CSO Architects

CSO is an Indianapolis architecture and interior design firm that’s been working out of the city since 1961. It’s a generalist in the best sense, with a portfolio that runs through K-12 and higher education, workplace, healthcare, manufacturing and logistics, hospitality, community buildings and housing. The firm already has deep roots at Indianapolis International Airport, and that’s paying off now: CSO produced the construction documents for the $205.8 million Westin Indianapolis International Airport hotel, covering architecture, civil, structural, MEP and interior design. The seven-story, 253-room hotel connects to the airport’s parking garage and is tracking ahead of a late-2027 opening. Other local landmarks on its list include the JW Marriott Indianapolis and the Palladium in Carmel.

Six specialist services sit behind the architecture and interior design work, and they are the part of this practice worth knowing about: art integration, biophilic design, branded environments, furniture, fixtures and equipment, physical models, and visualization tools. A firm that still builds physical models while also running Matterport capture and VR walkthroughs is covering both ends of how clients understand a design.

The project record in Indianapolis is long. Published work includes the Westin Indianapolis Airport Hotel, the JW Marriott, work at Indianapolis International Airport and The Palladium in Carmel, and the IU Health New Downtown Hospital. Not all of it is local: Carr Workplaces at Central Park in New York and the SEP Corporate Headquarters in Westfield, Indiana, both appear among featured projects.

Work is organised into eight categories, which explains the firm’s self-description as a generalist: K-12, higher education, workplace, healthcare, manufacturing and logistics, community, hospitality, and housing and mixed-use. For a 60-plus year old practice in a single metro, that breadth is what has carried it across building cycles.

Two changes landed in mid-October 2026. The firm announced new firm leadership, and separately announced that JRA Architecture had joined CSO. Neither announcement names the incoming leaders or sets out the terms of the JRA arrangement, so anyone evaluating the firm on team composition should ask directly rather than rely on the website.

Renovation work gets particular attention in how the firm pitches itself, with reality capture used to document existing conditions before design begins. That is a practical advantage on campus and hospital projects where drawings are often decades out of date.

The studio is at 8831 Keystone Crossing in Indianapolis, on 317.848.7800.