Below are the 50 firms that did the best in our rankings according to the awards they have won for their design and their commitment to pro bono work.

2012 Architect 50: Design Excellence/Pro Bono Rankings
Rank Firm Name
1 Skidmore Owings & Merrill New York
2 Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects (ZGF) Portland, Ore.
3 BNIM Kansas City
4 HOK St. Louis
5 DLR Group Omaha, Neb.
6 Perkins+Will Chicago
7 AECOM Los Angeles
8 Cannon Design Grand Island, N.Y.
9 HDR Architecture Omaha, Neb.
10 SmithGroupJJR Detroit
11 Polk Stanley Wilcox Little Rock, Ark.
12 Frank Harmon Architect Raleigh, N.C.
13 Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF) New York
14 Centerbrook Architects and Planners Centerbrook, Conn.
15 Eskew+Dumez+Ripple New Orleans
16 Mark Cavagnero Associates Architects San Francisco
17 Little Diversified Architectural Consulting Charlotte, N.C.
18 Sasaki Associates Watertown, Mass.
19 Lord Aeck & Sargent Atlanta
20 Gresham, Smith and Partners Nashville, Tenn. 
21 Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects New York
22 HGA Architects and Engineers Minneapolis
23 Hord Coplan Macht Baltimore, Md.
24 Julie Snow Architects Minneapolis
25 EYP Architecture & Engineering Albany, N.Y.
26 Ross Barney Architects Chicago
27 Westlake Reed Leskosky Cleveland
28 LMN Architects Seattle
29 Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects Berkeley, Calif.
30 Richärd+Bauer Phoenix
31 Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects San Francisco
32 Gruzen Samton/ IBI Group New York
33 NBBJ Seattle
34 The Miller Hull Partnership Seattle
35 The S/L/A/M Collaborative Glastonbury, Conn.
36 LPA Irvine, Calif.
37 NAC | Architecture Seattle, Wash.
38 Tate Snyder Kimsey Las Vegas
39 HKS Architects Dallas
40 SCALEStudio + SCALEAfrica New York
41 Payette Boston
42 Ann Beha Architects Boston
43 Ratcliff Architects Emeryville, Calif.
44 Leo A Daly Omaha, Neb.
45 John Ronan Architects Chicago
46 RNL Denver
47 Studio H:T Boulder, Colo.
48 Helix Architecture + Design Kansas City
49 Studios Architecture Washington, D.C.
50 GBBN Architects Cincinnati, Ohio

To read the rest of our 2012 ARCHITECT 50 coverage, click here.