Her firm is associated with a large number of projects involving a wide spectrum of architectural services, including design of old and new buildings, restoration and rehabilitation works, master and site planning, feasibility reports, programming, historic preservation, and interior design.
In 1965 the couple commissioned Philadelphia architect Louis Sauer, to design a weekend home for them in New Jersey, an event that would be instrumental to Maxman's decision to eventually pursue architecture herself.
[1] With six school-age children, Maxman restarted her college education in the 1970s to qualify as an architect and enrolled as a student of Louis Kahn at the University of Pennsylvania, obtaining her Master of Architecture degree in 1977.
[1] After obtaining her master's degree in architecture in 1977, Maxman started her professional career as an architect with Kopple Sheward and Day.
After a decade, she expanded the firm to Susan Maxman & Partners Ltd, associating four architects with the business.
She completed a restoration of the Girl Scout's Camp Tweedale in Oxford, Pennsylvania,[8] and was honored by an AIA Award.
Restoration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Motherhouse in Monroe, Michigan, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's Cusano Environmental Education Center in Philadelphia are some of the notable projects executed by her firm.
From 1981 to 1987 she served on the board of directors of the Philadelphia chapter of AIA and in 1987, she became president of the Pennsylvania Society of Architects, establishing a regional magazine for them.
[1] As president of AIA, in one of the interviews Maxman elaborated on the theme of sustainability in architectural designs stating:What's so annoying is that it's not new ...