What arca design does

ARCA Design, PLLC is a privately held architecture firm headquartered at 797 Haywood Road, Suite 202, Asheville, North Carolina. The firm was founded by Alan McGuinn, FAIA, and Bryan Moffitt, AIA, and is led alongside principals Nate Webster, AIA, and David Koontz, RA, with architect Cindy Webster, RA, rounding out a core team of five. ARCA provides architectural and design services across five primary building typologies — residential, educational, commercial/retail, civic/cultural, and healthcare/medical — plus places of worship, serving clients primarily in Western North Carolina with select projects in East Tennessee (Knoxville).

The firm's offering is a single, integrated architecture service spanning concept through completion, anchored by a participatory, contextually sensitive design methodology that emphasizes dialogue with clients, knowledge of tectonics, and sensitivity to local and historic context. Notable project capabilities span the full range of small-firm commercial work, from a 12,000 SF K-12 science center and a 24,000 SF athletic facility to a 45,000+ SF LEED Gold-targeted event center and a 107,000 SF university building renovation. The firm has delivered 40+ documented projects across its portfolio and holds a Preservation North Carolina Griffin Award (2014).

ARCA generates revenue through project-based design fees on a quote-based, professional services model, with no publicly disclosed pricing. Its go-to-market is sales-led and relationship-driven, with a portfolio website and LinkedIn presence as top-of-funnel marketing assets. The firm maintains repeat relationships with regional developers (Biltmore Property Group) and institutions (Christ School, Asheville Christian Academy) and operates without external funding, subsidiaries, or parent-company ownership; equity remains with the founding principals.

Name

arca design

Legal name

ARCA Design, PLLC

Website

https://arca-design.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

ARCA Design is a privately held architecture firm in Asheville, NC providing residential, educational, commercial, civic, healthcare, and worship design services primarily in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee through project-based professional fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Asheville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Architecture and Design Services: Project-based architectural design services for residential, commercial, educational, civic, and healthcare projects. Revenue generated through design fees for complete project lifecycle from concept through completion.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

ARCA Design is an architecture firm based in Asheville, NC that provides professional architectural design and project delivery services. The firm serves residential, educational, commercial, civic, medical, and worship clients with full-scope architectural services including design, planning, and project documentation.

Product overview

ARCA Design is an architecture firm offering a single, unified service rather than a platform-plus-modules product architecture. Their core offering is architecture and design services spanning multiple building types including residential homes, educational facilities, commercial/retail spaces, civic buildings, and places of worship. The firm has a diverse portfolio of completed projects throughout Western North Carolina and select projects in Tennessee, demonstrating expertise across institutional, commercial, educational, and residential building typologies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Residential Architectural Design
• Commercial & Institutional Architectural Design

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Biltmore Property GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing partnership on multiple projects including 4315 Mixed Use development in Knoxville, 5 Kitchin Place Renovation, and various Historic Biltmore School tenant improvements. Biltmore Property Group serves as developer/owner with ARCA Design providing architectural services.
• Elm Construction & DesignminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPartnered with Elm Construction & Design on French Broad Chocolate Factory & Cafe project to upfit existing factory space in River Arts District.
• Beverly-Grant ConstructionminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerConstruction partner on Carolina Internal Medicine Association project in Historic Biltmore School.
• T.C. Howard of Synergetics Inc.minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBryan Moffitt worked with T.C. Howard of Synergetics Inc. early in his career before joining ARCA Design.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• McMillan Pazdan Smith: Mid-sized Southeast architecture firm with offices in the Carolinas and Georgia serving higher education, K-12, healthcare, and community clients. Closely comparable in scale, sector mix, and regional focus.
• Clark Nexsen: Southeast architecture, engineering, and planning firm headquartered in North Carolina with offices across the region. Comparable to ARCA in serving educational, civic, healthcare, and commercial clients in the Carolinas, though materially larger in headcount.
• LS3P Associates: Southeast-based architecture, interiors, and planning firm serving education, healthcare, civic, and commercial clients. Most direct regional peer to ARCA in terms of multi-sector practice and Carolinas-focused project portfolio.
• EwingCole: East Coast architecture and engineering firm with significant higher-education, healthcare, and civic practice and presence in the Carolinas. Comparable in sector mix to ARCA's institutional work.
• Lake|Flato: Boutique design-led architecture firm of comparable size and ethos, recognized for contextually sensitive, sustainable, and award-winning residential, civic, and educational work. Closely analogous to ARCA's design-forward, regionally rooted practice.
• Bohlin Cywinski Jackson: Boutique architecture firm known for design excellence across residential, cultural, civic, and educational projects. Comparable to ARCA as a similarly sized, award-recognized practice with a strong principal-driven, design-led identity.

Broad incumbents

• Perkins&Will: Large global architecture practice with deep healthcare, education, and civic portfolios. Overlaps with ARCA in healthcare and higher-education clients but at vastly greater scale and geographic reach.
• HOK: Global architecture, engineering, and planning firm with significant education, healthcare, civic, and sports facility practices. Competes for some of the same institutional client types as ARCA but at enterprise scale.
• HKS: Major architecture firm with deep healthcare, higher-education, and civic portfolios. Overlaps with ARCA's healthcare (Carolina Internal Medicine), higher-education (WCU), and civic project types at a national scale.
• SmithGroup: Large integrated design firm serving higher education, healthcare, civic, and workplace clients across the U.S. Comparable sector overlap with ARCA but at significantly greater scale and geographic footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/arca-design-pllc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 arca design