As one of Pennsylvania’s oldest and largest cities, Philadelphia houses a thriving community of about 1.5 million people. Philadelphia is a city not just rich in history, but in magnificent centuries-old neighborhoods that accommodate families of all sizes. The best thing about the city is its vibrant multifamily market that has grown steadily over the previous decade. Philadelphia multifamily developments are designed to accommodate more residents without sacrificing the quality of life, providing various amenities and facilities.
In this list, our editorial team has ranked the best multifamily architects in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, based on their company’s profile, history, services provided, client satisfaction, awards earned, and media mentions and exposure. As a result, clients can be guaranteed that any of the companies on this list will expertly implement their unique project visions through the firms’ distinctive designs and services.
Atrium Design Group
Address:
1024 N. 3rd St. Ste. #201, Philadelphia, PA 19019
An architecture and design-build firm founded in 2013, Shimi Zakin (AIA) and Nurit Nachum created Atrium Design Group. The term “atrium” refers to a courtyard, which is a place of community and light. The firm believes that excellent design should serve as a platform for a better community by incorporating areas for social interaction and increasing possibilities for the inside and outside to meet. By examining and reimagining concepts of location and traditions, Atrium strives to provide meaning to a complex world.
The firm’s portfolio exhibits expertise in the multifamily, residential and commercial industry— with over 35 projects completed in eight years. The 620 N. 3rd Street is one of these projects. It incorporates a sleek contemporary take on multifamily structures. A mass composition made of current materials extends the realm between traditional and contemporary. The home boasts of horizontal wood slats on one side, huge balconies, and a red metal that separates the framed wood and brick bookends. All of this is on a concrete foundation with different sizes of circular holes strewn about, providing a space where profound devotion reveals itself in the lighthearted enrichment of everyday existence.
Millan Architects
Address:
15 West Highland Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118
Millan Architects was formed in 2001 with the goal of creating meaningful places with enduring elegance, lasting value, and environmental sustainability for a select clientele. Founder Matthew Millan (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) AP®, Building Design and Construction (BD+C) and National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB) certified) brings his client-responsive, innovative and sustainable architectural services to a broad group of clients. The full-service design firm is process-driven, motivated by a common desire to produce compelling architecture that adheres to its fundamental values.
For over 20 years, Milan Architects is proud to have worked on diverse conceptually demanding projects—from commercial and institutional establishments to multifamily housings. One of the firm’s current multifamily projects is the Park Place Apartments. This upcoming structure is a ten-unit, two-story bar that anchors the north side of an infill site, including a drive aisle and parking on the south side. Park Place Apartments embodies a contemporary design of one to two-bedroom micro-apartments that provide clean, modern living spaces in a handy area.
KJO Architecture
Address:
2424 E. York St. Suite 110, Philadelphia, PA 19125
KJO Design LLC is a Philadelphia-based architecture and planning firm formed in 2011. The firm aims to create excellent structures and designs that improve the surrounding environment, as well as to provide quality service and connection to its clients. Founding principal and member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Kevin O’Neill ensures that the firm integrates these objectives in every project. This philosophy leads to the production of successful, memorable, and well-thought-out initiatives that increase client loyalty and satisfaction.
The studio works on a variety of project types at various scales for regional and national customers. KJO’s portfolio ranges from commercial buildings and mixed-use buildings to single and multifamily residential developments. A prime example of the firm’s upcoming remarkable multifamily designs is Trenton Avenue Front Gardens. Before the intended development, the tiny and scarcely usable code-compliant back yard is elevated to the third story and turned to the front of the structure. This creates a brighter and more functional outdoor space that connects physically to the upper-level interior while preserving a roofline that is in scale with the surrounding environment.
Marshall Sabatini Architecture +
Address:
113 Cumberland Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Since its establishment in 2003, Marshall Sabatini Architecture + has been a full-service architectural company dedicated to providing customers with the best value possible on each and every project. Despite its small size, the Philadelphia-based firm has the knowledge and competence to provide the services that are anticipated of most major organizations. While the firm takes pleasure in improving the built environment in our area, its capabilities are not restricted to the tri-state area; it is registered to provide architectural services in 15 states. The firm has been featured in several publications, including the Builder Magazine and Philadelphia Business Journal. It has also won multiple awards, including the 2020 Synergy Award from the Homebuilders Association of Delaware & Chester Counties.
Founder and owner John Marshall is a member of the AIA, NCARB, and also sits on the Haverford Township Historical Commission. His 28 years of experience in the field of architecture enabled him to grow the firm to specialize in excellent architectural design solutions. An example of this is the recent multifamily project, Spring Oak Townhouses.
These 2800-square-foot buildings have the appearance of an older, well-established community since they are built near a sidewalk. Each townhouse has a wide front porch to encourage social contact with other residents. To accentuate the time-honored beauty of traditional materials, any brickwork utilized on the front is also continued along the side of the building. This concept for the Spring Oak neighborhood demonstrates how design affects the environment and people’s lifestyles.
Toner Architects
Address:
1901 South 9th Street Room 425, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Since 2010, Toner Architects has served the Philadelphia area with a single objective in mind: to cooperate with clients that love the process of design, architecture, and construction. The multidisciplinary company is committed to producing solutions that exceed its clients’ expectations. For the firm, design entails cooperation, sustainability, and technology, all of which Toner incorporates into its approach on a daily basis with each project. In the past 11 years, the firm has been featured in the Philly Mag, Remodeling Magazine, and Grid Magazine. The firm’s professional experience and collaborative methods have also won it the ATAS Project of the Year Award in 2016.
Toner Architects was formed by principal Ian Toner (AIA, NCARB, LEED-certified) out of a love of residential architecture and design. His diverse expertise in design, client relations, and project management, however, has taken him beyond residential projects and into a variety of other fields such as hospitality, higher education, and retail. His ideas are influenced by more than a decade of experience working on projects ranging from tiny kitchen and bath remodels to multi-million-dollar hotels.
Toner Architects demonstrated its flexibility and design expertise in the adaptive reuse of the Parish House. Located in Philadelphia’s Kensington section, the project posed many challenges that the firm successfully addressed. The firm’s team kept up with the constantly changing list of design opportunities and made the most out of the location’s unique elements such as the high ceilings and large windows. The result is a perfect marriage of vintage and modern: large expanses of exposed brick and stone wall coexist with a contemporary layout and modern finishes.
Studio Agoos Lovera Architecture
Address:
One South Broad St. Suite 1700, Philadelphia, PA 19107
For the past 38 years, Studio Agoos Lovera has been dedicated to developing sustainable architecture and landscapes that benefit its communities and enhance the lives of those who use them via a creative, comprehensive, and sensitive approach. The firm has grown exponentially over the years because of its clear sense of purpose and its ongoing long-range planning. Two critical additions to the firm, Dave Franke and Jim Rowe, became principals in 1999, joining the founders in elevating the firm’s progressive nature. Under the team’s leadership, the firm has been featured in publications like Builder and Construction Journal.
The firm’s comprehensive portfolio showcases its expertise in various project types. A notable structure that justifies the firm’s objectives is the Robert Morris Apartments. This 15-story Facility City office structure, constructed as a hotel in 1913 and listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Buildings, is being restored into a 140-unit apartment complex featuring various elaborate amenities and fabulous views.
Morrissey
Address:
4590 Main Street, Philadelphia, PA 19127
Morissey is an architectural and design firm that collaborates with a wide range of clients to create timeless and unique projects. Since 2010, the firm’s agile design approach has been extremely collaborative. This has produced numerous projects that reflect the history and tradition of urban areas while keeping up with the vitality and dynamics of today. As a result, Morissey specializes in a range of designs and settings, from restaurants and office spaces to single-family houses and multifamily apartments. At the helm of this firm are principals James Morrisey and Gustavo Zamir Garcia.
Morissey’s portfolio reflects the trademark approach that pervades the firm’s work: a synthesis of high-design concepts and resourcefulness. 4001 Ridge Avenue is one of the firm’s structures that implements such an approach. Morissey was encouraged to assist in the renovation of the exterior of this ground-up mixed-use multifamily four-storey apartment complex in Philadelphia’s West Allegheny Neighborhood. Morrissey’s planned interior lobby and amenity areas offer a comfortable boutique hotel atmosphere as soon as residents enter their new home in this emerging Philadelphia neighborhood.
JKRP Architects
Address:
100 East Penn Square Suite 1080, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Founded in 1984, JKRP Architects is a full-service architectural business built on the idea that every project prioritizes the client’s desires. The firm has been offering high-quality architectural design, programming, site selection, project design, construction documentation, and construction management services for almost four decades now. JKRP brings the client’s idea to life by creating carefully planned and well-built places. The result is more than simply a structure; it is a continuous experience that the firm is building together.
Spearheading the firm’s dynamic nature is founder and principal Jerry Roller (AIA, LEED). Beginning as a single practitioner, Jerry has overseen the firm’s expansion via the formation of JK Roller Architects LLC and, eventually, JKRP Architects. He is also a committed member of the American Institute of Architects, having served as President of AIA-PA and as Regional Director and Vice President on the National AIA Board. Jerry has become well-known for his high-profile retail and multifamily residential developments.
A prime example of the firm’s fantastic multifamily structure in Philadelphia is The Link. The Link for CA Ventures is a blend of traditional restoration and modern development from the ground up. The sophisticated project saves 16 shops established in the 1880s alongside Lancaster Avenue and adds contemporary housing units above. There are 126 rooms total, with a combination of three-bedroom, two-bedroom, and junior one-bedroom layouts. The 146,000-square-foot structure also has 77,000 square feet of retail space.
Coscia Moos Architecture
Address:
1616 Walnut Street Suite 101, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Coscia Moos Architecture, formed by principals Sergio Coscia (AIA, ULI) and David Moos (AIA, ULI), provides architectural planning and design for a comprehensive range of project types, servicing clients in the United States and across the world. The principles of design quality and customer service guide Coscia Moos. Coscia Moos recognizes that effective design concepts are best created in collaboration with its client by first grasping their vision, objectives, and resources. While retaining a fundamental approach, the firm’s team values teamwork inside the studio as well as communication with its clients and consultants to get the maximum result— which garnered the firm awards such as the 2021 Preservation Achievement Awards, Grand Jury Award, and the AIA Philadelphia Merit Award.
The firm’s experience includes mixed-use residential complexes, business buildings and interiors, healthcare and labs, and higher education institutions such as food service and campus life centers. From the multifamily and mixed-use industry, the firm has designed fresh and functional structures— including The Poplar. The renovations of the building aim to preserve the structure’s significant cultural identity while also providing modern amenities. The foundation of the firm’s sustainable design was also a strategy that effortlessly integrated these modern amenities while effectively maintaining the old building’s charm.
Cecil Baker + Partners Architects
Address:
1107 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Cecil Baker + Partners is an architectural firm providing design services to institutional, educational, governmental and private sector clients. Established in 1982 and based in Philadelphia, the firm’s planning, architecture and interior design services include feasibility studies, programming, design of new structures and conversion of existing structures.
“The persuasion of place. The power of simple shapes. The choreography of passage. The shared exploration.” These four markers are the firm’s guideposts in the pursuit of cohesive, harmonious architecture. The resulting works subtly unfold to reveal their character over time, offering inhabitants an intimate and unique relationship with their environment.
With partners Cecil Baker, Nancy Bastian, AIA, and Eric Leighton, AIA, the firm creates buildings and sites that bring people in touch with culture, community and nature. The designs emerge from a careful process that adheres to the budget, incorporates users’ desires, and assists the owner in establishing clear priorities. The resulting works become integral to both their community and natural setting.
Working across the housing spectrum, Cecil Baker + Partners is well known for working on the highest level luxury housing, from multi-family condominiums to single-family residences. The firm has an equally thriving practice in the design of affordable housing, working closely with an array of mission driven developers in the Philadelphia region. A recent project of note is 500 Walnut, a new ultra-luxury condominium tower overlooking the most historic site in the City – Independence Hall. Completed in 2018, the 26-story project includes 30 residential build-to-suit condominiums over four stories of extensive amenities. Cecil Baker + Partners’ intervention at this pivotal historic site is uncomplicated, responding to the scale and rhythms of the neighboring Penn Mutual Tower, and honoring the venerable site of the birthplace of our nation by maintaining open sky framing the cupola of Independence Hall when viewed from the Liberty Bell. History’s cleaver slices the northern end of 500 Walnut. It reveals a glassy prismatic skin facing Independence Park. An echoing inflection at the corner of 5th and Walnut Streets suggests a gateway to Society Hill.
Das Architects
Address:
1628 JFK. Blvd. Suite 1300, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Founded in 1985, DAS Architects has long been a nationally known architecture and interior design practice that has developed hundreds of unique hotel, retail, and residential buildings. DAS integrates hospitality-driven principles to retail, business, and residential buildings, resulting in the best experience. DAS designs are frequently recognized in magazines such as Hospitality Design, Nation’s Restaurant News.
Founding principal David Schultz and co-founder Susan Davidson believe that in order to properly meet the demands of a client, spaces must be viewed holistically. Construction of a room is just as important as what goes inside.
This philosophy has bolstered the firm’s success, winning awards such as the Boutique Design Magazine’s 2020 Gold Key Award and the Top construction award to DAS Architects 2020 from GBCA.
This philosophy has bolstered the firm’s success, winning awards such as finalist for Boutique Design Magazine’s 2020 Gold Key DAS’s recently completed Hyatt Centric Philadelphia has been named a finalist for a 2021 Hospitality Design Award.
DAS’s portfolio includes a wide range of styles and distinct feel to the projects that were developed to represent the client’s needs and wants and not the firm’s. Among these structures, The Harper is a stunning multifamily structure that does exactly that. The Harper is a 280,000-square-foot, 24-story skyscraper located at 112 S. 19th Street, one block from Rittenhouse Square and in the heart of the Rittenhouse neighborhood’s vibrant shopping and dining scene. It has 167 distinct apartment units, a ground-floor restaurant, underground parking, and first-rate facilities. This project is a compelling visual design that reflects the client’s ideas and vision, all the while maintaining the use and purpose of the building.
Barton Partners
Address:
700 E. Main St. Suite 301, Norristown, PA 19401
Barton Partners was founded in 1990 as a sole-proprietorship in Philadelphia. In more than three decades, the firm has evolved into a vibrant and integrated design firm. It provides services in urban, architectural, and landscape architecture. Barton Partners aspires to deliver the best level of service to our clients as an integrated design business. With an unwavering commitment to cooperation, the firm’s creative efforts ultimately result in an increase in the value of its projects and the physical space in which they are housed. In 2017, Bruce Adelsberger (LEED-accredited, AIA, DVGBC member) and other principals completed their transfer into full equity control of the company. Since then, the principal’s dynamic and agile leadership expanded the firm on the multidisciplinary services and collaborative culture that have served our clients so well in recent years.
The firm’s portfolio entails a comprehensive range of urban design, historic restoration design, and landscape architecture. One of the firm’s remarkable projects is the multifamily structure, the Alden Park. Alden Park is a multifamily residential apartment, historic tax credit restoration development of six 10-13 stories, incorporating 1920s Jacobean Revival-style brick buildings. The interior improvements comprised a thorough refurbishment of all 760+ units, ranging from modest studios to large three-bedroom apartments, as well as the building of 26 additional accessible units within old office spaces. Alden Park also includes a comprehensive update of all common and amenity areas, as well as extensive exterior masonry restoration and over 7000 new replicated windows.
WRT Planning & Design
Address:
1700 Market Street Suite 2800, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Formed in 1963, WRT Planning & Design has been one of Philadelphia’s oldest partners in the architectural industry. The formative years of WRT were quickly punctuated by big-scale plans that laid the cornerstone for the firm’s concept. Since then, the firm has been serving the Philadelphian communities by designing places that enhance the natural and social environment. James K. Stickley, John R. Gibbs, and Keiko Tsuruta Cramer are part of the many principals whose individual backgrounds have an average of 20 years of professional experience. Together, these architects and designers provide simple answers for important challenges throughout all scales by recognizing the importance of a collaborative approach with their clients. The firm’s success has been featured in several publications, including the Planning Magazine and Affordable Housing Finance Magazine.
The firm’s portfolio reflects a foundation built on a history of quality, creativity, and leadership in planning and design, as well as a dedication to the firm’s guiding values of working with nature and reinforcing urbanization. The STRATA Flats, a multifamily project, is one of the firm’s noteworthy structures. STRATA Flats is made up of three residential buildings: West, East, and Symphony. The West building is a brand-new five-story building on the ArtsWalk, placing dozens of lucky residents in the center of all the new action in the revitalized city. The 170-unit structure was quickly and completely leased, prompting the construction of two more STRATA buildings adjacent to the original to satisfy demand. STRATA East had 67 apartments, and STRATA Symphony had 71 units.
BLT Architects
Address:
1216 Arch Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Founded in 1961, Bower & Fradley began as a boutique business, combining iconic design with exceptional management. Today, BLT Architects is an award-winning full-service architectural and interior design practice specializing in mixed-use, multi-family residential, hotel, office, higher education, and transit-oriented projects. Principals Michael Prifti and Eric Rahe. For more than half a century, the firm has been pursuing the aims of a future that is culturally, economically, and technologically sustainable— and just recently, the firm has been recognized for this by being awarded the 2021 Preservation Alliance Achievement Award. Hospitality design, Planning for higher education journal, and the Front desk magazine, are among the few that have featured the firm’s progressive nature.
BLT’s portfolio entails the firm’s development of settings that meet and exceed client and users expectations. The Alexander project is a clear example of the firm’s commitment to fulfilling client goals. This 483,000-square-foot residential skyscraper is made up of a three-story foundation and 30 three-story towers. The brick, cast stone, and granite cladding, as well as the craftsmanship with French balconies and well-proportioned set-back façade, are reminiscent of magnificent apartment buildings from the past. The skyscraper has 264 rental apartment apartments ranging in size from 3-bedrooms to studios, while the ground level contains 13 townhouses and ground floor retail space.
Bernardon
Address:
The Philadelphia Building 1315 Walnut Street Suite 600, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Since its inception in 1973, Bernardon has been a full-service architectural, interior design, and landscape architecture business that has won several awards including the The Architect’s Newspaper 2020 Best of Design Awards, 2019 Grand Project of the Year in the Mid-Rise category by Multifamily Executive and the 2018 NAHB Award Winner: Chestnut Square. Previously known as Bernardon Haber Holloway Architects, The company’s new name simply became “Bernardon,” a tribute to founder Arthur A. Bernardon, AIA, who founded the firm and has guided it to become one of the top 300 architectural companies in the country.
The demand for high-end structures in fashionable urban districts continues to increase in this dynamic market, and the urban fabric itself – restaurants, retail stores, and nightlife – is a necessary amenity. To challenge this demand, Bernardon has built a phenomenal market presence with convenient and elegant housing units in prime urban developments all over the region. One of the firm’s solutions to the ever growing demand in Philadelphia is the project, West End Flats. West End Flats is a new luxury apartment neighborhood that marks the beginning of the renovation of Media’s western entrance. The 162-unit building will set a new standard for luxury apartment living in Media, with a groundbreaking modern design, an outdoor pool, a workout center, and simple underground parking.
