The 100 design firms in ENR Midwest’s Top Design Firms ranking are offering more expertise and services across the 11-state region. That diversification resulted in another year of growth as the firms reported total revenue of $5.78 billion for fiscal year 2018—an increase from the $5.67 billion reported by the top 100 firms that responded to last year’s survey. It is also an increase from the $4.9 billion reported for fiscal year 2016, the first year that ENR Midwest’s coverage expanded to include all Midwestern states.

While giants such as AECOM and Burns & McDonnell once again fought it out for the top spot on the list, the entire ranking shows architects and engineers delivering everything from rail, airport and transit designs to skyscrapers and energy plants. Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (No. 40 this year, up from No. 43 in 2018) considers itself a problem-solving firm, and its revenue grew at a pace similar to that seen by many of the region’s design architects and engineers.

Northbrook, Ill.-based WJE specializes in the investigation, analysis, testing and design of repairs for historic and contemporary buildings and structures. Gary Klein, WJE executive vice president and senior principal, said that while clients kept calling steadily for WJE’s services, even during the recession, the firm was able to track an uptick in more proactive problem-solving contacts.

克莱因说：“我们追踪的一件事是客户打电话给我们的原因。”“我们试图将它们分为主要领域。主要是，客户打电话给我们解决施工问题，但是，越来越多的人呼吁我们避免问题。例如，同行评审服务。这是几十年前我们作品的一小部分，但现在非常重要。[客户]希望提前雇用我们来审查他们的设计，而不是在建筑物泄漏或石头失败后雇用我们。”

The frequency of those calls stabilized, and in the last year, the number of clients calling WJE to solve their problems increased, Klein says.

去年，Janney技术中心在其Northbrook校园内完成了帮助，帮助WJE更好地为所有客户服务。70,000平方英尺的测试和应用研究设施包括一系列化学，岩石学，冶金，混凝土和砂浆，腐蚀和结构测试实验室以及环境暴露室。克莱因说，尽管WJE以前提供了这些服务，但在一个屋顶下所有这些功能都帮助该公司更好地运用了其专业知识。

克莱因说：“它取代了我们拥有的旧设施和功能。”“这是巨大的，因为我们可以查看从化学和元素水平的建筑材料到桥梁大梁的全尺度测试的所有内容。但是，如果我不说设施是一回事，我会被解雇，但是拥有有经验的人可以知道何时进行测试，如何测试和从结果中有意义是最重要的事情。”

今年的第四名是斯坦特克（Stantec），在中西部所有州的30个办公室中，其收入表现最强。这家建筑和工程公司还拥有一些最多样化的项目，从西密歇根大学的学生住房到芝加哥箭牌球场附近的校园重建，甚至是雨水转移隧道。18luck官网

“We do quite a bit of work with buildings and community development in states that we don’t have a strong presence in already,” explains Elie Sabbagh, Stantec vice president. “That’s how we kind of get our foot in the door. For higher education, most of the time you don’t need to be local for that work. The same thing goes for community development. We’re winning projects, and we use our colleagues across the country.”

The firm’s Boston office, for example, has completed work in Dayton, Ohio, where Stantec has won several planning projects.

“The same kind of concept goes for the states that we’re trying to establish a better presence in,” Sabbagh says. “We progress in the conversation. We’re always trying to get into newer markets in Omaha, Iowa and Kansas, and expand there.”

Stantec还依靠其各个区域办事处的专业知识。该公司的堪萨斯州办事处提供水和环境设计服务以及景观建筑。同时，在伊利诺伊州，高等教育小组在附近的密歇根州协助。

Stantec的芝加哥建筑办公室副总裁兼区域业务负责人Michael Toolis说：“我们在全国各地都有一个非常强大的学生住房计划。”“ [WMU]项目可能代表了最新的变化，就像您正在为孩子们建造公寓，而不是古老的，更传统的校园生活选择。”

芝加哥建筑师Solomon Cordwell Buenz今年从去年排名第59位上升到第53位，这主要是由于主要的Urban Skyscraper项目，例如芝加哥的Tribune Tower Redevelopment。18luck官网SCB总裁克里斯·彭伯顿（Chris Pemberton）注意到的一件事是，在过去的两年中，城市高层住宅和办公项目都发生了很大变化。18luck官网

“The range of what constitutes ‘mixed use’ has gotten broader,” Pemberton says. “For a long time, you might have had a residential multifamily apartment tower with a little bit of retail and parking, but now you’re very commonly mixing in hotel and office—sometimes all three together. Sometimes you might have a hotel and residential. Interestingly, we’re seeing a lot of projects with a mix of office and residential.”

彭伯顿（Pemberton）指出，SCB的城市工作已从大城市（如芝加哥）工作了数十年，到了芝加哥（Chicago），到达芝加哥（Chicago）的发展，到了得梅因（Des Moines）和纳什维尔（Nashville）等城市中心地区的主要地点的发展。

彭伯顿（Pemberton）表示，SCB看到对设计服务的需求增长以及寻找这些服务的城市数量的增加，“我们认为这很棒”。