Firm Description
Founded in 1973, Bernardon is an award-winning architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture firm with offices in Center City Philadelphia, West Chester, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware. Ranked on the 2020 Architectural Record list of Top 300 U.S. Architecture Firms, the 80-person firm has maintained a reputable presence and continued growth over the last four decades.
Serving a variety of markets – twelve in total – Bernardon’s market versatility and quality of design has established the firm as a design leader that consistently adapts to fluctuating economic climates. The firm attributes this consistent growth and agility to a purposeful approach in both business and design practice. Led by seven principals who remain closely involved in all aspects of the business, Bernardon strives to set benchmarks of excellence within the industry by recruiting, training, retaining, and leading passionate professionals who are equally creative, inventive, and socially and ethically responsible.
These standards maintained by Bernardon are reinforced by its company culture and commitment to collaborative design. The firm is driven by its Vision Statement, Dream. Design. Succeed., a relationship-based philosophy that encourages all team members to develop partnerships with their clients, consultants, and construction professionals so that all involved in the design process can better collaborate (DREAM), create (DESIGN), and foster a productive environment (SUCCEED) to meet design goals across all market sectors.
These market sectors include Civic & Cultural, Corporate, Healthcare, Higher Education, Hospitality/Recreational, Industrial/Warehousing, Mixed Use, Multi-Unit, Retail, Senior Living, Single-Family Custom Homes, and Transportation. Offering a breadth of services beyond its three core disciplines of architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture, the firm also provides urban design, historic preservation, master planning, and renovation/repositioning services all within an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective manner. Operating from the Wilmington office, the firm has also established a legacy of historic preservation projects with the State of Delaware, as well as an abundance of custom, single-family homes across Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Each project undergoes a fully comprehensive review process during each phase of design through to completion of the final design product, supported by our Quality Assurance Team. A Principal of the firm manages each project from start to finish, ensuring continuity of effort and provides for ownership-level leadership to enhance the “hands-on” project design and management services which have come to define our firm’s 48-year rise to prominence in the architecture and design community.
Bernardon has earned numerous honors and awards demonstrating its excellence in design and growth in the professional services industry. In addition to its inclusion on Architectural Records list of Top 300 Architecture Firms, the firm in 2019 was ranked #77 among the largest U.S. Mid-Atlantic architecture and engineering firms by ENR. Recent national recognition in design includes 520 Lofts a mixed-use, multi-unit residential community in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which was named the 2019 Grand Project of the Year, Mid-Rise by Multifamily Executive and the Dining Venue at Riddle Village Retirement Community was recognized as a 2020 Bronze Winner by Environments for Aging.
Through its diverse disciplines, service offerings, and a purposeful approach to business, Bernardon has sustained continued growth and professional success within an array of markets. Delivering innovative design is not merely a task for its teams, but a passionate commitment to creating imaginative, sustainable environments that enhance the lives of people across the Mid-Atlantic region. As Bernardon embarks on a new decade, the firm looks forward to continuing its practice of delivering imaginative, innovative design.