Best Spaces™ Standard
Translating Engagement Insights into Design Solutions
The Memorial at Harvey Milk Plaza. Image courtesy of Friends of Harvey Milk and SWA Group.
The Vision
To create a world with built environments that are free of structural, programmatic, and social barriers for all end-users and communities.
The Approach
Translate end-user insights into actionable design strategies to create socially responsible built environments.
Advancing Experience-Driven Design
The Best Spaces Standard™ is a certification framework grounded in a simple premise: the best spaces are those shaped by the people they serve.
The current Pilot Version (3.0) is actively supporting certification across sectors. Version 1.0 is under development and will introduce additional criteria, refine scoring pathways, and formalize the evaluation methodology while maintaining the core principles established in the Pilot.
Projects may continue registering under the Pilot during this transition.
A public comment period will open in Spring 2026, inviting practitioners, researchers, and organizations to participate in shaping the next evolution of the Standard.
Standard Administrators
Best Spaces is administered by three interdisciplinary partners committed to advancing socially responsible buildings, spaces, and communities. Best Spaces Design Institute guides the stewardship of the Standard, refining criteria, engaging advisory committees, and promoting adoption worldwide. Certification is administered independently by SEAM, Inc. — a nonprofit organization and operator of the SEAM Standard — in collaboration with third-party reviewers at North Carolina State University. This powerful collaboration ensures that Best Spaces Certification remains rigorous, transparent, and unbiased.
What People Are Saying about Best Spaces
“The Best Spaces Standard provided a clear and effective framework that highlights the critical role of engagement in creating spaces that genuinely serve communities. We’re excited to bring this approach to future projects, continuing to design environments that reflect and uplift diverse voices.”
— Daniel Cunningham, Principal, SWA Group
The Best Spaces Standard helped us synthesize our approach to community-engaged design for Norman-Sims Elementary. We look forward to bringing Best Spaces to more of our projects in the future.
— Nicola Springer, AIA, LEED AP, Partner & Managing Director, pK-12 Practice, Kirksey Architecture
“We are honored to pave the way as the first Best Spaces Design Certification recipient for the Memorial at Harvey Milk Plaza. Inclusion of community voices is a key pillar of our project, and the Best Spaces Standard helped us to bolster this commitment.”
— Brian Springfield, Former Executive Director, The Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza
“We were thrilled to pilot the Best Spaces Standard at Norman-Sims Elementary. Engaging our community throughout the design process was a priority from the beginning. We appreciated Best Spaces as a building certification program that helped elevate our values.”
— Raechel French, PhD, Director of Planning Services, Austin Independent School District
Get Involved
We invite organizations to join us in shaping community-informed built environments by becoming an Impact Partner or Sponsors. Through 2026, all participating organizations will receive the designation of *Founding* Sponsor or *Founding* Impact Partner, a one-time opportunity to be recognized as an early Best Spaces supporter.
Sponsors
Investing to make community-informed design possible.
Sponsors provide the essential financial support that sustains the Best Spaces Design Institute’s research, standard development, and daily operations. Sponsorship enables the Best Spaces Design Institute to deliver evidence-based tools, resources, and education that empower practitioners to design with and for communities.
Gold, Silver, and Bronze sponsorship levels provide organizations a range of pathways for supporting the mission and future development of Best Spaces.
Impact Partners
Visionary collaborators shaping Best Spaces from the ground up.
Impact Partners are leading organizations that join the Best Spaces Design Institute in strategic, hands-on collaboration. Through bespoke partnerships, Impact Partners contribute expertise, resources, and in-kind support to co-create tools, frameworks, and initiatives that define the future of community-informed design.
