8 Noteworthy Architecture Firms

Architecture is more than just an art form; it shapes the way we experience and interact with the world around us. Many different firms offer visions of our homes, offices, and public spaces that can make our lives more elegant and serene. This list, in no particular order, shares several architecture design companies making a splash today.

The #1 entry is Merrick Architecture, which has offices in Vancouver and Victoria, Canada. The company received the RAIC Award for Outstanding Architectural Firm. It designs individual residential homes in addition to a varied range of large-scale public and private projects, and also offers a complete range of interior design services.

The company received the RAIC Award for Outstanding Architectural Firm.

Merrick sponsors an annual academic scholarship to the University of British Columbia's School of Architecture. Projects the company has worked on include: the Bill Reid Gallery, the Pennsylvania Hotel, and the Vancouver Island Cancer Center.

At #2, we have Marvel Architects, a design practice with offices in New York and San Juan. It has worked on a variety of projects, including St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, the New Jersey Institute of Technology's Central King Building, and Bronx Point. The company offers a full range of services such as building and landscape architecture and interior and urban design.

The firm has been recognized by over 125 industry design awards including the American Institute of Architects' highest honors. The founding partners are Jonathan Marvel, Lissa So, and Guido Hartray. The company's work has been featured across various websites and magazines, including New York YIMBY, the Bronx Times, and Curbed.

For the #3 entry, we present BAR Architects, a firm with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. It specializes in the design of arts and entertainment venues, wineries, educational facilities, and housing of all types. The company plans renovations of historic structures, such as the Old Sugar Mill, a 1930s-era complex of masonry buildings located in Clarksburg, built initially to process Central Valley beets.

BAR Architects has worked on the interior design for multiple hotels, such as the Ojai Valley Inn and the Four Seasons Chiang Mai. The firm's projects have been featured in a variety of print and online news media, and have been recognized with over 180 design honors, including an AIA California Council Firm of the Year award.

Coming in at #4, we have FOX Architects, a design firm based in Washington, D.C. Notable projects include the headquarters of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the offices of FLIR Systems, and Alexander Court, which involved a four-story vertical expansion, a new facade, public spaces for tenants, upgraded vertical transportation and MEP building systems, new storefronts, and interior finishes.

The Principals at the firm are Jim Allegro, Bob Fox, JP Spickler, Derek Wood, and Andy Yeh. The company has been featured in many media outlets, such as Archello and the Future Offices podcast. Every year, FOX competes alongside other architecture and interior design firms in the IIDA Mid-Atlantic Chapter's Washington Metro City Center Cosmo Couture event.

Up next, at #5, we present Torafu, a design company in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 2004 by Koichi Suzuno and Shinya Kamuro. In 2019, the firm was awarded the Good Design Award for Playring, a structure meant for public spaces that children are able to climb onto.

In 2019, the firm was awarded the Good Design Award for Playring, a structure meant for public spaces that children are able to climb onto.

Torafu is responsible for the playful design of Now on Cheese, a shop that sells sweets made from dairy products. It also worked on the Snoopy Museum, the only official satellite branch of the Charles M. Schulz Museum in California. The three-floor building facing Tsuruma Park is double the size of the original institution and is meant to be a unique space where visitors can immerse themselves in the world of Peanuts characters while gaining a deeper understanding of the author and his comics.

The #6 entry is Luigi Rosselli Architects, a firm based in Sydney, Australia. While best known for designing residential buildings, the studio has worked on a wide range of projects such as offices, factories, libraries, wineries, childcare centers, and chapels. The company is carbon neutral and works to apply sustainable building practices whenever possible.

Founder Luigi Rosselli is from Italy; his early works of design include a gate for Malcolm Turnbull and an office for restaurant critic Leo Schofield. The firm designed the multi-residential building, the Benelong Crescent apartments. The architecture was inspired by the forms of Erich Mendelsohn's Einstein Tower in Potsdam, completed in the 1920s.

For #7, we have Rafael Vinoly Architects, founded in 1983. It is based in New York City but has offices in London, Manchester, Abu Dhabi, Buenos Aires, Chicago, and Palo Alto and projects that span six continents. The firm has a diverse portfolio, having designed courthouses, museums, performing arts centers, stadiums, banks, hotels, hospitals, laboratories, recreational venues, residential complexes, and commercial, industrial, and educational facilities.

Notable projects include the Battersea Power Station, the Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo, Uruguay, and the Manchester City Football Club campus in the United Kingdom. The firm has also worked on New York University's satellite campus in Abu Dhabi. Rafael Vinoly Architects has been featured in New York Yimby, the Chicago Tribune, and elsewhere.

Last but not least, we come to #8, Handel Architects. With over 200 designers in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Hong Kong, its work encompasses projects like the National September 11 Memorial, high-density mixed-use developments, hotels, corporate headquarters, and nonprofits. The firm is a believer in sustainable architectural practices, bringing eco-conscious standards to its construction of the Passive House buildings in the U.S., an office building in Chile, and the first LEED Gold condominium structure in New York City.

Gary Handel is the firm's founder and managing partner; his designs have been recognized by the American Institute of Architects, the Urban Land Institute, the Chicago Athenaeum, and others. The company's adaptive reuse and rehabilitation projects try to breathe new life into outdated buildings, such as Filene's Department Store in Boston.