Jim Cutler, FAIA, founding partner of Cutler Anderson Architects (1977 to present) is known for his environmentally sensitive work and his responsiveness to place, program, and cultural circumstance. The firm of 14 employees has received six National Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects and over 50 national and regional awards. Cutler is a registered architect in Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington State. He has a Master of Architecture degree from the Louis I. Kahn Studio program at University of Pennsylvania, plus a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Based on Bainbridge Island, Washington since 1974 Cutler is a founding member of the non-profit conservation organization, the Bainbridge Island Land Trust. A frequent juror for design competitions, he has taught at Dartmouth, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the universities of California-Berkeley, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Washington, Oregon and Middlebury College in Vermont.

Nicola and Lance Herbst, Architects, established Herbst Architects Ltd. in 2001 in Auckland, New Zealand. The firm includes 12 architects. The work is focused on making a meaningful contribution to the built environment through excellence in architecture. The works of the practice have been widely published, both locally and internationally and have been the recipients of numerous awards, including 34 from the New Zealand Institute of Architects, and Herbst residences have been the winner of the Home magazine Home of the Year in 2012; 2016 and 2018. In 2018, the practice was awarded the Sir Ian Athfied prize for housing.

Paul Masi, Architect, Bates Masi + Architects. Paul Masi received a Bachelor of Architecture from Catholic University and a Masters of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He worked at Richard Meier & Partners before joining Harry Bates to form Bates Masi + Architects in 1998. The firm, based in East Hampton, Long Island, has been honored with 200 design awards and has been featured in numerous national and international publications including The New York Times, New York Magazine and Architectural Record.

Moderator: Suzanne Stephens, deputy editor of Architectural Record, has been a writer, editor, and critic in the field of architecture for several decades. She has a Ph.D. in architectural history from Cornell University, and teaches a seminar in the history of architectural criticism in the architecture program of Barnard and Columbia colleges.