Designing places people love for 25+ years

Since our inception, a profound reverence for our region and the well-being of its communities has driven our passion for the highest quality design. Our methods and designs have continued to evolve, but we have always been laser-focused on creating inspirational, meaningful places; re-creating the walkable cores of our region’s communities; resourcefully using our assets, including existing buildings; and supporting environmental sustainability through high-performance design.

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2024 and beyond

Continue pushing forward TOWARD NEW HORIZONS

We will continue growing in size and capability to remain in the vanguard of the high-performance building community, and we will remain focused on developing the urban core of Billings and the small urban cores of rural communities in our region. There is much work to be done, and we are ready! ”
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2019

BREAKING GROUND ON HEALTHCARE

Leveraging our considerable experience in daylighting and indoor environmental quality, we designed our first healthcare project to be truly restorative as well as high functioning. Read more about our reimagining of rural healthcare here https://www.highplainsarchitects.com/ideas/healthcare”
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2018

GETTING DELIBERATE ABOUT REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT

Recognizing that many potentially successful projects are not proceeding because clients don’t have the capacity or experience with real estate development, HPA starts offering development services through its affiliate, Urban Frontier Development Services. ”
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2016

URBAN FRONTIER HOUSE MOVE-IN

Another experimental project within downtown Billings that acts as a living laboratory for achieving the highest levels of performance, including an almost entirely passive heating/cooling system, composting toilets, and greywater treatment. ”
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2015

BORDEN HOTEL REMODEL COMPLETED

Borden demonstrated that our work (high-performance adaptive reuse of historic downtown buildings) has a strong market in small towns (pop. 1,000) as much as in cities. We also used syndicated tax credits for the first time. ”
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2014

RANDY IS ELEVATED TO FAIA, PRESENTS A TEDX TALK, AND RANDY & JANNA RECEIVE SMALL BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD

In 2014, Randy was elevated to a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, one of the highest honors that can be conferred on an American architect. The AIA confers “Fellowship” status on individual architects who have been deemed by their peers to have shown distinction before the public and the profession as a model architect, and who have made significant and lasting contributions to architecture and society. Only 3 percent of the AIA members have this distinction.

Also that year, Randy gave a TEDx on the vision behind the creation of the Urban Frontier House, Montana’s first Living Building-certified building.

That same year, Randy & Janna Hafer were awarded the Small Business Association’s Montana Small Business Persons of the year. ”
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2013

MULTI-PLATINUM PARTY

We celebrated earning 11 LEED Platinums (plus 1 LEED Gold) over the past 6 years. ”
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2012

NOLS WILDERNESS MEDICINE CAMPUS COMPLETED

High Plains completes the first significant campus for NOLS, a nonprofit global wilderness school known worldwide. HPA’s high-performance experience, scrappy budget-stretching strategies, and knowledge of the region combined to edge out prominent national firms. ”
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2009

BETTER BRICKS AWARD

The first annual Montana BetterBricks Award was awarded to High Plains Architects’ founder, Randy Hafer, along with two other outstanding leaders in the green building industry.

The event was held in Helena in conjunction with the Montana Ambassadors Annual Conference.”
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2009

SWIFT BUILDING LOFTS OPENS

This project unifies two branches of HPA work: loft apartments in certified historic buildings and LEED-certified high-performance buildings. Strategies were mastered to simultaneously accomplish the sometimes conflicting goals of the two. ”
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2008

FIRM MOVES INTO NEW HOME AT THE KLOS BUILDING

The new office provided a lab for living with rainwater harvesting and natural ventilation, in addition to previously used strategies in this LEED Platinum-certified office building. ”
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2006

HOME ON THE RANGE OPENS

The first LEED Platinum-certified building in the five-state region demonstrates that a homely existing building can be reinvented into an attractive, high-performance building within conventional building budgets. ”
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2005

STAPLETON BUILDING EXTERIOR RESTORED

An ambitious historic rehabilitation project changes the face of Downtown Billings.”
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2001

ONE SOUTH BROADWAY OPENS

The first warehouse-to-loft conversion in a 500-mile radius was also the first project that Randy developed at High Plains.”
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2000

RANDY & ED HELP ORGANIZE BILLINGS, BIG SKY & BEYOND

Their vision is to capitalize on the opportunities to make this place special and develop a vibrant downtown. ”
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1999

HIGH PLAINS ARCHITECTS OPENS ITS DOORS ON MARCH 1, 1999

Randy and Janna Hafer names the firm after its place rather than themselves, breaking from a common architectural practice tradition. The name High Plains reflects our love and awe for the plains of Montana and the communities within them—our home where we work and thrive. ”