ARCHITECT, the official publication of the American Institute of Architects, has ranked ZGF Architects as the No. 1 firm in the United States for 2016. The publication evaluated the firm’s design innovation, business acumen, and leading-edge sustainability against other competitors in naming ZGF the top firm on its Architect 50 ranking.

“We are deeply honored to be recognized as the top ranked firm in 2016,” said Ted Hyman, managing partner at ZGF Architects LLP. “We work alongside our clients on design solutions that preserve resources, protect health, heighten productivity, and improve quality of life. We dedicate this achievement to tackling new challenges, pursuing unimagined solutions, and to designing places and spaces that make a difference.”

ZGF also ranked as the No. 1 firm for Sustainability in the Architect 50 survey. ARCHITECT commended the firm’s long-standing commitment to environmentally responsible design, and in doing so, the publication cited the Rocky Mountain Institute’s new Innovation Center as an outstanding project example. The LEED-Platinum Certified, net-zero energy building is proving to be the most energy-efficient building in one of the coldest climate zones in the country.

According to ARCHITECT, “The architecture is what counts, and ZGF has a knack for designing super-efficient buildings that don’t skimp on aesthetics. Its design for a future expansion of Nike’s world headquarters in Oregon is as kinetic as a runner in motion, while a new cancer center at the University of Arizona [in Phoenix, Arizona] echoes its desert surroundings with walls clad in coppery metal sunscreens. Then there’s a level of innovation so pioneering that rating systems don’t recognize it yet. In Basalt, Colorado, the architects were tasked with designing a new office for one of the nation’s preeminent environmental nonprofits, the Rocky Mountain Institute. Working with a client as committed to energy efficiency as they are, the architects designed a building that has no central heating (in the Rockies!) and that is expected to be net-energy-positive.”

About ZGF Architects
ZGF (www.zgf.com) is nationally recognized for architecture, urban design, and interior design, with offices in Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., and Vancouver, BC. The firm has received more than 850 design awards, including the Architecture Firm Award, the highest accolade bestowed upon a firm by the American Institute of Architects. ZGF’s broad-based design practice serves such clients as Microsoft, Google, Conrad Hilton Foundation, University of California, Princeton University, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, U.S. General Services Administration, and Wexford Science & Technology.

SOURCE ZGF Architects

See Category B recipients of the AIA National Healthcare Design Awards