Two Sarasota Firms Included on Forbes' List of 'Best Residential Architects in America'
Image: Bill Speer
Forbes’ latest America’s Best-in-State Residential Architects list shines a national spotlight on Sarasota, with Seibert Architects and Halflants + Pichette Architects among the country’s top 400 firms.
The ranking was no casual nod. Forbes' editorial team spent ten months on the evaluation and reviewed more than 20,000 firms. They weighed cultural, social, economic, political and lifestyle factors that shape the single-family custom home market in each state. They also compared state-by-state licensure data with national totals to calibrate representation. No firm paid to participate. The goal: identify the firms that set what Forbes calls “the high-bar mark of excellence” in residential design.
In Florida, 12 firms made the list, six in Miami alone. In Sarasota, the two names that rose to the top are rooted in the city’s modernist lineage and a newer wave of contemporary practice, respectively.
Image: Bill Speer
Founded in 2006, Halflants + Pichette operates on a philosophy that architecture begins with context, not preconception. “Great homes grow from a deep sense of place. We’re grateful to Forbes for recognizing that approach,” says Michael Halflants. John Pichette echoes that commitment: “Design only matters when it’s built with care. This recognition affirms that principle.”
Image: Bill Speer
Seibert Architects, meanwhile, carries forward the DNA of the Sarasota School of Architecture, Sarasota’s midcentury architectural legacy. Established in 1955 and today helmed by Michael L. Epstein, the firm has long been known for both new builds and renovations that respect Florida’s light, air and subtropical character. “We are pleased to be recognized for the quality of our design work," says Epstein. "It cannot go unsaid that good clients make good design possible and also to recognize the importance of the work of countless others that have a hand in the realization of our ideas." Seibert Architects was the only Sarasota firm to make Forbes' 2024 list of the best 200 firms nationwide.
Image: Ryan Gamma
Image: Ryan Gamma
It's not surprising that Sarasota would be doubly represented on a national stage. We've long been a laboratory for design, first through the Sarasota School of Architecture in the 1950s and now through a new generation of architects redefining modern living in a climate where light, water and storm shape the built environment.
