Firm
Hansen Architects
Hansen Architects is a boutique architecture firm in Annapolis, MD specializing in the design and production of 200+ waterfront residences, from cottages to family compounds, for the past twenty-five years. The firm’s principal, Marta Hansen, won the AIA’s 2021 Architect of the Year Award for the Chesapeake Chapter. The firm has won numerous awards from the American Institute of Architects, Houzz, Associated Builders and Contractors, and Annapolis Home Magazine. These projects are regularly featured in local, regional and national publications including the Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, Cottage Living, HGTV, Home and Design, The Washington Post, Chesapeake Views, Coastal Style and Annapolis Home.
Hansen Architects maintains this high standard of quality by remaining a small firm, focusing on the quality of design for a limited number of regional projects rather than the quantity of becoming a larger production-oriented firm with formulaic results. For an award winning home, architectural decisions are made at every stage of a project’s development and at Hansen Architects those are executed by Marta Hansen, AIA. This creative approach is complimented by excellent problem solving skills, technical proficiency and extensive construction experience. The firm has maximized the build-able potential of the most difficult and highly regulated sites, obtained permits and variances for complex waterfront lots, tight urban parcels, steep slopes, and building within the flood plain. She has successfully worked with the most meticulous community review boards including those in the Annapolis Historic District and Sherwood Forest, MD. Hansen Architects has an extensive portfolio of built work and a long list of glowing client testimonials which can be found at the Houzz link below.
Marta Hansen
Marta Hansen has been practicing architecture for over 30 years designing over 300 residential and commercial structures. She has won numerous awards from the American Institute of Architects and her projects are regularly published on the local, regional and national level.
Combining talents from an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the College of William and Mary and a four year Masters of Architecture degree from Rice University, rated as one of the top architecture schools in the nation, Marta has a thorough knowledge of architectural history, theory and design, and can artfully and quickly render realistic visualizations.
Listening to her clients’ needs and budget, she can overlay these criteria onto timeless designs integrated into the most challenging waterfront and historic building sites. Her architecture incorporates natural daylighting, interior and landscape architecture to produce organic compositions in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
It is the role of the architect to help clients understand and visualize options within their budgetary and permitting framework so they can realize their vision and make the best possible investment in their home. Good design costs no more than bad design once the parts and pieces are placed correctly, and the result can significantly change one’s quality of life on a daily basis.
