NBBJ

NBBJ is an American global architecture, planning and design firm with offices in Boston, Columbus, Charlotte, London, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Pune, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Shanghai. The firm provides services in architecture, interiors, planning and urban design, environmental graphics, experience design, healthcare and workplace consulting, landscape architecture, and lighting design. The firm works across sectors including healthcare, commercial and workplace environments, science and research, education, civic and cultural institutions, and urban design. NBBJ has been recognized as a TIME 100 Most Influential Companies (2025), and a six-time recipient of the Fast Company Most Innovative Architecture Firm award. NBBJ was also recognized as "Best in Business" by Modern Healthcare, named the fastest-growing architecture firm by Architectural Record, and designated by Wired as the "architecture firm of choice for tech companies."

NBBJ is an American global architecture, planning and design firm with offices in Boston, Columbus, Charlotte, London, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Pune, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Shanghai. The firm provides services in architecture, interiors, planning and urban design, environmental graphics, experience design, healthcare and workplace consulting, landscape architecture, and lighting design. The firm works across sectors including healthcare, commercial and workplace environments, science and research, education, civic and cultural institutions, and urban design. NBBJ has been recognized as a TIME 100 Most Influential Companies (2025), and a six-time recipient of the Fast Company Most Innovative Architecture Firm award. NBBJ was also recognized as "Best in Business" by Modern Healthcare, named the fastest-growing architecture firm by Architectural Record, and designated by Wired as the "architecture firm of choice for tech companies."

History

NBBJ was founded in 1943¹ by Seattle architects Floyd Naramore, William J. Bain, Clifton Brady, and Perry Johanson, originally under the name Naramore, Bain, Brady & Johanson. Formed during World War II to undertake large-scale federal projects such as the Bremerton Naval Shipyard expansion, the partnership remained intact after the war and evolved into one of the Pacific Northwest’s largest architecture firms. In 1976, the firm merged with Columbus, Ohio-based Nitschke–Godwin–Bohm, formally becoming NBBJ and expanding its national reach. In 2010, NBBJ merged with Cambridge-based urban design firm Chan Krieger Sieniewicz (CKS), enhancing its presence in the Northeast and adding to its urban design capabilities. In 2020, NBBJ expanded its expertise in immersive and experiential design through its acquisition of ESI Design, a New York-based studio known for integrating interactive media and technology into the built environment.

Sustainability and Climate Initiatives

The firm was an early signatory of the Architecture challenge, a global initiative to reduce fossil-fuel greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment. In 2025, NBBJ was ranked #1 among leading US architecture firms in Energy Use Intensity (EUI) reduction as part of the AIA 2030 °Challenge, reporting a portfolio-wide reduction of approximately 75%. The firm also ranked among the top two firms by gross square footage of projects meeting EUI targets. NBBJ is also CarbonNeutral® certified by Natural Capital Partners and a signatory of the Amazon Climate Pledge.

Research and Innovation

NBBJ has developed research initiatives focused on the relationship between the built environment and human performance, including studies on climate, temperature, and cognitive function in partnership with neuroscientist Dr. John Medina. In addition, the firm has developed partnerships with The New York Academy of Sciences to study what scientists want in their lab buildings, Professor Dr. Raj Choudhury of the London School of Economics (previously with the Harvard Business School) to design workplaces in an era of disruption and Professor Dr. Kevin Schulman of the Stanford’s Graduate School of Business to inform future hospital design in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

Selected completed projects

Workplace

Alibaba Headquarters, China Alipay Headquarters, China Amazon Doppler, Day 1, and the third building, Seattle, Washington Amazon Spheres, Seattle, Washington Amazon's Arlington Headquarters, Arlington, Virginia Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Headquarters, Seattle, Washington BlackRock, New York, New York Boeing Commercial Airplane Headquarters, Renton, Washington Brooks Sports, Seattle, Washington F5 Headquarters, Seattle, Washington Hana Bank Headquarters, Cheongna, Korea Reebok World Headquarters, Canton, Massachusetts Russell Investments Headquarters, Seattle, Washington Samsung North America Headquarters, San Jose, California Telenor World Headquarters, Fornebo, Oslo, Norway Tencent Headquarters, Shenzhen, China Two Union Square, Seattle, Washington Warner Bros. Discovery Second Century Project, Los Angeles, California

Commercial

Keppel South Central, Singapore Moderna Headquarters, Cambridge, Massachusetts Oasis Central Sudirman, Jakarta, Indonesia Rainier Square Tower, Seattle, Washington The Works, Unity Campus, Cambridge, United Kingdom The Sail @ Marina Bay, Singapore Two Taikoo Place, Hong Kong

Healthcare

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center New Bed Tower & Inpatient Expansion, Charlotte, North Carolina Atrium Health David L. Conlan Center at Carolinas Rehabilitation, Charlotte, North Carolina Banner Health Banner Estrella Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts Cleveland Clinic Heart Center Miller Pavilion, Cleveland Ohio Dubai Mall Medical Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Elks Children's Eye Clinic at Oregon Health & Science University, Casey Eye Institute, Portland Oregon Jiahui Hospital, Shanghai, China Massachusetts General Hospital Lunder Building, Boston, Massachusetts Massachusetts General Hospital Phillip and Susan Ragon Building, Boston Massachusetts Meridian Center for Health, Seattle, Washington Miami Valley Hospital Heart and Orthopedic Center, Dayton, Ohio Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio New York University Medical Center, New York, New York NYU Langone Health, Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Pavilion, New York, New York Ohana Center for Health, Monterey California Royal Liverpool Hospital Seattle Children's Hospital Bellevue Clinic and Surgery Center, Bellevue, Washington Seattle Children's Odessa Brown Children's Clinic, Seattle, Washington Southcentral Foundation Primary Care Clinic, Anchorage, Alaska Stad Center for Pediatric Pain, Palliative and Integrative Medicine, San Francisco, California UCSF Connie Frank Transplant Center Renovations, San Francisco, California UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California University Medical Center New Orleans Veterans Affairs Hospital and Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System Replacement Medical Center and Research Lab, New Orleans, Louisiana Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center, Pendleton, Oregon

Education

American International University, Kuwait City, Kuwait City, University of London Main Entrance Transformation Project, London, United Kingdom Cleveland State University College of Education and Human Services, Cleveland, Ohio Cornell Tang Hall, Ithaca, New York Royce Institute, University of Manchester, United Kingdom Stanford University Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge, Palo Alto, California UC San Diego Viterbi Family Vision Research Center, San Diego, California University of Cambridge Material Sciences and Metallurgy Building, Cambridge, United Kingdom University of Idaho, Integrated Research and Innovation Center, Moscow, Idaho University of Oxford, Life and Mind Building, Oxford, United Kingdom University of Southampton Life Sciences Building, Southampton, United Kingdom Webster Hall, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington Westmark, Encino, California

Experience Design

Delta LGA Terminal C Media Experience, New York, New York Loma Land at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, Loma Linda, California eBay Main Street, California Statue of Liberty Museum, New York, New York WarnerMedia Headquarters, New York, New York White House Public Tour, Washington D.C.

Science

Abcam Headquarters, Cambridge, United Kingdom Brigham and Women's Hale Building for Transformative Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology UCSD Atkinson Hall building, San Diego, California European Bioinformatics Institute, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom Henry Royce Institute, University of Manchester, United Kingdom Moderna Headquarters, Cambridge, Massachusetts Nationwide Children's Hospital Research Institute, Columbus, Ohio Quadram Institute, Norwich, United Kingdom Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington University Enterprise Zone at Queen Mary University, London, United Kingdom University of Oxford, Life and Mind Building, Oxford, United Kingdom Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Cultural and Civic

Columbus Metropolitan Library branches (Driving Park, Dublin, and Northside) Denny Substation, Seattle Federal Reserve Bank Building, Seattle, Washington Sacramento Courthouse, Sacramento, California Seattle Ferry Terminal Seattle Justice Center, Seattle, Washington Seattle Opera at the Center, Seattle, Washington Shasta County, New Redding Courthouse, Redding, California United States Courthouse, Bakersfield, California United States Courthouse, Billings, Montana United States Courthouse, Seattle, Washington White House Public Tour, Washington D.C.

Sports/Expo

AsiaWorld-Expo, Lantau, Hong Kong Central Bank Center Renovation (Rupp Arena), Lexington, Kentucky Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo Center, Hangzhou, China Jamsil Olympic Stadium Renovation, Korea Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium since 2022), Cincinnati, Ohio Staples Center, Los Angeles, California T-Mobile Park, Seattle, Washington UCLA Pauley Pavilion Renovation, Los Angeles, California

Urban Design

Dallas Arts District Downtown Boston Planning Study, Boston, Massachusetts Georgia Tech Comprehensive Campus Plan Louisiana State University Comprehensive and Strategic Master Plan, Baton Rouge, Louisiana Pittsburgh Waterfront Master Plan Shanghai Bund Renovation, Shanghai, China (2011) Tencent Shenzhen Headquarters Project, Shenzhen, China The Southwestern Medical District Master Plan University of Utah Physical Development Plan Wilburton Urban Design and Sustainable District Opportunity Assessment Imperia Ocean City, Hung Yen, Vietnam

Selected designers

Designers at NBBJ include: Steve McConnell (appointed managing partner in 2014), Jonathan Ward (partner), Joan Saba, Robert Mankin (appointed managing partner in 2023), Ryan Mullenix (partner), Jay Siebenmorgen (Design Partner), Mindy Levine-Archer (Design Partner) and Tim Johnson (partner).

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376134218 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.