Denver, Colorado has come a long way from its Wild West days, having been founded in the 1800s as a mining town during the gold rush. Over the years, its citizens have transformed from gun-toting gamblers to an easygoing population of ambitious, progressive-minded residents willing to push the envelope on everything from civil rights to drug regulations. Known as the Mile High City for its 5,280-foot height, Denver’s location at the base of the Rocky Mountains offers a gateway to various outdoor activities, though it is probably best known for its devoted ski and snowboarders.
If you want to move to this thriving city, get to know fifteen of the best residential architects in Denver, Colorado. These impressive firms were evaluated based on their skills, experience, expertise, and remarkable portfolios.
Rowland+Broughton
1830 Blake St, Denver, CO 80202
Rowland+Broughton Architecture, Urban Design, and Interior Design (R+B) is a high-design, forward-thinking architecture firm. The firm serves exceptional projects on a national level with its studios in Aspen and Denver, Colorado. It offers experience, expertise, and knowledge of the mountains and the city to improve many projects, such as custom residential, commercial, hospitality, interior design, and master planning. Since its inception in 2003, the firm has solidified its reputation as a design firm that thinks critically and has many creative design solutions. Its hands-on, custom approach to projects has led to many repeat clients and a high project success rate, no matter how challenging the environment or community is.
This modern masterpiece in an exclusive part of Denver is a modern take on the Prairie Style of architecture. The unique design considers the neighborhood’s history and the landscape around it. It also considers the owner’s love of music and his passion for it. Attention to detail, high-quality design and materials, expert execution, and craftsmanship are ways to make architecture that will last for a long time.
KGA Studio Architects
3833 Steele St, Suite #1331, Denver, CO 80205
KGA Studio Architects is a residential architecture firm known as an industry leader. It focuses on designing for communities, from single-family homes to multifamily homes and everything in between. Founded in 1977 in Boulder, Colorado, the firm has continuously expanded to work on projects all over the U.S. As a result, it has established a solid track record of great design and working with its clients. KGA’s impressive portfolio of residential architecture work includes award-winning remodels, custom homes, builder models, and community amenity buildings.
One of the firm’s most notable projects is the the ModernFarmhouse Remodel located in Cherry Hills Village. KGA, in collaboration with Harrison Custom Homes and Kaleidoscope Design, remodeled this 11,780-square-foot home. The redesigned home exudes elegance and a modern feel achieved through an open space concept and use of natural materials like wood, marble, and stone. Its remarkable design has been featured in Colorado Homes & Lifestyles and a recipient of the 2019 CARE Award for Best Specialty Room (Music Loft).
Semple Brown Design
1160 Santa Fe Dr, Denver, CO 80204
Since its inception in 1982, Semple Brown Design has offered various design services. With its collaborative and flexible approach to design, the firm has delivered exceptional projects from various industries and backgrounds. Its approach to design is open-minded and creative, which has helped the firm earn more than 80 regional and national design awards. The firm has earned massive recognition for its quality and performance. Its works have been featured in more than 30 design magazines.
One of the firm’s most notable projects is the V|O Residence in Denver, Colorado. It features an elegant, low-slung horizontal roof. The owners themselves came up with the idea for the piece when trying to figure out the best way to use the site. This made an outdoor room with the mature trees on the site as the third and fourth walls and the Colorado sky as the ceiling.
Tomecek Studio Architecture
3222 Tejon St, Studio C, Denver, CO 80211
Tomecek Studio Architecture is a Denver, Colorado-based architecture firm that focuses on unique building technologies for homes and businesses. Over the years, the firm has been dedicated to making unique, responsive spaces that go above and beyond the usual building experience. The firm prioritizes three main steps in its processes – stop, look, and listen uniquely. These actions are part of a process that involves the client, the architect, the task, and the place. As a result, the firm can develop creative answers to specific problems based on research and lead to unique and practical solutions.
The Shoshone residence is a large limestone block with a wide range of paintings and sculptures. The project looks at how the light changes throughout the day by directing and filtering it through a series of curved light scoops. These light scoops come in different sizes and shapes to make different experiences happen in different parts of the house. The project goes up three floors, connecting the community gardens on the ground floor to the view of the whole city from the roof deck.
HMH Architecture + Interiors
1701 15th St, Suite B, Boulder, CO 80302
HMH Architecture + Interiors is backed by a team of architects and designers who can do everything. Since its inception in 1989, HMH has been putting together many projects, including high-end custom homes, renovations, offices, restaurants, and retail spaces. As a result, the firm has solidified its well-deserved reputation for its creativity, ability to work together, and attention to detail. With its integrated processes, high-quality craftsmanship, and professionalism, the firm ensures a personalized approach based on how the client and designer work together.
Finding the right balance between modern design and the Modern Bridge House’s roots as a farmhouse was essential to keep the design from falling apart. A modern addition was built next to the old house. It has a guest suite, home office, gym, pool support facilities, kids’ playroom, formal dining room, and living room. The old part of the house is connected to the new part by a glass “bridge,” which gives the owners a place to show off their extensive art collection.
TKP Architects
1509 Washington Ave, Golden, CO 80401
TKP Architects is an award-winning architecture firm specializing in high-end custom homes and residential remodeling. Over the years, the firm has curated an impressive portfolio, cementing its reputation as an industry leader for delivering stunning, comfortable, and unique homes. With nearly 40 years in the business, the firm’s team of passionate, creative people is dedicated to superior quality and professionalism. It offers integrated structural engineering services and can coordinate interior design and landscaping services to make the design process run smoothly. As a result, TKP is one of the most sought-after architecture firms with its experience in contemporary, modern, mountain, and traditional styles
Even though the site was hard to work with, this French-country-style home turned out breathtaking and now sits next to a golf course where its owners like to play. This home is stylish and comfortable because of its well-planned layout and high-end details.
Studio B Architecture + Interiors
2014 Pearl St, Boulder, CO 80302
Since its founding in 1991, Studio B Architecture + Interiors has been getting more and more attention from all over the country for its fresh, minimalist design, elegant site integration, and seamless interaction between architecture, interiors, and nature. With 30 years in the industry, the firm’s work in different residential and public places across the United States attracts innovators, art collectors, and design-savvy clients who want to live and work in places that inspire others to do the same. Its strive for continuous improvement allows the firm to keep raising the bar by working hard to find sustainable ways to do things, using materials in new ways, and being open to new building technologies
One notable project is in an older part of Denver, where most of the houses are small brick bungalows with big front porches. The building makes a clear street edge on the corner lot by organizing the programs around the interior courtyard space. But unlike many of the new large, overly complicated projects with generic building materials that have been built in the neighborhood recently, this project is smaller, less visible, and more interpretive.
Godden | Sudik Architects
5975 South Quebec St, Suite #250, Centennial, CO 80111
Godden Sudik Architects is an award-winning architect and design firm that started in 1992. The firm focuses on residential architecture, including custom luxury homes, single-family homes, and homes with more than one family. With nearly 20 years of expertise and experience, the Godden Sudik team has perfected its design process by combining its talented members’ skills, different design experiences, and many years of expertise. The firm offers flexibility, creativity, and the technical know-how to develop design ideas that meet each client’s needs.
One of the firm’s notable projects is a contemporary home. It features a combination of contemporary and rustic elements with its clean lines and natural design elements. The wooden accents in the exterior add visual interest to the overall light and airy design.
DTJ Design
3101 Iris Ave, Suite #130, Boulder, CO 80301
DTJ Design is an international architecture and design firm with offices in Boulder, Colorado, and Atlanta, Georgia. It has won many awards for its work, which is a testament to its quality and professionalism. Over the years, the firm has been known for putting natural landscape and challenging topography into the built environment. DTJ’s extensive portfolio shows how knowledgeable and skilled we are regarding community planning, leisure destinations, urban renewal, and public spaces. The firm has delivered exceptional projects for its clients with architecture, planning, and landscape architecture for more than 40 years in many different places worldwide.
One notable project is a house which was built from the outside, with the traditional farmhouse style being a big part of the plan. The style is based on the large front porch that faces the street and the gable end mass that sticks out. The design of the floor plan changed over time to make a dramatic entrance. The stairs and high ceiling were used to open up the space, and the space then went straight into the open concept living area.
Ekman Design Studio
550 E 8th Ave, Denver, CO 80203
Ekman Design Studio is a small architecture firm that builds unique, high-quality homes. Founded in 1995, the firm aims to stand out from its competition by trying to understand each client’s personal experiences, passions, and dreams as a source of inspiration for each home. It is committed to creating harmony by making the most of views, light, and how the project fits into its surroundings. Our goal is to make stunning, long-lasting homes that consider these guiding factors in a simple but creative way. Over the years, the company has built a reputation for making homes, other buildings, and landscape features based on traditional styles, as well as stunning, valuable interiors that fit well in their own settings.
The Mediterranean-style Italianate Pool House in Denver is one of the firm’s impressive works. The pool house had to be designed to look like a folly and fit in with the historic estate and district where it was built. The old pool was fixed, and a new lap pool was added.
ArcWest Architects
1525 Raleigh St, Suite #320, Denver, CO 80204
ArcWest Architects is an architecture firm in Denver, Colorado. It was started in 2006 by Todd Heirls and Kevin Anderson, both of whom had worked as architects before. When Robin Adams joined the firm in 2007, it was able to offer a broader range of architectural and consulting services. Over the years, the firm has focused on the region’s commercial, residential, and light industrial architecture projects. It has experience in all design stages, including feasibility studies, master planning, schematic design, design development, and the construction drawings needed for regulatory approvals, permits, and building. At the start of 2022, Kevin Anderson retired from ArcWest, leaving it in the hands of Todd Heirls and Robin Adams.
In this one notable project, the client chose ArcWest Architects to make a steel and perforated metal shade canopy structure that looks open and light. In addition to the shade canopy, 3-Form acrylic panels inlaid with tiger grass were used to design an opaque parapet extension. This was done to add more privacy. With the sun’s intense glare and solar heat gain, the upper-level deck at the back of the house, which faces southwest, cannot be used during the warm months.
A21
3455 Ringsby Ct, Suite #101, Denver, CO 80216
A21 is an architecture and design firm in Denver, Colorado, that focuses on making buildings and spaces that reflect the client’s lifestyle and personality. It consistently tries to create a deep and meaningful connection between living spaces and their surroundings through its immersive design process. The firm’s expertise lies in modern residential architecture and design, focusing on creating simple, quiet places where people can think about art, architecture, and nature. With its expert architects and designers, the firm ensures a smooth and seamless design process with exceptional results delivered on schedule and within budget.
This renovation project of a dilapidated 1970’s ranch home features a new and modern take that enhances the original design. A21 overhauled the exterior with blackened cedar cladding to make the home meld into the meadow background. The architecture itself is subtle, with cues taken from existing forms to seamlessly integrate the additions with the home’s structure. With the new features, this home now has more open spaces, better views of the surrounding area, and luxury areas like a spa-like bedroom and bathroom.
Arch11
1200 Bannock St, Denver, CO 80204
Arch11 has been around since 1993, solidifying its reputation with its precision, craft, and modern sense of design that anchors buildings to their sites and enhances the experience of materials and place. The firm provides creative solutions that are right for the place, the goal, and the client. The firm offers solid technical skills and sustainable design principles to design projects that exceed each client’s expectations. It is committed to learning, making, teaching, and helping others achieve their goals.
The house is a classic example of a mid-century style. It has a simple “L” shape and is built on a lot that backs up to a golf course. The house had been there for 60 years, and all of its insides had to be ripped out for the project. This allowed the home to be rewired, get new plumbing and insulation, and get radiant heat. The design team took some creative liberties with the finishes. Instead of shag carpet, they used polished concrete, and they got rid of the hard-to-climb-into sunken tub and replaced it with a modern, sculpted vessel bath.
Woodley Architectural Group
731 Southpark Dr, Suite B, Littleton, CO 80120
Woodley Architectural Group is an architecture and design firm with offices in Santa Ana, California, and Littleton, Colorado. It has won awards for its architecture planning. Its impressive portfolio features exceptional works shown throughout the United States and in China, Egypt, France, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates. Its experience includes high-density multi-family, high-density single-family, luxury single-family, custom homes, active adult communities, and recreational buildings. The firm’s creative solutions have led to widespread recognition in the industry.
Woodley Architectural Group leads clients on a personal design journey, making homes inspired by their dreams and matching how they live. One notable home has a simple design yet offers an elegant and sophisticated atmosphere. The blue roof balances out all the whites on the exterior, while the large windows offer a lot of natural light and breeze. This home has won the 2018 Denver MAME Custom Home of the Year Award.
BONSAI
2931 W. 25th Ave, Denver, CO 80211
BONSAI Architect-Led Design+Build started as a branch of a company called “Studio Q4” in 2008. It began as a traditional architecture firm that mostly did design work for remodeling and adding on before its founders recognized its potential to branch out into other design and construction services. As a result, Bonsai Design + Build, LLC and Bonsai Construction, LLC were both started in 2013. Since then, BONSAI has grown into a small group of talented people who work together well. With their combined knowledge, the firm builds construction projects that are carefully planned and made for clients. It has evolved into an architecture firm focusing on homes and businesses’ high-performance, environmentally friendly designs.
This 1916 brick home in Denver’s Congress Park neighborhood is located in the East Seventeenth Avenue Historic District. Careful attention was placed on how the home’s exterior was restored while the interior was fully remodeled to bring the home into the 21st century. A total high-performance rehabilitation was completed, including restructuring and vaulting the ceilings and adding a second story loft.
