Trace Architects

What Trace Architects does

Trace Architects is a privately held architecture and design services firm headquartered at 925 Fell Street in Baltimore, Maryland (21231), serving clients in the Baltimore region. The firm is led by Founding Partner Jim Shetler, AIA — a registered architect in Maryland and the District of Columbia who holds a Bachelor of Science from Southern Illinois University and a Master of Architecture from the University of Maryland. Shetler is also actively involved in several Baltimore-area community and educational organizations, including City Life Community Builders, Neighborhood Design Center, Patterson Park Public Charter School, and Morgan State University.

The firm offers architecture and design services through direct client engagement, with no publicly disclosed pricing, productized offerings, or proprietary technology platform. The publicly visible team consists of the Founding Partner and at least one additional team member (Heather Hairston). Service delivery is supported by a basic digital presence — a company website at tracearchitects.com (with a portfolio section under construction), Facebook and Instagram pages, and direct contact via phone and email.

Trace Architects operates as a small, independent professional services practice with no disclosed funding, parent company, subsidiaries, partnerships, or M&A activity. Revenue, headcount, customer base, and pricing are not publicly disclosed. The firm's customer acquisition appears to rely on direct outreach, community referrals, and social media presence, with its geographic footprint restricted to the Baltimore market and no evidence of expansion beyond it.

Name

Trace Architects

Legal name

Trace Architects Baltimore

Website

https://tracearchitects.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Trace Architects is a privately held Baltimore, Maryland-based architecture and design services firm led by Founding Partner Jim Shetler, AIA, serving clients in the Baltimore region through direct project engagements with no publicly disclosed products, pricing, or customers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architectural Services

NAICS

Architectural Services (54131), Architectural Services (541310)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

Keywords

• Architecture design services
• Architectural project services
• Building design consulting
• Residential commercial architecture
• Urban planning design

Headquarters

HQ city

Baltimore

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Trace Architects is a Baltimore-based professional architecture firm offering architectural design and project development services to clients. The firm engages clients directly by phone and email, providing licensed architectural services registered in Maryland and the District of Columbia. It operates as a private, independently held practice led by a Founding Partner.

Product overview

Trace Architects is an architecture firm based in Baltimore, MD. The company provides architectural services and project development. No distinct branded products, software platforms, or modules were identified in the available source data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Broad incumbents

• Ayers Saint Gross: Larger, established Baltimore architecture practice with national reach across higher education, cultural, and urban design. Operates in the same Baltimore market but at a materially larger scale and project size than Trace Architects.
• CannonDesign: Large North American design firm with a Baltimore/DC presence serving institutional, healthcare, and education clients. Competes for the same larger institutional RFPs Trace Architects may target across the DC-MD corridor.

Direct peers

• Hord Coplan Macht: Baltimore-based multi-discipline architecture and engineering firm with comparable regional reach and institutional client base. Closely aligned in serving Maryland-DC civic, education, and community projects.
• Design Collective: Baltimore-headquartered architecture and design firm serving institutional, healthcare, and higher-education clients. Comparable scale and Mid-Atlantic focus make it a head-to-head competitor for the same Baltimore RFP pool.
• Ziger/Snead Architects: Baltimore-based boutique architecture firm with comparable size, regional focus, and typology mix spanning cultural, residential, and institutional work. Closest analog in scale and design sensibility within the Baltimore market.
• GWWO Architects: Baltimore-based architecture firm of comparable size and regional scope, working across cultural, educational, and residential typologies. Direct geographic and service overlap with Trace Architects in the Maryland institutional and community-driven project market.

Regional players

• Moseley Architects: Mid-Atlantic architecture firm with strong Virginia and DC-area presence serving K-12, higher education, and civic clients. Comparable typology mix and regional reach, though its primary footprint sits outside Baltimore.
• Marks, Thomas Architects: Mid-Atlantic architecture firm focused on K-12, higher education, and community facilities. Similar institutional orientation and project scale to Trace Architects, though operating primarily in the broader Mid-Atlantic region.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/tracearchitectsbaltimore
• Instagraminstagram.com/tracearchitectsbaltimore
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tracearchitects

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Trace Architects