Arcfluence Honored at the 2025 AIA Ohio Awards
Both Nominated Projects Recognized at 2025 AIA Ohio Awards
We are honored to share that both of our nominated projects received recognition at the 2025 AIA Ohio Awards, a program that celebrates architectural design excellence across the state.
The Cliffs earned 2nd place in the People’s Choice Awards. This ambitious, unbuilt residence in Hocking Hills demonstrates how contemporary design can respond to dramatic natural terrain. Its proposed cantilevered form extends toward a wooded valley while reducing the amount of grading required on the slope.
BeAligned Health earned 3rd place in the People’s Choice Awards. Completed in collaboration with Ron Scott Design Build, this renovation in Powell transformed two separate offices into a unified, wellness-focused environment. Natural materials, layered lighting, and clearer circulation support the practice’s clinical program and day-to-day client experience.
“When design serves both vision and value, the work speaks for itself.”
The Cliffs: 2nd Place, People’s Choice
Architectural Concept and Site Response
The Cliffs is an architectural concept for a custom retreat in the Hocking Hills region. Cantilevered forms and elevated living platforms explore how the home could reduce disturbance on a steep wooded site while opening its primary spaces toward the valley.
Broad glazing and aligned interior and exterior platforms reinforce the connection between the house and the landscape. The concept is restrained in material and form, with its strongest move coming directly from the conditions of the site.
“The Cliffs challenges conventional ground-based construction by elevating form, literally and conceptually, to meet the landscape on its own terms.”
Design Priorities and Material Strategy
The design process centered on spatial lightness, clear circulation, and a structural approach that responds to the slope. Natural wood, dark structural elements, and broad areas of glazing give the concept a quiet material relationship to the surrounding tree canopy.
Interior planning aligns communal rooms with exterior terraces so the landscape remains present throughout the main living spaces. Detailed material, structural, and building-system decisions would continue to develop with the project.
Elevated Design, Reduced Footprint
The project leverages cantilevered structural systems to minimize grading and preserve site integrity, allowing the building to hover over terrain rather than alter it.
Integrated Living Platforms
Multiple platforms, interior, deck, and transitional, are aligned for visual and functional continuity, reinforcing indoor-outdoor flow without level interruption.
Sustainable Engineering as Design Language
Structural expression and environmental sensitivity are not separate concerns. They converge in exposed supports, suspended walkways, and material restraint.
Project Status
The Cliffs remains in concept development, and construction timing has not been set. The AIA Ohio result recognizes the design as submitted at that stage.
Arcfluence developed the concept with Nino Samardzic, Nick Karakaian, and Paul Fatkins leading the design effort.
BeAligned Health: 3rd Place, People’s Choice
Powell Ohio Design Excellence
Arcfluence’s collaboration with Ron Scott Design Build brought BeAligned Health’s Powell location from 2,000 to 4,000 square feet. The larger plan accommodates the practice’s clinical program while giving its client-facing spaces a clearer and more cohesive identity.
Located in Powell’s competitive healthcare corridor, BeAligned’s new facility showcases holistic design integrating chromotherapy, custom millwork from Millersburg Amish craftsmen, and sophisticated lighting systems. The collaboration created a cohesive environment that supports client comfort, practitioner workflow, and the practice’s wellness-centered identity.
“Powell’s BeAligned transformation demonstrates how chromotherapy, custom details, and close design-build collaboration can support a grounded wellness experience.”
A Holistic Design Approach
BeAligned Health’s original space, while warm with barn doors and stone accents, no longer met the needs of its growing practice. The new 4,000-square-foot office, double the previous size, required a layout that accommodated consultation rooms, an educational space, a rehab area, and more. Arcfluence initiated the process with schematic designs, collaborating closely with Ron Scott Design Build and the clients to fit these spaces into the footprint.
Ron Scott Design Build executed the vision with a focus on detail, from custom storage solutions to elevated finishes. A standout feature is a sliding storage unit with a bungee-cord lighting system, designed to hide supplements while maintaining an open-concept aesthetic. The project also incorporated live-edge wood from Penwood Manufacturing and eight-foot-tall Simpatico sliding doors, adding grandeur and reinforcing the practice’s established presence.
Thank You
We are humbled that both projects were recognized by the community through the People’s Choice Awards. This acknowledgment reflects not only our design vision, but also the collaborative efforts of our clients, contractors, and partners who make these projects possible.
To everyone who voted and supported us, sincerely, thank you. Your recognition drives our ongoing commitment to deliver architecture that is innovative, client-centered, and grounded in thoughtful design.
Project Credits
The Cliffs, Hocking Hills
- Lead Design: Arcfluence (Nino Samardzic, Nick Karakaian, Paul Fatkins)
- Status: Concept Development / Unbuilt
- Award: 2nd Place, AIA Ohio People’s Choice 2025
BeAligned Health, Powell, Ohio
- Architecture: Arcfluence
- Design-Build Partner: Ron Scott Design Build
- Interior Design: Danette Scott
- Live Edge Wood: Penwood Manufacturing
- Sliding Doors: Simpatico
- Award: 3rd Place, AIA Ohio People’s Choice 2025
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