Featured Designers

Our Plans are designed for energy efficiency. The idea is to broaden access to green design. Houseplans.com is excited to welcome the Green Living collection of innovative plans by FreeGreen founders David Wax and Ben Uyeda. These designs range from Contemporary to Country and Farmhouse styles. All incorporate green building materials and techniques. David and Ben are experts in the field of green design and also co-founded ZeroEnergy Design, an architecture and energy consulting firm specializing in new construction and major renovations. They got their start leading Cornell University's 2005 Solar Decathlon team, which won the second place award. The competition, sponsored by the US Department of Energy, challenges universities from across the US and beyond to research, design and build an 800 square-foot off-grid solar home. David holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Master of Business Administration from the Johnson School at Cornell University and is an IT consultant for the securities and capital markets. He says: "FreeGreen was able to integrate architecture and engineering software for custom home design, which meant that we could produce green design fast." Ben holds a Bachelor and Master of Architecture from Cornell University School of Architecture. He has been a visiting lecturer at Cornell, where he developed an original curriculum to teach the principles of sustainable design, and lectures on sustainable design at Northeastern University. His new venture is Home Made Modern: "smart, affordable DIY design ideas for cool people who like modern home furnishings." You can follow Ben's diverse design interests on Pinterest.

At Studio Ballard, we have been working with home builders and their clients for over 20 years. Brooks Ballard started designing home plans for a local Atlanta affordable housing corporation while still a grad student at Georgia Tech. These homes were pretty straight forward bungalows for infill lots in a struggling neighborhood. But the homes there still had character and so did the residents. They wanted to make sure that the new homes being built would fit in and uplift, not detract, from their neighborhood. Studio Ballard has grown similarly to these proud neighborhoods. What were once just up and coming communities are now some of the most desirable places to live. Like our home plans, these neighborhoods have all the modern comforts and are dynamic, convenient and accessible. Our clients are typically couples who have bought into a neighborhood because they love its charm and convenience. They’ve bought that “fixer upper” on a nice street, but now realize that the bones of that structure are just too small or brittle to make right. They want to upgrade their home but not lose the character. That’s where we come in. We take the lessons from our more affordable days and apply those principles to our new plans to achieve a modern, comfortable home on a small lot without losing the character of the neighborhood. The portfolio we’ve presented to houseplans.com includes the most popular of our home plans that we’ve worked on developing over the course of the past few years. We look forward to working with you to develop these further with you.

Every square inch of your home matters; every view, every focal point, every time you turn a corner the design matters, every view out a window is important. We do not have a specific style, what is specific about us is that we design a home as well as possible, and we design it with excellence.   As principal of Visbeen Architects in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wayne Visbeen, AIA, IIDA, leads a creative team dedicated to architectural excellence. One of the state's top architectural firms, Visbeen Architects provides architectural planning and interior design services to homeowners and business owners across the nation. The firm focuses on designing and developing master-planned communities and custom residences with more than 1000 designs completed. Inspired by custom details, craftsmanship and the architectural styles of the past—including Shingle, Mission, and English Tudor—all are nonetheless designed for modern living, with open spaces, convenient kitchens, and family-friendly floor plans. The firm has been the recipient of many national awards, including the awards for Best Custom Home in the Midwest Region and Best in the South Atlantic Region from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The firm has been honored with numerous Best in American Living Awards as well as many awards from the American Institute of Building Design.