For generations, the measure of a desirable home has been fairly straightforward: good schools, safe streets, and whatever kitchen stone is in style. Today, the stakes are higher. Fires. Floods. Changing family dynamics. Design now demands a different set of questions from clients and architects alike in order to weather what’s next.

“Part of resiliency is adaptability," says Katherine Chia, FAIA, founding principal of Desai Chia in New York. “The notion of resilience is not a static set of solutions. It’s really trying to understand how a building adapts to its site and to climate, how our clients and their families adapt, and how the architecture can be sympathetic to those changes over time. A building grows with a family—how do we allow that to happen in a way that's graceful?”

To address that question, Forbes recently sat down with Chia; Leo Marmol, FAIA, co-founder of Marmol Radziner in Los Angeles; and Evan Morris, AIA, partner at Lake Flato in Austin—just a few of the firms featured on our second-annual list of America’s Top 200 Residential Architects. Our aim was to understand the current state—and future—of residential architecture, whether designing your dream home or renovating your existing space. The experts agreed in the conversation that follows that the challenges of today transcend aesthetics. Indeed, top of mind now for architects is design that can adapt, endure, and remain relevant for generations to come.

See the full list: America's Top 200 Residential Architects

See the full list: America's Best-In-State Residential Architects

AMY DVORAK, Forbes Senior Editor, Architecture: When it comes to conversations on residential design, it’s easy to go straight to finishes and floor plans. But those conversations feel myopic when our backyards are burning. Our climate is, in fact, changing—how is it changing the way you think about residential design?

LEO MARMOL: We have seen the ravages of nature impacting housing at a level and scale that is truly unprecedented. We are continuing to ignore the reality of climate change, yet our housing stock is certainly suffering from that condition. And so resilience—sustainability—has to be rethought in terms of how we respond to a changing climate. Here in Los Angeles, we've experienced the ravages of fires, devastating wildfires. Our coastline is eroding. And so housing has to find a way to respond to truly changing conditions, and yet retain a sense of beauty and comfort and integrity that we've come to expect, especially from a high level of design.

EVAN MORRIS: I think it's much easier to broach the issues of sustainability and resiliency with clients today than it ever has been. And that's because, for better or for worse, not only are our clients more educated, but the effects of climate change have come to their front doors. And so, to Leo's point, I think we spent a long time passing the buck and pushing the true costs into the future. And we can no longer do that. It's no longer just the architects or the designers who are bringing the issues of resiliency and sustainability to the table early in the design discussion. Our clients are doing that for us now, and if they aren't........

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