Smithgroup

About SmithGroup

SmithGroup is one of the longest-established integrated design firms in the United States, bringing architecture, engineering, planning and landscape architecture together within a single practice. Its interdisciplinary structure means an architect, a mechanical engineer, a planner and a landscape architect can work on the same project from the same organisation - a model that removes many of the coordination gaps that appear when disciplines are contracted separately.

Integrated Disciplines

• Architecture - institutional, research, health and civic buildings
• Engineering - mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural and civil
• Planning and urban design - campus frameworks and district plans
• Landscape architecture - public realm, campus grounds and ecological design
• Interior design - workplace, learning and clinical environments
• Specialist consulting - lab planning, medical planning, lighting and sustainability

Markets Served

Health

Hospitals, ambulatory facilities, community health centres and academic medical campuses. Projects such as the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and Health Center show how clinical and community functions can be combined in a single civic building.

Higher Education

Academic, research and student life buildings, including Virginia Tech's Academic Building One and Santa Rosa Junior College's Lindley Center for STEM Education, which received a national SCUP/AIA award for architectural excellence.

Science and Technology

Research laboratories and applied research facilities such as the University of Arizona Applied Research Building - highly serviced buildings where mechanical strategy and architectural expression must be resolved together.

Cities

Urban design, waterfronts, mobility and public realm work aimed at making cities more liveable and resilient.

Corporate, Commercial and Civic

Headquarters, workplace, and government buildings, including the City of South San Francisco Community Civic Campus and the TechSmith Headquarters.

Cultural

Museums, performance venues and civic institutions.

Climate Impact and Sustainability

Climate impact is treated as a firm-wide commitment rather than a service option. SmithGroup's environmental credentials run deep: the Philip Merrill Environmental Center, one of the earliest LEED Platinum buildings in the United States, received the AIA Twenty-five Year Award - recognition reserved for buildings that have stood the test of time. Having in-house engineers makes it far easier to pursue ambitious energy and carbon targets and verify them.

Research and Innovation

The practice maintains formal research and publication programmes alongside an innovation and technology in practice group, applying findings on daylight, energy, occupant wellbeing and resilience directly to live projects.

Recognition

SmithGroup has been named ENR Midwest Design Firm of the Year and regularly receives national AIA honours, with multiple projects recognised in a single award cycle.

Market Position

SmithGroup competes with the largest US architecture-engineering firms, differentiating itself through genuine multidisciplinary integration and depth in technically complex sectors - health, research and science - where engineering capability is decisive.

Why AEC Teams Should Know SmithGroup

For owners planning laboratories, hospitals or campus buildings, SmithGroup demonstrates how integrated architecture and engineering can shorten decision cycles, improve building performance and reduce risk across the built environment.

Design Culture and Collaboration

The firm describes a design approach built on collaboration and inclusiveness, engaging professionals and stakeholders together to produce context-sensitive solutions. In practice that means early workshops with users, clinicians, faculty or residents, so that a building responds to how people actually work rather than to an abstract brief. It also underpins the firm's commitment to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, both internally and in how projects engage their communities.

National Presence

SmithGroup operates from studios across the United States, giving project teams local knowledge of codes, climate and construction markets while drawing on national expertise in medical planning, lab design and engineering.