About Our Kansas City-Based Architecture Firm

Our Architectural Design Philosophy and History

Headquartered in the Kansas City metro area, NSPJ Architects has been involved in the tremendous growth that has characterized our city. Our founders believed strongly in the importance of respecting the context of carefully-proportioned, richly-detailed architecture and efficient space planning.

Architecture Firm Values

Legacy of Design Excellence

LEGACY: Founded in 1961, we continue to create timeless designs with distinctive detail and proportion.

DESIGN EXCELLENCE: Our work is inspired, holistic and innovative with unmatched expertise in residential-focused environments.

Integrity

CONVICTION: We consistently strive to do the right thing.

STRONG WORK ETHIC: Our teams work diligently to provide successful outcomes.

Client-Focused Service

PARTNERSHIP: With our extensive experience, our team brings the client’s vision together to accomplish their goals.

RESPONSIVE: We listen to our clients and are respectful of their needs.

Good People & Strong Relationships

GOOD PEOPLE: We put people first and support a work/life balance.

STRONG RELATIONSHIPS: We value personal connections and develop lasting relationships.

Culture of Collaboration

COLLABORATION: We believe that individual commitment through collaboration creates mutual success.
SUPPORTIVE: We are committed to providing a supportive culture of personal and professional development by investing in our people.

Today, the tradition continues. Whether the project is a remodel, an addition to a historic building, new construction or site planning, our architects near you believe design and detailing should respect the existing structure and properly blend into its neighborhood, while public or private spaces should serve our clients’ needs.

We consistently attract individuals who enthusiastically embrace our architectural design traditions, and our current team members collectively have 950 years of experience. Our energetic and creative staff of architects, landscape architects and planners have extensive experience in a broad range of project types and take a step-by-step collaborative approach while working closely with our clients.

Commitment to Excellence

NSPJ Architects has built a long-standing tradition of excellence in service and architectural design, commitment to quality and devotion to creating the best lifestyle-rich environments for our clients. Our residential architects, commercial architects and landscape architects work together in a truly holistic design approach for all our projects.

Architecture Firm History

Howard Nearing, AIA, founded our firm in June 1961. Since the start, NSPJ Architects has provided comprehensive site planning and architectural design services for more than 6,500 projects encompassing a diverse range of types and complexities.

Custom homes
Office buildings
Multifamily residences
Municipal and private streetscapes
Retail buildings and shopping centers
Institutional buildings
Recreational facilities and amenity centers
Mixed-use buildings and plazas
Entry monuments and gateways
Hospitality
Retail roll-outs and tenant finishes
Water features and landscapes
Senior living and skilled nursing facilities
Site amenities and public plazas
Master-planned communities
Warehouse buildings
Large-scale land-use planning

Design Approach and Philosophy

Our standard is to provide the highest-quality construction documents on every project. Each set of drawings meets the elevated expectation that the content be detailed, comprehensive and intelligible.

Two designated quality assurance/quality control architects review all projects for integrity prior to release. Our process results in projects with a low percentage of field change orders and a great ease of construction. Contractors hold our construction documents in high regard for their thoroughness.

Our architecture firm believes it can better approach a client’s needs by having a broad range of experience in many building types, construction methods and practices, leading to innovative solutions for each client’s unique circumstances. We are proud of our past experiences and look forward to using them to develop new ways of surpassing our clients’ expectations.

Our Architecture Firm’s Track Record of Success

At our office in Kansas City, our devotion to strong client relationships and successful projects are core standards at NSPJ Architects. We listen to clients’ needs and desires, collaborating to create designs that reflect their personality and vision, and:

Continually research national development trends, new projects and most-desired site amenities.
Place as much emphasis on client services as we do on our devotion to creating timeless architectural design.
Pride ourselves on maintaining good relationships.
Remain flexible to meet scheduling timelines, and use our experience to handle the demands of large, complex projects.
Assign a singular point-person from preliminary design through substantial completion to ensure continuity between vision, intent and results.
Visit local plant nurseries and maintain strong relationships with landscape contractors to understand material availability and support our community.

Our “project-first” philosophy

We foster a loyalty with our clients that is reflected by the multitude of architecture, landscape architecture, and site planning projects we’ve completed.