Chapel Hill architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, known for the comfortably modern, energy-efficient, net-zero houses she’s designed all over North Carolina’s “Triangle” region, is honored to have been selected for Forbes Magazine’s first-ever list of “America’s Top 200 Residential Architects.”

Forbes recently announced its inaugural residential architects list on the magazine’s website.

Previously, on September 19, Forbes’ senior architecture contributor Richard Olson explained the meticulous selection process used to determine the Top 200. The process involved assessing the work of over 18,000 AIA-member firms, state by state nationwide, in which single-family houses are a substantial part of the firm’s portfolio.

The Forbes Architecture Editorial Team and the Forbes Architecture Advisory Board, the latter of which is comprised of regionally diverse experts on the American house, formulated a rigorous methodology and system of evaluation that they would use to select the Top 200. (Click on the link to read more details.)

Unlike design award programs, architects do not send in projects to be considered, or pay any submission or registration fees. For the Forbes list, the editors themselves found the firms and projects they thought appropriate. If the designers made it through the initial evaluation – without even knowing it – the editorial team invited them to present up to three houses that they believe embrace “the particulars of place,“ the details and characteristics that define a particular location, including its geography, history, culture, people, and distinctive nuances. The entire labor-intensive process took 10 months to complete.

Recalling the day she received the first call from Forbes, Schechter said, “I was both delighted and shocked when they called me to say I was a finalist and to ask me to submit three projects. I didn’t think I would be one of the chosen, so I’m thrilled to be included in such an august group!”

Key to Arielle Schechter’s appearance on Forbes’ Top 2000 list is her portfolio of “contemporary, energy-efficient homes, modestly sized and, in some cases, net-positive Passive houses — a rare design designation for homes that generate energy rather than merely consume it.” The editors were also intrigued by her Micropolis® collection of pre-designed, modern, energy-efficient sustainable house plans that range in size from 150 to 1500 square feet.

Among the objectives behind Forbes’ new residential architects listing, the following is the reason architects will want to be on that list for years to come:

“America’s Top 200 Residential Architects,” the editors conclude, “will point to the architects to whom you can turn, no matter where you are across the nation, to help you create a house that meets both your personal demands and the outsized existential demands of our times.”

For more information on the Forbes’ Top 200 Residential Architects in America list, click here.