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The Best Office Architects in Baltimore

16 Min Read

Some of the first National Register Historic Districts were established in Baltimore. Numerous tourist spots and remarkable exhibits of architecture from each of the previous two centuries line the streets of its nine geographic regions, earning it the nickname “city of neighborhoods.”

Baltimore is experiencing a reawakening as young professionals move in: they are transforming the city into a “new tech hot spot” according to Forbes. It’s a far cry from the city of communities’ harbor manufacturing origins, but that doesn’t mean its companies can’t adapt to the changing times. We’ve highlighted the architectural companies changing their designs to meet the trend of open office spaces: they have the clientele, the awards, and the affiliations to back it up.


BCT Design Group

100 N Charles Street, 18th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21201

BCT Design Group, previously BCT Architects, is a creative, multi-disciplined design studio specializing in all aspects of master planning, architecture, interior design, and environmental graphics. While the breadth of its practice is constantly expanding, the firm continues to be recognized as an international leader in creating pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use projects for the retail, residential, hospitality, senior living, and corporate office sectors.

BCT develops spaces for people and creates designs that connect with and enhance their surrounding community, and it has been doing so since 1969. Bryce Turner—the president and senior principal of BCT—is a certified architect in 20 states and has supervised design projects in Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia. Before BCT acquired DDG in 201, Mr. Turner was Vice President of Development Design Group (DDG).


Ziger|Snead Architects

1006 Morton Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

Ziger|Snead Architects is a Baltimore architecture firm with a national reputation for quality in design. Ziger|Snead is a Baltimore-based design-focused architecture practice founded in 1984. The staff believes that great design can improve quality of life, and that approach has resulted in transformative projects for numerous non-profits and institutions in Baltimore and beyond. The firm’s streamlined design approach focuses on connections and active community participation.

Ziger|Snead provides a range of architectural services, everything from concept design to construction administration. The firm’s projects maximize value relative to initial investment and long-term environmental, economic, and social costs during the life of a building by using an integrated team approach to design, engineering, and construction.

Ziger|Snead is affiliated with the American Institute of Architects and the U.S. Green Building Council. It operates under the supervision of Steve Ziger and James A. Snead. Its team members are also Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and LEED-accredited professionals.


Ayers Saint Gross

1040 Hull Street, Suite #100, Baltimore, MD 21230

Ayers Saint Gross is a global, employee-owned design firm specializing in architecture, planning, landscape architecture, graphic design, interior design, and space analytics. Since its inception in 1912, the firm has earned a reputation for creating lasting value. The firm often works with colleges, universities, and other cultural institutions.

The company’s design is influenced by critical and analytical dialogue, a reverence for past wisdom, an eye toward future possibility, and a notion that it has an obligation it to leave places better than it found them. Through its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), Ayers Saint Gross became an employee-owned firm, offering a continuous transfer of ownership to existing employees. Luanne Greene, the first woman president of Ayers Saint Gross, has facilitated that transition.

The firm’s work has appeared in well-known publications, including Architect’s Newspaper, Thoroughbred Daily News, WBALTV, Baltimore Business Journal, and ArchDaily.


Design Collective

601 East Pratt Street, Suite #300, Baltimore, MD 21202

Design Collective is a seasoned Baltimore architecture, planning, interior design, landscape architecture, and graphics firm with over 80 employees and 42 years of experience. The firm has extensive experience in the education, research, residential, retail, municipal, and commercial areas.

This firm is currently led by president and CEO Fred Marino, who, like the rest of the firm’s leadership, is a member of the AIA. The seasoned experts who back Mr. Marino hold affiliations with the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). Under Armour, Wells Fargo, Inc., the University of Maryland Baltimore, and the Cordish Companies are the clients represented in the firm’s portfolio. This multi-disciplinary, award-winning firm, also provides scholarships to a diverse array of students looking to work in the industry.


SM+P Architects

1100 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

SM+P Architects has worked with restaurants, schools, and laboratories over the last 35 years. SM+P offers a built product that is truly customized for each project.

As a result, Walter Schamu & Associates has established a tradition of unique, acclaimed design in Baltimore’s Federal Hill. The firm opened in 1982 with an emphasis on domestic projects. The firm evolved in the 1990s—under the direction of Victor Greco, AIA—and established a satellite office in Wheeling, West Virginia. Some of their most significant work was picked up by the renamed Schamu Machowski Greco (SMG) Architects in the 2000s. SMG announced the renaming and rebranding of the company on February 26, 2014, 32 years after Walter Schamu & Associates opened its doors.

Today, SM+P continues in the spirit of its previous incarnations as a firm of quality, looking forward to a future filled with new, interesting clients and projects. The practice is responsible for some of Baltimore’s most prominent buildings, which include historic preservations, cutting-edge laboratories, private houses, and five-star restaurants.


Ammon Heisler Sachs architects

300 West Pratt Street, Suite #275, Baltimore, MD 21201

Architects Ammon Heisler Sachs (AHSa) provides architectural excellence. Its expert designers use creative solutions, programming, planning, and design charrettes to improve the usefulness and aesthetics of its products. AHSa’s strategy encourages high-quality design documentation and prioritizes client satisfaction throughout the design and construction processes.

David Ammon, Joseph Heisler, and Harold Sachs launched the company in 2007. AHSa purchased John A. Ammon + Associates, Inc. in January 2008. John Ammon, formerly of Kann & Ammon, Inc., had 25 years of expertise when he founded John A. Ammon + Associates, Inc. in 1991. The team’s design experience includes millions of square feet of built space and numerous feasibility studies. With projects in the research, technology, senior living, healthcare, and justice sectors, AHsa’s diverse experience allows the staff to create responsive design solutions for its clients.


CallisonRTKL

200 E Pratt Street, Suite #4100, Baltimore, MD 21202

CallisonRTKL was founded more than seven decades ago. The firm has since grown into a global architecture, planning, and design firm known for its human-centered approach to design. As a cultural agency aiming to promote positive outcomes in local and international communities, it has formed a team of highly experienced architects, including Laura Indihar (AIA(, Helen Jeffery (AIA, LEED AP, CCCA, CCS, CSI) Bill McCarthy (AIA, ARCHITECT AIBC, NCARB, CCCA, CLSSGB, LEED AP) and Peter Murr (AIA, CDT, CSI). They are all impressive designers who have executed several notable projects.

Over the last seven decades, CallisonRTKL has built some of the world’s most distinctive and successful settings for developers, retailers, investors, institutions, and public agencies. Its global team of approximately 1,700 specialists is dedicated to boosting clients’ businesses and improving people’s quality of life. Several awards have been bestowed upon the firm’s work, including AIA National Design Awards, AIA Baltimore Design Awards, and AIA Maryland Design Awards.


Beatty Harvey Coco Architects

1300 Thames Street, Baltimore, MD 21231

For 140 years, Beatty Harvey Coco Architects, LLP has provided solutions in planning and architecture for mixed-use, multi-family, hotel, and public works projects.

The firm was established in 1880, and its first project was to construct churches and cathedrals for the Archdiocese of Brooklyn. In the 1950s, the firm expanded its portfolio with various public and private educational projects, including the full Rockville Center campus of Molloy College. The firm further expanded in the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on adaptive reuse, commercial clients, and other public works projects.

Thanks to their extensive experience, Beatty Harvey Coco Architects has worked all around New York and beyond. Today, the multi-disciplined, 30-person firm continues to deliver highly personalized service to its distinguished roster of clients from the Mid-Atlantic to the North East, led by Todd Harvey and Salvatore Coco.


Arium AE

5537 Twin Knolls Road, Suite #435, Columbia, MD 21045

Arium AE was established in 1988 and has since built a devoted clientele of public and private sector brands. Its portfolio now includes completed commercial, residential, government, education, and healthcare projects. Aside from architecture, Arium specializes in various areas, including interior design, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering, planning, and green design. With a reputation for being a growing and financially stable practice, repeat clients commission 80 percent of its work.

Green Globes—a green rating assessment and certification program comparable to LEED—has also recognized Arium AE. The firm is run by a team of principals who are members of well-known industry organizations such as the AIA, NCARB, and LEED. Scott Walthour, a LEED accredited professional certified in Building Design and Construction, Brian Fels, a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), and Stephanie Bounds Nunn, an AIA, NCARB, and LEED associate, are among its principals. They all come from different countries; their talents brought them together at Arium.


JP2 Architects

2811 Dillon Street, Baltimore, MD 21224

JP2 Architects, established in 2006, is dedicated to the design of projects with a sense of place. The firm applies the principle of developing projects acceptable for their user and community to large and small initiatives. These urban design initiatives reflect the local context and community and impact the people for whom they are designed. JP2 believes that the structures it constructs today will affect the foundation of its community for decades to come due to the building’s character, environmental sensitivity, and adaptability.

JP2 is committed to sustainable design as its office is well-versed in sustainable approaches, with most of the staff being LEED-accredited. JP2’s partners James Pett, Gordon Godat, and John Hutch have over 20 years of experience working together in designing and delivering buildings and projects. Their works include corporate interiors, office complexes, institutional buildings, multi-family residential, commercial retail developments, and master planning.


GriD architects

2200 Somerville Road, Suite #201, Annapolis, MD 21401

GriD Architects is an award-winning architecture company specializing in architecture linked to place and intended for people. Its projects range from antique house renovations to modern luxury office building design. While the firm’s work includes a range of aesthetics, its buildings consistently represent their environment and enriched the lives of the people who occupy them.

GRiD Architects, based in Annapolis, Maryland, has a national presence through various mixed-use, commercial, institutional, and residential buildings. Its approach to each project is built on a comprehensive search for the discovered potential in all areas of the project’s setting. It takes the context into account, regardless of project size.

The firm’s works have received several distinctions from various award-giving bodies. This includes the 2020 Merit Award from AIA Chesapeake Bay and the 2019 Jury Citation from AIA Maryland.


McInturff Architects

4220 Leeward Place, Bethesda, MD 20816

McInturff Architects, based in Bethesda, Maryland, was founded in 1986. The firm remains dedicated to creating modern, finely crafted residential, commercial, and modest institutional projects. Its complete architectural and interior design services incorporate significant customer contact, adapting the projects to the individual needs of the users.

Since the firm’s inception over three decades ago, the firm has received more than 320 design awards, including three AIA Institute Honor Awards, two for Interior Architecture, and one for Urban Design. The projects have been frequently published, locally, nationally, and internationally. The firm’s work has been the subject of three monographs, In Detail: McInturff Architects (2001), In Residence: McInturff Architects (2007), and In House: McInturff Architects (2013), all from the Images Publishing Group of Australia.


FILLAT+ Architecture

400 East Pratt Street, Suite #502, Baltimore, MD 21202

FILLAT + Architecture, a design firm that handles services and projects for all clients, has adopted an encompassing mindset. It uses its love for uniqueness to ensure that all completed projects are distinctive to its clients. The firm has over a century of combined experience and is directed by a skilled team.

Peter Fillat III, (AIA, and LEED AP) is at the firm’s helm. He has decades of experience in the architectural sector. He founded the firm in 1992 and has since developed his craft, expertise, and leadership to guide his firm to its current reputation. Since then, the practice has evolved into an architecture firm that provides a wide range of services while adhering to sustainable principles.


Colimore Architects

1501 S Clinton Street, Floor 13, Baltimore, MD 21224

Colimore Architects, an ATI Company, has maintained its ability to serve clients with architectural and engineering services they can rely on by keeping on schedule, investing in openness, and fostering client growth. Colimore remains dedicated to improving communities and the environment via innovative design since its inception in 1973. The firm is dedicated to providing high-quality design while maintaining excellent client and consultant relationships. Its clients include healthcare research experts, K-12 education leaders, higher education leaders, various government agencies, and community leaders who use its designs to mobilize their work.

Colimore Architects, as a diverse practice, aspires to create designs that embrace diversity, creativity, and innovation by promoting an open exchange of ideas. Under the direction of Principal James A. Colimore, JR. and President Kishan Amarasekera, PE, it is delighted to give clients a wide range of thoughtful and thorough professional design and consultation services tailored to each client’s specific needs.


Ratcliffe Architects

10404 Stevenson Road, Stevenson, MD 21153

Ratcliffe Architects was founded to focus on client personalization, particularly when it comes to private commercial development and custom high-end residential projects. Since its inception in 2000, the flourishing firm has expanded primarily through word of mouth and referral business; it now employs 11 architectural experts, drafting services, and administrative personnel.

Fifty years of collective experience in both design and technical parts of building are the foundation for existing and newer research. Ratcliffe Architects can collaborate with the design team as an active facilitator in creating successful and acceptable schemes. Some of its exceptional work can be seen on the pages of Towson Lifestyle Magazine, citybizlist, Baltimore Sun, Convenience Store News, American Builders Quarterly, and Baltimore Style.