FortyEighty Architecture is a versatile design firm dedicated to the creation of built environments that are sustainable, empowering, and memorable. We call 40° N 80° W our home, but work with clients to create thoughtful, contextual places at any location. Since the firm’s inception in 1991, FortyEighty Architecture has collaborated with numerous institutional, educational, cultural, civic and corporate clients across the United States, resulting in an extensive and diverse portfolio of completed works. Our client’s projects have been consistently recognized with numerous regional, state, and national awards for design, sustainability, construction quality, and smart growth.

FortyEighty Architecture believes in the power of a simple inspiring idea: to design responsible, efficient, and engaging solutions with each of our clients. We believe in the creation of unique places that balance a carefully refined design sensitivity with an exceptional level of technical building expertise. The values listed below combine to form integrated environments that empower their users and optimize resources in ways that are meaningful and durable.

Place: Human environments are experiential and temporal. Architecture that is both memorable and sustainable should engage strategies that are both immediate and long term.

Context: All built environments should recognize their responsibility within a unique physical and cultural context.

Technology: Building technologies should be applied appropriately. Synergies within tested systems and components are to be sought out and optimized.

Craft: Well-crafted environments require dedication to process and method. Skill, experience and technique should be applied with care and thoughtfulness.

Research: Precedents and benchmarks should be studied both for their successes, as well as their opportunities for improvement.

Flexibility: Spaces that are adaptable and flexible should also be uniquely fit to their users. Architecture can support both defined structure and dynamic occupancy. Flexible fit means long life.

Responsibility: Architectural design solutions should be responsive to the dynamic financial, functional, and environmental challenges that define each project. These project parameters are carefully leveraged to create the human experience and delight in the place that is ultimately the measure of a project’s success.