Photos represent work previously published in Forbes, and do not indicate inclusion in the 2026 Top Architects lists.
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hen Forbes launched an architecture division in 2023, it set an ambitious goal: to identify the top residential architects practicing in America today. After considering more than 18,000 candidates, and inviting more than 750 of those to submit projects for further evaluation, Forbes published its 2025 list of America’s Top 200 Residential Architects, and followed that with America’s Best-in-State Residential Architects, which expanded the initial list with firms from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
To accommodate flood elevation requirements, Seibert Architects designed this Sarasota, Florida, house with living spaces perched atop ground-floor storage areas. The upper floor is oriented around a rear courtyard, encouraging outdoor living while preserving privacy from nearby neighbors.
Ryan Gamma
For the 2026 iteration of those lists, Forbes invited firms that were previously recognized to submit a single “exemplary” house completed since 2021, and augmented those candidates with several dozen new firms. (As with all Forbes lists, there was no fee to participate.) Every practice—even those already honored—was assessed by a team of Forbes editors, as well as an advisory board composed of leading authorities in the field (see profiles below).
The Austin-based firm A Parallel Architecture designed this house on a hillside lot blessed with venerable live oaks and stellar views, which are revealed through expanses of floor-to-ceiling glass. A gas fireplace divides the dining and living areas, and is vented through a blackened-steel chimney edged in glass.
Joe Fletcher
Both groups scrutinized and scored each firm’s submitted project and overall body of work, as well as its success adhering to the principles and practices outlined in the Forbes Architecture System Of Evaluation, which addresses professional presentation, quality of work, environmental and cultural responsiveness, and adherence to sustainability.
The 2026 lists will be published in late September, offering readers the resources and inspiration to help inform their construction or remodeling decisions—or to simply explore a breathtaking array of homes.
Climate change is having a major impact on residential architecture today. LEFT: This New Orleans house designed by Eloueini Architecture defies the confines of a narrow lot and flood-prone setting by elevating the house 10 feet off the ground, providing parking and outdoor living space underneath, alongside a swimming pool and the garden-topped guesthouse visible in the foreground. RIGHT: In an area of Los Angeles that’s susceptible to wildfires, Bestor Architecture designed a family home with an undulating roof that echoes the local topography and is sheathed in a fire-resistant thermoplastic sheeting.
From Left: Paul Costello; Bruce Damonte
Haver & Skolnick Architects was commissioned to restore a 1770 saltbox colonial in Northwest Connecticut and integrate it with a substantial addition, so that the house looked as if it had evolved naturally over time.
Robert Benson
Forbes Architecture System Of Evaluation
1. GENERAL PROFESSIONAL EVALUATION
a. Firm’s body of work
b. Integrity of online presence (quality of photography, professionalism of display, informational value, awards, publication history, etc.)
2. EVALUATION OF ONE “EXEMPLARY HOUSE”
a. Stability
b. Utility
c. Beauty
3. RESIDENTIAL GUIDING PRINCIPLES & BEST PRACTICES
1. Siting and Local Context
a. Respects natural landscape, incorporates existing landforms
b. Considers solar orientation
c. Adapted to sea level rise and flood risk
2. Architectural Form and Detailing
a. Honors cultural and environmental context
b. Structural principles elegantly and honestly expressed
3. Building Materials and Craft
a. Material selection and application guided by climate
b. Expression of architectural detailing with thematic consistency
c. Use of locally sourced or repurposed materials
d. Employment of local artisans
4. Spatial Configuration
a. Entry is prioritized, experiential
b. Good circulation, ideally incorporating moments of compression and expansion
c. Enhanced indoor/outdoor relationship
d. Flexible to accommodate changing needs
5. HVAC and Tech
a. Integrates passive solar and natural ventilation
b. Electric-dominant
c. Use of architectural shading devices
d. Inclusion of smart home systems
6. Physical and Psychological Effects
a. Incorporates sound reduction strategies
b. Immersive, transformative, soothing environments
c. Harnesses natural light
7. Environmental Considerations
a. Green infrastructure
b. Raises bar of environmental responsibility within its community
c. Designed to withstand extreme climate conditions
Burrowed into a remote Central California hillside beneath a planted roof, this off-grid guest house designed by Anacapa Architecture maintains a low profile while delivering dazzling views of the hills and ocean beyond.
Erin Feinblatt
The Forbes Architecture Advisory Board
DANELLE BRISCOE is an academic and practitioner whose work focuses on incorporating flora and fauna into the design of the urban environment. As an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Briscoe has researched, published and developed a pedagogical direction that questions the relationship of technology to nature, particularly regarding Building Information Modeling. As principal of db_DESIGN, an Austin-based firm, Briscoe has advanced this direction further in the single-family residential typology. Her former design experiences with Centerbrook Architects in Connecticut, and Gehry Partners and Marmol Radziner in Los Angeles, give basis to this position and breadth of understanding. Briscoe holds a Master of Architecture degree from Yale University.
GABRIELLE ESPERDY is an architectural and urban historian whose work examines intersections of modernism and consumerism in metropolitan landscapes. Her books include American Autopia and Modernizing Main Street, and she has published widely on topics including queer theory and urbanism, historiography and big data, and the need for racial reckoning in architectural histories. Recent work includes an essay for the Getty Research Institute’s “Ed Ruscha’s Streets of Los Angeles: Artist, Image, Archive, City,” and an upcoming book on New Jersey’s horizontal density. Esperdy is Editor-in-Chief of SAH Archipedia and the award-winning Buildings of the United States book series. She is a contributing writer for Places, and appears regularly on broadcast and digital media. Esperdy was educated at Smith College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is currently Professor and Dean of the Hillier College of Architecture and Design at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where she has taught since 2001.
ALESSIA GENOVA is the Owner and Principal of Tihany Design, a hospitality interior design firm in New York City. A native of Italy and a graduate of Politecnico di Milano, Genova is well-versed in architecture, interiors, lighting and mechanics, creating a philosophical approach that goes beyond aesthetics. Throughout her career at Tihany Design, she has played a pivotal role in the success of iconic properties such as the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Breakers resort in Palm Beach, the Four Seasons Dubai DIFC, the Joule in Dallas, the Grand Wailea Maui, the Mandarin Oriental Istanbul and the Oberoi New Delhi. Conde Nast Traveler named her one of the “12 People to Watch in 2022,” and Tihany Design was named to Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s Top Hospitality Architects & Designers.
TIMOTHY GRAY is an architect, educator and environmental advocate with extensive expertise in sustainable design. In addition to serving as Principal of Gray Architecture, an award-winning Indianapolis-based practice, Gray serves as a Professor of Architecture at Ball State University, where he has taught since 2003. Prior to that, he served as an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the California College of the Arts, and as a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned his Master of Architecture with Distinction in 1991. Gray’s work with students and his work through his practice have been recognized with national and international awards, including nine separate American Institute of Architects Design Excellence Awards, the national NCARB Prize, and Sustainability and Monumental Achievement awards from the City of Indianapolis.
MARGARITA McGRATH is an architect, educator and researcher whose work centers on the cultivation of architectural judgment and acuity. She is co-founder of the award-winning Brooklyn-based firm noroof architects, and is an Associate Professor of Architecture at Virginia Tech. She formerly served as chair of the undergraduate Architecture program and currently runs the W_Internship Program. Her teaching and research ask how emerging architects will acquire professional knowledge and discernment as changing modes of working disrupt traditional modes of learning. In architectural practice, her interests lie in housing, material and constructive intelligence, and the potential of modesty and restraint as design strategies. At noroof, resourcefulness and close attention to site and construction underpin an architecture that is both pragmatic and unexpected.
LISA D. SCHRENK, Ph.D., is Professor of Architectural History at the University of Arizona and co-founder of the global Institute for the Study of International Expositions. She is a former Education Director for the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation and has served on the Board of Directors for the Society of Architectural Historians. Her book publications include The Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright and Building a Century of Progress: The Architecture of Chicago’s 1933–34 World’s Fair.
SEAN WEISS, Ph.D., is a historian of modern architecture and urbanism. He is an Associate Professor at the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, and in the Ph.D. Program in Art History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He previously served as Chair of the Architecture Department at the City College of New York. His articles, book chapters and reviews have appeared in Casabella, Technology and Culture, Log, Journal of Architectural Education, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians and Journal of Urban History, among other publications.
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