Caplow Manzano
Miami architect-developer behind CM1, the first WELL-certified residence in the world.
What they're known for
Houses with no drywall, no ducts, and no sealed cavities — every system reachable behind removable panels, certified by a third party.
Caplow Manzano is a Miami architect-developer founded in 2017 by Ted Caplow, an environmental engineer with a PhD from Columbia, and Nathalie Manzano, a LEED AP with a public-health background across the City of Miami, ASME, and the National Hispanic Health Foundation. The firm designs, develops, and self-funds its own houses around a method it calls hypostruction: eliminate drywall, air-conditioning ductwork, and sealed wall cavities — the places where moisture, mold, dust, and degraded insulation accumulate — and put every pipe and wire behind removable paneling instead. Its first completed house, CM1 in Silver Bluff, became the first home in the world certified under IWBI's WELL for residential pilot in spring 2024, scoring 58 of 150 points against a 40-point threshold, and added LEED Platinum under LEED v4 later that year.
The track record is one completed building and a permitted pipeline, and that is worth keeping in view: CM2 in the MiMo District is designed with solid aerated-concrete partitions and no rebar, and CM3 in Coconut Grove with fully accessible plumbing risers, but neither is finished. The firm's performance figures — an energy model at 49 percent of a comparable new Florida home, flood positioning against a 100-year sea-level projection — are its own engineering, audited where the firm says so but not independently published. CM1 itself sold in April 2025 for $1.865M, below its reported land and construction cost. What makes the firm worth tracking anyway is that its health strategy is physical and inspectable rather than rhetorical: every claim in a Caplow Manzano house is a construction decision you can open with a screwdriver.
Capabilities
- Architectural Design
- Development
- Custom Construction
Performance focus
- Indoor Air
- Healthy Materials
- Thermal Comfort
- Humidity
- Low-Carbon Construction
Credentials
WELL Residence — first certified home in the world (CM1)
Certified under IWBI's WELL for residential pilot in spring 2024 with 58 of 150 points. Independently reported by the Miami Herald and The Architect's Newspaper, and confirmed retrospectively by IWBI in its December 2025 program release.
LEED Platinum, LEED v4 single-family (CM1)
Announced by the firm in September 2024 — by its count the 8th Platinum v4 single-family home in Florida and 2nd in Miami, and the first single-family home in the world to hold both LEED and WELL. Corroborated by the MLS record and a USGBC award; no public USGBC project-database entry surfaced.
USGBC 2024 U.S. Local Market Leadership Award — Quality of Life
Awarded November 2024 for CM1, per the firm's press page linking to USGBC.
LEED AP and WELL AP staff
Co-founder Nathalie Manzano is a LEED AP; the firm lists WELL AP credentials among staff, including sustainability lead George-Michael Cotarelo. Individual credentials per the firm's team page, not independently confirmed.
Notable projects
- Silver Bluff, Miami, FL · 2024
CM1
2,595 sq ft, three bedrooms, elevated ten feet on columns in Silver Bluff. The world's first WELL Residence and the firm's hypostruction prototype: insulated CMU, no drywall, per-room cassette mini-splits, ERV ventilation, removable PureBond oak paneling. Sold April 2025 for $1.865M.
- MiMo District, Miami, FL
CM2 (Belle Meade)
5-bed multistory house near the water, designed with solid aerated-concrete partition walls — about 80 percent air, high R-value, no rebar, a choice the firm ties to the 2021 Surfside collapse.
- Coconut Grove, Miami, FL
CM3
Designed to be the first multistory house in Miami with fully accessible plumbing risers and accessible AC ducts, all risers outside the walls.
- Biscayne Bay, Miami, FL · 2016
Miami Science Barge
Pre-firm project by the founders at CappSci: a floating, solar-powered marine science lab and classroom on Biscayne Bay. Knight Cities Challenge winner; retired after Hurricane Irma.
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Sources
- Miami Herald — New $2.6M Miami house earns first WELL award in the world
- The Architect's Newspaper — Caplow Manzano designs first WELL-certified residence
- IWBI × Caplow Manzano — WELL for residential enrollment release, Oct 2023
- IWBI — WELL for residential ratification release, Dec 2025 (confirms CM1 as world's first)
- Coconut Grove Spotlight — For Grove Duo, Health is Where the Home Is
- Caplow Manzano — Hypostruction: Life without Drywall (firm-published)
- Caplow Manzano — team page (firm-published)
- Trulia / MLS A11566441 — CM1 price history and sale record
Facts verified July 2026. Compound is an independent editorial directory and is not affiliated with this company unless stated.