Five Maine architecture firms made Forbes top 200 Residential Architects in the US list.

Congratulations to Elliott Architects, Kaplan Thompson Architects, OPAL Architecture, Whitten Architects, and Woodhull for being named to Forbes’ inaugural America's Top 200 Residential Architects List. The list calls attention to those single-family-house designers whose work, region to region and state to state, stands apart for its elevated degree of overall excellence.

With the goal of creating a new platform to connect clients with talented architecture firms across the country, Forbes worked with a regionally diverse advisory board made up of experts on the American house and a rigorous evaluation system to develop this list.

Every American Institute of Architects–member firm with a web presence was assessed for the degree to which the single-family house is a part of their total repertoire. As offices advanced in the process, they were invited to submit up to three houses, each completed in 2019 or later, that the office believed to be “exemplary” for how the work addresses the particulars of place. Each submission was then measured following Forbes Architecture's three-tiered system.

• Tier 1: General Professional Evaluation

• Tier 2: Evaluation of a single “Exemplary House

• Tier 3: Evaluation Relative to Forbes Architecture’s Residential Guiding Principles & Best Practices, the seven categories of which are as follows:

  • Siting and Local Context

  • Architectural Form and Detailing

  • Building Materials and Craft

  • Spatial Configuration

  • HVAC and Tech

  • Physical and Psychological Effects

  • Environmental | Appropriateness to Region and Local Climate Zone

Read the full article here.