crousse was founded in 1994 in Paris, France. Since 2006 the studio is based in Lima, maintaining their activity in France with Guilhem Roustan and Jean Marc Viste, partners of the new Parisian studio Atelier Nord-Sud.

Their work manage a wide range of programs, in France and Peru, and focuses both on the relationship to landscape and human wellbeing through pertinence in use, space and light. The aim of their buildings is to improve the natural and built environment with a rational and sustainable approach, in which the human being is a central issue.

Some of Barclay and Crousse Architecture’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Barclay and Crousse Architecture achieve 16th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	1
Total Projects	4

15. Cheng Franco Arquitectos

CFA is an architectural studio interested in the production of designs and studies in the fields of architecture and urbanism including interior and furniture design. Its team has 10 years of professional experience in the UK and has collaborated in projects around Europe, Asia, America and the Middle East.

Cheng Franco Architects was founded in 2012 in Lima, Peru by Jorge Cheng and Lorena Franco after having completed their 2 years postgraduate studies in Europe (Architectural Association / Berlage Institute) and after working during 8 years at renowned architectural practices in London such as Michael Aukett Architects and Foster + Partners.

Some of Cheng Franco Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Cheng Franco Arquitectos achieve 15th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	1

14. Reusche Reyna Atelier

We are an architecture studio specialized in housing, with more than 100 multi-family projects and 600,000 m2 of design. Our professional practice proposes creative and unique solutions to architectural problems, promoting both the commercial success of the project and its functionality, economy and aesthetics, respecting the city and its surroundings, to contribute to a better coexistence among society.

Some of Reusche Reyna Atelier’s most prominent projects include:

AVA 159 Building, Lima, Peru
General Iglesias Building, 505, Calle General Iglesias, Lima, Peru
Leonidas Avendaño Building, 181, Leonidas Avendano, Miraflores, Peru
Casimiro Ulloa Residential Building
Chamberí Building, Chamberi, Miraflores, Peru

The following statistics helped Reusche Reyna Atelier achieve 14th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

A+Awards Winner	1
Total Projects	15

13. LLOSA CORTEGANA ARQUITECTOS

Founded by architects Patricia Llosa and Rodolfo Cortegana since 2005, the studio investigates in relation to the individual/citizen as the central axis of architecture and how it relates to the environment from their circumstances. Placing architecture in a circumstantial state is to open possibilities for knowledge from uncertainty, a place where trial and error is used to think the discipline.

Each project is a possibility to build the reality of people from the subjectivity of human beings, territorial and climatic conditions, history, cultural manifestations and the discipline itself. The studio is a space for academic and professional reflection, closely related to the teaching of architecture.

Some of LLOSA CORTEGANA ARQUITECTOS’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped LLOSA CORTEGANA ARQUITECTOS achieve 13th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	2

12. Jaime Ortiz de Zevallos

Jaime Ortiz de Zevallos is an architect based in Lima, Peru. The office specializes in residential design.

Some of Jaime Ortiz de Zevallos’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Jaime Ortiz de Zevallos achieve 12th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	4

11. POGGIONE + BIONDI ARQUITECTOS

In 1999, René Poggione and Susel Biondi founded POGGIONE+BIONDI ARCHITECTS and since then they have been developing architectural, urban, landscape, commercial and institutional of various scales, both for public and private clients, highlighting the projects of housing, hotels, health and industry.

P+B is a personalized architecture workshop, which attends all its clients directly and very closely, offering them the work and the results they need. P+B designs aspire to beauty, ecological and economic efficiency, and environmental, social and cultural sustainability. POGGIONE+BIONDI wants its projects to be good for the people, good for the city, good for the planet.

Some of POGGIONE + BIONDI ARQUITECTOS’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped POGGIONE + BIONDI ARQUITECTOS achieve 11th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	2
Total Projects	4

10. Artadi Arquitectos

Architect Javier Artadi Is Professor of architectural design at the Faculty of Architecture at UPC (Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas), in Lima, Perú. His work is internationally recognized for its conceptual load, its abstract geometry and its strong relationship with the landscape of the desert coast of the Peru. He is regularly published in books and magazines of architecture across five continents and has presented his work at universities and architectural meets in North & South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

In 2012 Spanish Publishing house Loft Publications published his monograph on his work on the Peruvian coastal region which was presented at the Prague Festival of architecture. That same year he won the Grand Prix Casalgrande International in Milan, Italy, and the double gold medal in the Grand Prize VI Design Biennale South America. Javier represented Peru at the Venice Biennial of Architecture in 2012 and was later awarded the Orden del Sol from the Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú for his international recognition. Recently he was also awarded the great Padis de Cristal, created to honor contributions in outstanding design in Peru.

Some of Artadi Arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Artadi Arquitectos achieve 10th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	4

9. NIKOLAS BRICEÑO arquitecto

Founded by Nikolas Briceno, this Miraflores-based firm specializes in architecture and landscape architecture. The studio embraces exploration as part of the design process to create sustainable projects that react sensitively to nature.

Some of NIKOLAS BRICEÑO arquitecto’s most prominent projects include:

Surrounded House, Lima, Peru
Viewpoint House, Lima, Peru
Bora Bora House, Asia District, Peru
Cockfighting Arena Garden, Lima, Peru
Porticos, Lima, Peru

The following statistics helped NIKOLAS BRICEÑO arquitecto achieve 9th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	6

8. Nómena

Nómena is an architecture studio based in Lima, Peru since 2007. Our outlook is always guided by design, with a focus on housing and urban articulation, and with careful attention to all scales of the service that we provide are the main elements of the Nómena method. We build meaning from architecture. All our projects propose a dialogue with the city and with the people who inhabit it, responding analytically and sensitively to the commissions we receive.

We design spaces thinking about their current use, but that are also capable of adapting to the changes of contemporary life. We like to think that our buildings get better over time, always trying to contribute positively to their context and the environment. We want to build the fabric of cities, piece by piece, without giving up the idea of creating unique works. More than thirty national and international awards and over sixty built works are the best proof of our consistency over fifteen years of work.

Some of Nómena’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Nómena achieve 8th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

A+Awards Finalist	1
Featured Projects	3
Total Projects	4

7. Semillas

Semillas is a non-profit association with operations base in Lima, Pangoa (Junín region) and San Ignacio (Cajamarca region), founded in 2014 by Marta Maccaglia, after the experience of architecture and cooperation projects, since 2011. We are an interdisciplinary team of national and international professionals of architects, specialists in cooperation projects, builders and craftsmen. Young professionals join our team through internship programs.

Some of Semillas’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Semillas achieve 7th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	4

6. Juan Carlos Doblado

Doblado Arquitectos was founded in 1990 by Juan Carlos Doblado, an architect from Ricardo Palma University, with a Master’s degree from the National University of Engineering. Doblado Arquitectos’ work has been published in specialized publications in America, Europe and Asia.

Some of Juan Carlos Doblado ‘s most prominent projects include:

House in La Planicie, Alam.Jose Leon Barandiaran, La Molina, Lima, Peru
La Jolla Beach House I, Asia District, Peru
Vertical House, Lima, Peru
La Jolla Beach House II, Peru
La Isla Beach House, Asia District, Peru

The following statistics helped Juan Carlos Doblado achieve 6th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	4
Total Projects	9

5. Marina Vella Arquitecta

A pluridiciplinary architecture studio founded in Lima in 2011 by architect Marina Vella, after an academic process and professional experience in Peru and Switzerland. The studio understands the project as a question with infinite possible answers but only one particular answer that gives form and meaning, for which it develops a process of analysis of three factors: the characteristics of the place, the programmatic requirements and the genius loci of the place, what is not seen but perceived.

The link of these three factors is aligned with the studio’s fundamental design ideas (mantras): respecting and integrating the built elements into the context, minimizing the built area to maximize the exterior spaces, generating connections between users, passage and architecture, achieving a contemporary architecture that uses local techniques and resources, and creating a habitat in harmony with nature.

Some of Marina Vella Arquitecta’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Marina Vella Arquitecta achieve 5th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	5
Total Projects	5

4. Gonzalez Moix Arquitectura

Oscar Gonzalez Moix founded Gonzalez Moix Arquitectura in 1998 in Buenos Aires before moving his firm to Lima, Peru in 2022. The firm’s philosophy is creating habitable spaces through open minded thinking, adopting the realities of different perspectives and understanding people and their diverse cultures.

Some of Gonzalez Moix Arquitectura’s most prominent projects include:

La Planicie House II, Lima, Peru
Cachalotes House, Lima, Peru
Pescados Capitales Restaurant, Lima, Peru
Plaza Cultural Norte, La Molina, Peru
ZENTRO, Lima, Peru

The following statistics helped Gonzalez Moix Arquitectura achieve 4th place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	6
Total Projects	6

3. riofrio arquitectos

Founded by Peruvian architect Roberto Riofrio Navarro, riofrio arquitetos is a boutique practice based in Lima with a specialization in residential and furniture design.

Some of riofrio arquitectos’s most prominent projects include:

House Casa Paracas, Paracas, Peru
House Playa El Golf H4, Asia District, Peru
House Playa Las Palmeras, Panamericana Sur, Peru
Casa LB3 Piura, Piura, Peru
Bogavante House, Paracas, Peru

The following statistics helped riofrio arquitectos achieve 3rd place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	6
Total Projects	10

2. Longhi Architects

Founded in 1996, Longhi Architects is an interdisciplinary practice involved in rigorous design and research that yields innovative solutions. With founder Luis Longhi serving as principal and design director, the firm consists of a small group who remain committed to the practice of architecture as a collaborative enterprise. The firm specializes in the artistic side of the profession having design and executed world recognized theater stages and public installations.

Some of Longhi Architects’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Longhi Architects achieve 2nd place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	8
Total Projects	9

1. Martin Dulanto Arquitecto

Founded by Martin Dulanto Sangalli in 2012, Martin Dulanto Arquitecto is a Lima-based firm which specializes in residential architecture. The studio’s presence is recognized throughout Latin America.

Some of Martin Dulanto Arquitecto’s most prominent projects include:

Casa P12, Lima, Peru
Casa Seta, Asia District, Peru
Casa Blanca, Lima, Peru
Casa Maple, Lima, Peru
Casa Topo, Cieneguilla, Peru

The following statistics helped Martin Dulanto Arquitecto achieve 1st place in the 20 Best Architecture Firms in Peru:

Featured Projects	9
Total Projects	14

Top image: Casa Lava by Martin Dulanto Arquitecto, Lima, Peru

Why Should I Trust Architizer’s Ranking?

Architizer also powers firm directories for a number of AIA (American Institute of Architects) Chapters nationwide, including the official directory of architecture firms for AIA New York.

An example of a project page on Architizer with Project Award Badges highlighted

A Guide to Project Awards

Project completed within the last 3 years
A well written, concise project description of at least 3 paragraphs
Architectural design with a high level of both functional and aesthetic value
High quality, in focus photographs
At least 8 photographs of both the interior and exterior of the building
Inclusion of architectural drawings and renderings
Inclusion of construction photographs

Reference