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Portland-based ZGF Architects has been named the top firm in the country by Architect, the journal of the American Institute of Architects.

En route to achieving a score of 300 points, the firm ranked no. 1 for sustainability, no. 7 for design and no. 52 for business on the Architect 50 list.

The award 鈥渋s really a reflection of the quality that Portland as a community creates,鈥� said Jan Willemse, managing partner of ZGF’s Portland office.

ZGF gained attention for designing 鈥渘et zero鈥� projects (those that use zero net water and energy): the Rocky Mountain Institute headquarters in Basalt, Colorado, and the office component of Stanford University’s Central Energy Facility. The magazine also cited a new University of Arizona cancer center.

Currently, ZGF is designing high-profile corporate headquarters for Nike in Beaverton and Clif Bar & Co. in Emeryville, California. The firm also is working on Greystar’s proposed 30-story tower at Southwest Fourth Avenue and Washington Street. That downtown parcel was acquired from Menashe Properties.

Other projects include an eco-district in in Kashiwanoha, Japan, a suburb of Tokyo; a Department of Psychiatry building at the University of California, San Francisco; and a Stanford satellite campus in Redwood City, California.

ZGF has 270 employees in Portland, and about 600 in total; its other offices are in Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., and Vancouver, British Columbia.

鈥淲e have very strong offices outside of Portland which have also contributed heavily,鈥� Willemse said. 鈥淲e try to pull our own weight鈥� in Portland, he added.

ZGF designed Portland International Airport’s terminal expansion and the Twelve | West building that now holds ZGF’s West End office. When ZGF outgrew its previous downtown Portland office, the firm attracted interest from Beaverton, Hillsboro and Vancouver, Washington, before officials settled on the block at Southwest 12th Avenue and Washington Street.

The firm’s decision to decamp to the West End was 鈥渁 deliberate move to reinvigorate a part of the city that could use the extra energy,鈥� Willemse said.