Last updated on May 24th, 2024 at 12:49 pm
Located in Middlesex County, Waltham is one of the best places to live in Massachusetts. Waltham offers residents an urban-suburban mixture of amenities. It is a stable community, where most residents own their homes, yet lively, with many restaurants, coffee shops, and parks.
The list below contains eight of the area’s best residential architects. These firms have designed some of Waltham’s most beautiful homes. The architects listed were chosen based on their professional merits, experience, and portfolios.
Merge Architects Inc
332 Congress St. Flr. 6, Boston MA 02210
Merge Architects is an architectural firm that creates innovative spaces. The firm, founded by Elizabeth Whittaker, seeks out and puts emphasis on opportunities for innovation in the mundane. It creates new production techniques that blend digital creation and handcrafting. It also works in a variety of materials and scales—from photograph to scale model, mock-up, building, and city, the exploration becomes a dynamic mix of concentration and innovation. The firm collaborates closely with its clients as well as its teams of fabricators, artists, artisans, and engineers to create architecture that incorporates the craft of creating into the bigger scheme. The firm aims to redefine the urban and social boundaries of the city.
The firm’s team includes members of AIA, LEED AP, and LEED AP BD+C. It is also accredited by the Boston Society of Architecture.
HMFH Architects
130 Bishop Allen Dr., Cambridge, MA 02139
HMFH is an architectural firm dedicated to developing spaces that enhance the user’s experience. Although each project is unique in its approach to the environment and program, they all share the idea that the best architecture fosters community. The firm creates spaces that bring people together, on campuses, in government buildings, in institutions, or in living and working environments.
The firm began in 1969, launched by three young classmates together with Walter Hill, a well-known school designer. The new firm, Hill Miller Friedlaender Hollander, was quickly recognized for its innovative approach to school design. It also won awards for the iconic Brewster Elementary School and Charlestown High School.
HMFH has increased its focus to encompass a range of academic and institutional clientele, thanks to expanded leadership and certification as a Women-Owned Business (WBE). What set the business apart in its early years is now guiding it as it embraces new practice models, technology, and sustainability.
JFF Design Architect
24 Warwick Ave., Waltham, MA 02452
In residential design, the creation of warm, inviting spaces without the need for extensive development requires innovation. Practicality and comfort are at the heart of home design. JFF Design Architects has more than 30 years of experience creating solutions through a variety of creative environments that are tailored to each client’s needs. Custom home renovations and new home designs are the firm’s specialties. Its work is a finely proportioned and detailed representation rather than a straightforward response. Its approach is distinct from others, because it combines design and building experience.
JFF Design Architects is owned by NCARB and AIA member Joseph F. Fournier, Jr., who has over 41 years of experience in construction. Joseph studied at Boston Architectural College and took up AET, BSET, and BARCH Architecture at Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Costa architects
681 Main St., Waltham, MA 02453
Costa Architects has been practicing architecture for nearly four decades. Its architects and designers have a high level of design and construction expertise. It has also developed and overseen the construction of a large number of projects. The firm is driven by a passion for design and the pursuit of excellence. Costa Architects works as part of a group, collaborating with all members of the construction team. The team collaborates to achieve the master plan’s scope, goals, and standards. It strives to achieve the customers’ complete satisfaction and responds attentively to their requests.
The project featured here, the Unity Residence, is a stand-out example. It showcases the firm’s expertise in creating modern and contemporary spaces. Its white and gray tones are calm and elegant. The project combines beauty and functionality.
Bechtel Frank Erickson Architects, Inc
1840 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington, MA 02420
Bechtel Frank Erickson Architects is convinced that great design can improve people’s lives and lifestyle. It looks at the context of each project to generate design ideas that suit the environment. Since its inception in 2000, the firm has built a reputation for delivering high-impact projects while working with limited resources to provide innovative design solutions. Local governments, arts and cultural institutions, non-profit groups, and commercial developers are among its clients.
Principals William Erickson, Gerard Frank, and the late Richard Betchel started Bechtel Frank Erickson Architects. They established the business in the hopes of working in a group where they could explore and create ideas in an open studio. This remarkable group of professionals, located in the center of historic Lexington, Massachusetts, makes it a point to put their clients’ needs first.
D.W. Arthur Associates Architecture
760 Main St., Waltham, MA 02451
Dogan “Woodie” Arthur had a busy summer in 1988, getting his license, getting married, and starting his architecture practice. D.W. Arthur Associates has proven itself capable of maintaining this level of energy. The firm has built a diverse collection of projects for its many clients. It is dedicated to building memorable architectural spaces and changing people’s perceptions of the world. The firm consistently engages in the art and science of imaginative problem-solving.
D.W. Arthur Associates’s studio space brings together people from a variety of backgrounds who share a passion for design. The team has a collaborative atmosphere, pooling its collective experience and perspectives. The firm also works closely with its clients to develop spaces that are both functional and appealing. It has been involved in educational, research, and volunteer initiatives in addition to its professional practice. Woodie has lectured and conducted workshops for design institutes focusing on early childhood spaces in numerous locations across the country.
BellSoave Architects, LLC
272 School St., Waltham, MA 02451
BellSoave Architects focuses on meticulously constructed architectural elements, appealing interiors, and environments that reflect the owners’ way of life. Whether it is new construction, additions, or major renovations, the firm creates exquisite houses in New England that are tailored to the needs and desires of each client. Its designs, from urban lofts to coastal residences in classic, modern, and contemporary forms, are not trend-driven. Each project is approached in an environmentally-sound and cost-conscious manner.
Laurie Soave, the firm’s Design Principal, founded BellSoave in 2005. Laurie is a licensed architect with over two decades of expertise in the New England region. She has worked in architectural firms in Boston and Cambridge for many years and makes the most of that experience. Her award-winning designs range from commercial, arts, and dining facilities to single-family residences and loft conversions, demonstrating her versatility as a designer. She believes that each completed project should reflect the client’s style and lifestyle preferences.
Hardaway Sziabowski Architects
47 River St. Ste. 200, Wellesley, MA 02481
Founded in 1976 by Dick Hardaway, Hardaway Sziabowski Architects is a versatile architectural design firm. After eight years with several renowned architectural firms and four years as Chief Architect for National Medical Care, Dick decided to retire. Rob De Vries, a hospital architect and former Principal of Payette Associates, joined him in 1997. With 20 years of institutional, healthcare, and business expertise, Joe Sziabowski was named the third Principal in 2006. After Joe joined the firm as a partner in 2015, the firm was renamed Hardaway Sziabowski.
Although the firm has worked on a variety of structures, it has increasingly shifted its concentration to health care and residential projects while also serving private commercial clients. Medical facilities, single and multi-family residences, retail establishments, banks, and industrial buildings are among its projects. It is one of the country’s leading experts in ambulatory surgery centers, having designed more than a hundred in 23 states. The company is skilled in both remodeling and new construction, as well as master planning and interior design.
