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AIA Pennsylvania Member Firms Featured on Architizer’s 100 Best Architecture and Design Firms in the United States List

July 7, 2025
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The following ranking has been created by Architizer 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 2025)
  • The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2025)
  • The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2025)
  • The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2025)
  • The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2025)

#3 Gensler

At Gensler, the value of our work stems from its positive impact on the human experience. We are a dynamic and collaborative design firm uniting creativity, research, and innovation to solve complex problems for our clients. Our work challenges conventional ideas about architecture and the built environment. We aren’t just designing buildings — we are reimagining cities and places that make a difference in people’s lives. Founded in 1965, Gensler has built a team of 6,000 professionals who partner with clients in over 100 countries each year. Everything we do is guided by our mission: to create a better world through the power of design.

Some of Gensler’s most prominent projects include:

Gensler has also been named Design Practice of the Year (50+ Employees) at the 2025 Mix Interiors Awards! This recognition celebrates the creativity, collaboration, and design excellence our teams bring to projects across the UK, Europe, and beyond.

#6 Perkins&Will

Perkins&Will, an interdisciplinary, research-based architecture and design firm, was founded in 1935 on the belief that design has the power to transform lives. Guided by its core values — design excellence, diversity and inclusion, living design, research, resilience, social purpose, sustainability and well-being — the firm is committed to designing a better, more beautiful world. Metropolis named Perkins&Will “Firm of the Year” in 2022 for its industry leadership in advancing climate action and social justice. Fast Company named Perkins&Will one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in Architecture three times, and in 2021, it added the firm to its list of Brands That Matter — making Perkins&Will the only architecture practice in the world to earn the distinction.

With an international team of more than 2,000 professionals, the firm has over 20 studios worldwide, providing integrated services in architecture, interior design, branded environments, urban design, and landscape architecture.

Some of Perkins&Will’s most prominent projects include:

Perkins&Will was also recently honored by The American Institute of Architects with the Interior Architecture, Education Facility Design, Healthcare Design, and Architecture Awards.

#8 HDR

Employee-owned with a legacy of excellence that spans more than a century, HDR is a global design firm with an integrated, multidisciplinary architecture practice. Specializing in health, science, education and civic design, HDR conceptualizes, plans and creates spaces, buildings and places that address societal challenges, strengthen communities and elevate the human spirit.

With more than 13,000 employees in over 200 locations around the world, HDR’s expertise expands beyond architecture and engineering specialties; teams include scientists, economists, builders, analysts and artists that broaden perspectives, push boundaries and enhance collaboration. While HDR is most well-known for adding beauty and structure to communities through high-performance buildings and smart infrastructure, it also creates a foundation for progress because ideas that inspire positive change add meaning and value to the world.

Some of HDR’s most prominent projects include:

#9 ZGF Architects

Attention to craft and beauty is elemental to the ZGF culture. A deep respect for the built environment evolved from reverence for the surrounding natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest landscape and a commitment to stewardship of the natural environment. Rather than reflecting a signature style, our work is derived from the particulars of the climate, context and the human experience. The instinct to build community, making places where people come together for a common purpose, is central to our work.

Some of ZGF Architects’ most prominent projects include:

#11 Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson – Henry Island Guesthouse

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson is noted for elegant and humane design, ranging from modest houses to large academic, civic, cultural, commercial and corporate buildings. Our principals and staff are deeply committed to active collaboration with our clients, emphasizing thorough research and analysis of each situation’s particular human, technical, and economic circumstances. The result is exceptional architecture that resonates within its place.

Since 1965, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson has received more than 675 regional, national, and international design awards, including three AIA Committee on the Environment Top Ten Green Project awards, nine AIA National Honor awards, and the AIA Architecture Firm Award — the most prestigious honor bestowed upon an architectural practice.

Some of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson’s most prominent projects include:

#13 HOK

HOK is a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm with 26 offices. HOK designs buildings and spaces that respond to the needs of people and the environment. HOK designers are rooted in technical excellence, driven by imagination and focused on a solitary goal: to deliver solutions that inspire clients and communities.

Some of HOK’s most prominent projects include:

Recently, three fully HOK-designed airports topped The Washington Post’s list of the 50 Best Airports in America: Salt Lake City International Airport (#9), Indianapolis International Airport (#8) and Long Beach Airport (#2).

#14 Feldman Architecture

Feldman Architecture is an architecture and interiors studio that’s highly responsive to both people and place. We work to honor the spirit of each site and champion regenerative practices for a better future.

Some of Feldman Architecture’s most prominent projects include:

Feldman Architecture was also included in this year’s The Architect’s Newspaper Best of Practice Awards, receiving an Honorable Mention for Architect (Medium Firm) – West!

#16 Cannon Design

CannonDesign is an integrated design solutions firm focused on helping people continuously flourish. Whether designing for innovations in health, new scientific discoveries, equity in education or the next big idea in business, we use our Living-Centered Design approach to improve human life and catalyze widespread, systemic change. Our ability to help organizations solve challenges and seize opportunities is why Fast Company named us a World Changing Company and one of the most innovative design firms in the world.

Some of CannonDesign’s most prominent projects include:

#34 KieranTimberlake

KieranTimberlake – Sidwell Friends School, Quaker Meeting House

Founded in 1984, KieranTimberlake unites the expertise and talents of 90 professionals from diverse backgrounds in a practice that is recognized globally. In 2025, after 40 years as a founder and partner-led firm, we transitioned to a 100% employee-owned corporation.

Our projects include the programming, planning, and design of new structures as well as the conservation, renovation, and transformation of existing buildings, with special expertise in education, arts and culture, government, civic, and residential projects. We envision a beautiful, resonant, and regenerative built environment. We rely on collective intelligence and nonhierarchical production structures for gains in economy, efficiency, and quality. Environmentally responsible design has been at the core of our practice since our founding.

Some of KieranTimberlake’s most prominent projects include:

#42 Pelli Clarke & Partners

From the World Financial Center in New York to the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong, Pelli Clarke & Partners has had the great fortune to design many prestigious projects. Our portfolio includes retail and mixed-​use projects, academic buildings, libraries, museums, research centers, residences and master plans, and we have served private clients, businesses, institutions and government agencies. Our work has received critical acclaim and hundreds of design awards, including the American Institute of Architects’ Firm Award, the highest honor for an architectural practice. In 1995, the American Institute of Architects awarded Cesar Pelli the Gold Medal, its highest honor for an individual.

Some of Pelli Clarke & Partners’ most prominent projects include:

Pelli Clarke also recently announced that Trinity Commons is a 2025 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence Winner.

#43 HKS, Inc.

HKS, Inc. is a team of more than 1,400 architects, interior designers, urban designers, scientists, artists, anthropologists and other professionals working together across industries and across the globe to create places that delight, heal and stimulate peak performance.

The firm has nurtured a culture of extraordinary people with curious and creative minds who are passionate about delivering elegant solutions. HKS has a dedicated research team that digs deep to discover processes and ideas that improve outcomes for everyone. In everything HKS does, it is mindful of the fragility of all life and of the planet.

Some of HKS, Inc.’s most prominent projects include:

HKS’ Washington, D.C. team also recently took home the top prize in Washington Architectural Foundation’s ShadeDC 2025, a design competition aimed at reducing the sun’s impact on pedestrians traversing the District’s Duke Ellington Memorial Bridge.

#68 Aidlin Darling Design

With a shared interest in exploring design across a wide range of scales, programs, and disciplines, partners Joshua Aidlin and David Darling started Aidlin Darling Design around a woodshop in 1998. With an emphasis on designing for all of the senses, they have cultivated a diverse and collaborative studio that acts as the creative hub for an extended network of builders, fabricators, artists, engineers, chefs and other collaborators. The firm’s work explores a closely held conviction that design can enlighten the human spirit by engaging all of the senses.

Some of Aidlin Darling Design’s most prominent projects include:

#71 COOKFOX

COOKFOX is an architectural studio dedicated to a vision of integrated, environmentally responsive design. We believe good design is sustainable and we are committed to being wise stewards of our shared natural and cultural resources. Guided by our passion for excellence, belief in the collaborative process and persistent curiosity, COOKFOX pursues projects that allow us to fundamentally re-think how people interact with buildings and the natural environment.

Starting with intensive research, we seek to understand each unique project in its environmental, cultural, and historical context. The work we do engages with layers of time and promotes a strong sense of place. Inspired by the legacy of artistry in architecture, we use technology and traditional techniques to bring the distinctive qualities of well-crafted materials and details into every project.

Some of COOKFOX Architects’ most prominent projects include:

#87 SmithGroup

SmithGroup is one of the world’s preeminent integrated design firms. Working across a network of 21 offices in the U.S. and China, a team of 1,500 experts is committed to excellence in strategy, design and execution. The scale of the firm’s thinking and organization produces partnerships with forward-looking clients that maximize opportunities, minimize risk and solve their most complex problems. SmithGroup creates exceptional design solutions for healthcare, science and technology organizations, higher education and cultural institutions, urban environments, diverse workplaces, mixed-use and waterfront developments, and parks and open spaces.

Some of SmithGroup’s most prominent projects include:

Congratulations to our member firms and designers for being recognized by Architizer for your pioneering spirit and creating a synergy between art, science and technology.

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Written by Susan Frear