How to Access William McDonough's Current Work and Services

Updated

William McDonough + Partners (WM+P) closed in 2025 after more than 40 years, so the firm no longer takes on new architecture, community design, or consulting work. If you want current services, the route is McDonough Innovation, where William McDonough and his team continue to provide thought leadership, targeted ideas, product concepts, and solutions for sustainable growth issues faced by leaders, organizations, and businesses. The mcdonoughpartners.com site now functions as an archive of WM+P's completed work rather than an active practice.

What changed, and what that means for you

The distinction matters depending on what you're after:

If you want to… Go to… Why
Commission new architecture or community design Not available through WM+P The firm closed in 2025
Engage William McDonough's team on strategy, product concepts, or sustainability solutions McDonough Innovation The current entity continuing this work
Study past projects, awards, or the firm's design legacy mcdonoughpartners.com It is maintained as an archive

What McDonough Innovation offers

According to the site, McDonough Innovation provides:

  • Thought leadership on sustainable growth issues
  • Targeted ideas for organizations and businesses
  • Product concepts
  • Solutions for a wide range of sustainability challenges faced by leaders and organizations

This is a broader, advisory-and-concepts scope than the built-architecture work WM+P was known for. If your need is a building designed and delivered, that specific service is no longer offered by the former firm; if your need is strategic direction, concepts, or sustainability problem-solving, McDonough Innovation is the relevant channel.

Using the archive site

The WM+P site is useful if you want to understand the firm's body of work or reference its approach. It documents projects such as:

  • Universidad EAN (Bogotá, Colombia) — an academic building exploring Circular Economy possibilities
  • NASA Sustainability Base (Mountain View, California) — described as energy- and water-positive
  • YouTube Headquarters (San Bruno, California) — a building designed for flexibility over time
  • Innovation and Research Center (The Netherlands) — a solar orchard concept for an energy- and food-positive facility
  • Hero Motocorp Garden Factory (Neemrana, India)
  • B/S/H (Bosch Siemens) Headquarters at Park 20|20 (The Netherlands) — within what the site calls the world's first circular economy development
  • Ford Truck Plant (Dearborn, Michigan) — a 10-acre green roof
  • Apex Plaza (Charlottesville, VA) — a 2023 AIA DC Chapter Design Award recipient and the largest mass timber building on the East Coast at completion in May 2022

The archive also preserves the firm's stated design philosophy: the Cradle to Cradle Design™ Framework, described as a positive vision for designing buildings, spaces, and experiences that create "more good" for the world rather than just "less bad."

Practical next steps

  1. For new engagements or advisory work: Look up McDonough Innovation directly rather than submitting an inquiry through the WM+P archive site, which no longer represents an active practice.
  2. For research or reference: Browse the project list and news items on mcdonoughpartners.com, keeping in mind the content is historical.
  3. For specific project details: The archive entries (for example, Apex Plaza's award and completion date) are the most concrete records available, but they describe finished work, not services you can commission.

The key takeaway: treat mcdonoughpartners.com as a record of what was built, and McDonough Innovation as the place to reach William McDonough's team for anything ongoing.