Wittehaus Listed by Forbes
We are happy to share that Wittehaus made it onto Forbes’ list of America’s Top 200 Residential Architects.
>> Inclusive of all 50 states plus the District of Columbia in research and formal evaluation, the list identifies and calls attention to those single-family-house designers whose work, region to region and state to state, stands apart for its elevated degree of overall excellence. <<
America’s Top 200 Residential Architects
>> These are the nation’s finest practitioners of the creation of “home,” and the residential specialists best suited to help you build the setting for your life’s most meaningful experiences—all vetted and at your fingertips. <<
Among all the impressive firms Wittehaus was listed along such stalwarts of the profession as Brooks + Scarpa, Lake | Flato Architects, Marlon Blackwell Architects, and Olson Kundig.
Project Submitted
Besides general information about our firm, we submitted our Gerendák home for review.
Wittehaus
About Wittehaus Forbes writes:
>> Formed in 2017, Wittehaus is Toby Witte—a Peruvian national whose German roots and American experience running two design-build companies led to his founding this focused firm that's garnered several notable awards (and more than a few magazine and newspaper articles) in just its first seven years. Witte's work is rigorous and principled—architecture with a capital “A”—but among the points he makes in his book, Supersizing Bliss, is that the home-design process requires quiet introspection first before the big design gestures. It's also best observed from a position of sustainability and resilience, as many of Witte's projects are highly efficient and even net-zero. <<
The Methodology
In an article on September 19th, 2024, Forbes laid out its system of evaluation:
>> “Construction” this work is decidedly not; it is, indeed, architecture—an architecture in which we see the manifestation of a viewpoint on design-concept sourcing that is increasingly under threat in our one-world Web culture: that place is paramount; and that design solutions for the home, whether they be Modern, or contemporary, or Traditional in stylistic derivation, ought to stem not from trends sweeping the social-media universe or some other point of disconnection but from the unique physical and cultural ground of a specific locality.
While fundamentally concerned with demonstrating an acute awareness of the importance of architecture that addresses the factors of our rapidly changing climate, America’s Top 200 Residential Architects is not a “green” list. If you’ve noticed the patterns of extreme weather events worldwide in recent years, it should be evident that, in terms of architectural discourse, we’re past “green.” Now, the stakes are even higher.
Quite simply, we’ve arrived at a moment when we can no longer afford to overlook the critical importance of the role of the architect in society, particularly in relation to our houses. America’s Top 200 Residential Architects will be, if nothing else, a point of entry to that recognition—a world of enlightened strategies for living and for housing ourselves more intelligently. More specifically, America’s Top 200 Residential Architects will point to the architects to whom you can turn, no matter where you are across the nation, to help you create a house that meets both your personal demands and the outsized existential demands of our times.
America’s Top 200 Residential Architects, as with all Forbes lists, will be based on rigorous journalistic fact-finding and assessment, but with the noteworthy addition of direct involvement from an advisory board of leading experts on the American house. In our process, every American Institute of Architects–member firm with a web presence, a total of more than 18,000 offices, was assessed for the degree to which the single-family house is a part of their total repertoire. Those offices that advanced in the process were invited to submit up to three houses, each completed in 2019 or later, that the office believed to be “exemplary” for the ways in which the work addresses the particulars of place. Each submission was then measured in accordance with Forbes Architecture's three-tiered system. With our inaugural list, we will reveal the outcome—residential architecture’s most state of the art in 2025. <<
The Forbes System of Evaluation
>> Out of the more than 18,000 firms evaluated for the list, more than 750 were invited to submit up to three houses, each completed in 2019 or later, for formal consideration. The submitted projects were then evaluated conditionally, and according to Tiers 2 and 3, respectively, with each house receiving a numerical score according to merit. The highest scoring projects were advanced to the semifinalist stage, before being evaluated again, by both the Forbes Architecture editorial team and the Forbes Architecture Advisory Board, using the same system. The final 200 projects were collectively deemed to most closely meet the evaluating criteria.
Tier 1: General Professional Evaluation
a. Integrity of online presence (quality of photography; professionalism of display; informational value; awards; publication history; etc.)
b. Educational background of the firm’s principals
c. Work histories and mentorships
Tier 2: Evaluation of a single “Exemplary House”
a. Part 1: The measuring of Stability; Utility; and Beauty
Tier 3: Evaluation Relative to Forbes Architecture’s Residential Guiding Principles & Best Practices, the seven categories of which are as follows:
1. Siting and Local Context
● Respects and aims whenever possible to preserve natural landscape contours, while minimizing excavation overall
● Respects the solar envelope over its own site and, consequently, over that of the neighboring houses
● Strategic incorporation of existing land forms (berms, slopes, etc) and landscape to climatic advantage (for wind shielding, storm protection, etc.)
● Rooms planned according to the ideal solar orientation per function of the specific spaces
● Adapted to sea-level-rise and flood-risk projections
2. Architectural Form and Detailing
● Balanced expression of form and massing, conscious of climatic response in approach, while honoring the fundamentals of any origins that might be the basis of the design
● Honors cultural and environmental contexts
● Structural principles elegantly and honestly expressed
3. Building Materials and Craft
● A curated approach to selection and application primarily guided by the impositions of the local climate zone and the cardinal directions
● Meticulous attention to expression of architectural detailing—at the smallest levels, materials and geometry in alignment; thematic consistency, inclusive of variations; with emphasis on the relationship of parts to the whole
● Use of indigenous and locally sourced, or repurposed, materials and employment of local artisans
● Use of Forest Stewardship Council-Certified wood and wood products
4. Spatial Configuration
● Entry is prioritized, treated as an experience
● Adventurous, stimulating plan circulation, with movement decidedly choreographed, ideally with appropriate/effective moments of compression and expansion
● Integrative of any outdoor rooms and garden spaces—programmatic relationships between indoors and exterior context
● Strategic mechanical-, electrical- and plumbing-integration consideration
● Accommodation for flexibility and change in use
5. HVAC and Tech
● Whole-house passive solar heating
● Electric radiant floors
● Electric-dominant, remotely controllable whole-house systems
● Use of architectural shading devices
● Inclusive of “smart home” lighting automation systems
● Thorough provisions for natural ventilation
6. Physical and Psychological Effects
● Emphasis on space perception
● Integration of sound-reduction strategies to control the interior environments
● Immersive, transformative, soothing environments
● Natural light harnessed as an instrument for mood creation
7. Environmental | Appropriateness to Region and Local Climate Zone
● Material circularity factor
● Green infrastructure
● Meets or exceeds green residential-building codes
● Raises bar of “responsibility” within its community for its example
● Designed and built to withstand extreme climate conditions <<