Passion
Beauty
Equity
Joy

We actively support and engage with the International Living Futures Institute (ILFI) programs Living Building Challenge to strive for a holistic and regenerative design approach. This rigorous standard of sustainability provides a real path forward for our profession and work towards low impact buildings and a built environment that is restorative and equitable.

Our design practice is focused on humanistic and cost-effective approaches to implement energy efficient and environmentally sensitive design. The firm began as a design-build company providing construction management and full-service contracting combined with architectural services for a range of projects from urban, historic, and housing renovations and new construction. This experience has given the firm comprehensive exposure to building systems, envelopes, construction methodology, cost implications, and logistics for project delivery. In 2000, Next Phase Studios Architects transitioned into a purely Architectural firm, providing professional design services exclusively. Our construction management experience continues to permeate our project approach, leadership, and understanding of project delivery & coordination. At the core of this approach is a problem-solving, interdisciplinary assessment and design process that adds value and durability in project specific solutions.

Founded in 1993, Next Phase Studios Architects is a full-service architecture firm that provides integrated architectural design, programming, and project administration services for academic, institutional, municipal buildings, housing and residential.

Next Phase Studios Architects is a collaborative design firm providing full design services for architecture and interiors. We work as an experienced, integrated team and use a dynamic, problem solving approach.

As both individuals, and studio members, we strive for a very high level of expertise and effectiveness. This method leads to creative, sustainable, innovative design, building technology, and well managed Project Delivery.

Our team structure allows us to execute a complex range of projects of a diverse type, budget, and size. Next Phase Studios provides project leadership and actively engages a full team of professional engineers, construction & costs consultants, landscape and lighting designers, and required specialists to collaborate with the client & builder from concept through construction and occupation. At the core of this approach is a design process that fully involves the client and adds value in the realization of architecture and its place in the built environment.

The results of our work incorporate the diverse experiences and contributions by all the team members involved in the creative or design process.  This inclusive approach allows us to excel, for example, in the fields of Integrated Design, Sustainability and Building Performance. A creative process is always an integrated one within a Collaborative Team. In the context of our work, and brought into focus by each project, known principles and approaches are constantly questioned and interrogated through new methodologies and disciplined design.

In architectural design, we prefer the unusual to the usual, or put another way, we tend to introduce the ‘usual’ in an unusual way. We see the experiential component of architecture, the composition of space and light, as being free and supportive of the social aspects.  This leads to what we call human friendly or Humanistic Design. We believe that such an approach can introduce a certain lightness and simplicity to architecture resulting in well received projects.

Rick Ames, AIA, LEED AP
Founder and Principal

Keith Campbell, Senior Associate
Architect/Designer

Nora Shull, RA, LEED GA, CPHC, MCPPO
Architect / Project Manager

Anya vanBeuzekom, EA
Controller

Florence Ma
Designer

Rohith Dumpala
Designer

Haochen Meng
Designer

Lisa Sun, LEED Green Associate
Designer

Lulu, Wonder Dog

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