The judging board was "deeply impressed" by OZ's "consistently exemplary quality and wide variety of work," says Scott Rodwin, president of AIA Colorado North. "Thoughtful, beautiful and regionally appropriate design was evident from land planning projects all the way down to details. Projects like the Nature Conservancy and Boulder Community Foothills Hospital were of particular note in our decision. OZ had formidable competition in this category. What tipped the balance was your firm's culture."

The work of OZ Architecture spans schools, research facilities, hospitals, firehouses, townhomes, resorts, urban infill, and office buildings. OZ Architecture has studios in Boulder, Denver, and in the mountain community of Dillon, and is soon opening in Colorado Springs. The firm's work focuses on Colorado and the West but spans the globe as far as a hospital addition in Kathmandu, Nepal, and a new capital city center and airport in Kigali, Rwanda.

"In recent years, OZ has expanded into to healthcare design, environmental design, transit-oriented development, and forward-looking humanitarian projects in the Third World," says Sharon Lavoie, a principal at OZ. The firm, with 150 employees, was founded in 1964.