Awards

Jaguar Land Rover Technology Center wins Architizer A+ Award

We’re honored to share that our Jaguar Land Rover Technology Center project has been named the winner of the Architizer A+ 2026 Sustainable Commercial Building category.

Set within a historic Portland warehouse, the Jaguar Land Rover Technology Center transforms an existing structure into a cutting-edge research and development hub. This project brings JLR’s most innovative teams together in a dynamic workplace that reflects the brand’s legacy of luxury design and pathbreaking technology.

Blending adaptive reuse with high-performance design, the project sets a benchmark for sustainable workplaces, while honoring history, supporting well-being, and driving the future of mobility.

The Architizer A+Awards are a globally recognized architecture awards program that honors the world’s best buildings and spaces each year. Check out the entire list of award-winning projects here.

Slabtown Square Wins Multi-Housing News Development & Design Excellence Award

We are thrilled to share Slabtown Square received a 2025 Bronze Award in the “Best Development & Design: Mid Rise” category of Multi-Housing News’ 19^th annual Excellence Awards.

Completed in 2024, the seven-story mixed-use building in Northwest Portland includes 200 apartments, ground-floor retail, underground parking, and a publicly accessible plaza. The design emphasizes transparency and connectivity, where expansive windows and open sightlines draw pedestrians in from the sidewalk into the courtyard and retail spaces.

“Receiving this Multi-Housing News Excellence Award in Development & Design is an incredible honor for our entire team and project partners,” said Trish Nixon, President and Managing Principal at LRS Architects, and a Multifamily Housing Leader. “This recognition reflects not just our design work, but the collaborative spirit that defines every project we undertake. When you’re working alongside talented partners like Tello Interiors and Guardian, and everyone is focused on creating something meaningful for the community, that’s when exceptional work happens.”

Multi-Housing News honors developments, renovations, design projects, individual achievements, and more via its Excellence Awards program. The multifamily housing industry’s most innovative and impactful projects of the year are recognized in one of the program’s 33 categories.

Featured In the News:
DJC
Cascade Business News
Portland Metro News

Amalia Mohr, Dan Purgiel, and Kelsey Loverro Recognized on the 2025 DJC 250 Architecture List

Congratulations to Amalia Mohr, Dan Purgiel, and Kelsey Loverro for making the 2025 DJC Oregon 250 Architecture List. This list recognizes 250 exceptional A/E/C professionals across ten diverse categories who are driving innovation, creating jobs, building communities, and making Oregon a better place to live and work.

Amalia Mohr became the first interior designer named principal at LRS Architects, a milestone that reflects her 21-year career and the meaningful recognition of interior design within architecture. Her leadership is rooted in compassion, curiosity, and collaborative team building. Amalia is also deeply engaged in the community, serving on multiple civic boards and advisory committees and contributing to the profession through her involvement with IIDA Oregon.

Dan Purgiel is a longtime leader at LRS Architects whose four‑decade career has shaped the firm’s practice and Portland’s senior living design landscape. Known for advancing thoughtful, operationally grounded design, he has helped elevate both project innovation and firm culture through a strong emphasis on mentorship, leadership development, and succession planning. Deeply committed to knowledge sharing, Dan has contributed to regulatory advancement at the national level and regularly engages with professional and industry organizations to improve standards in senior living design. His collaborative, interdisciplinary approach has influenced generations of architects, reinforcing LRS’s values of curiosity, accountability, and collective growth.

Kelsey Loverro is a senior associate at LRS Architects whose 11-year career reflects a commitment to collaborative design leadership and professional growth. An NCIDQ-certified interior designer, she plays a key role in shaping firm culture as chair of LRS’s Mentorship Committee, fostering connection and development across teams. Kelsey’s approach to leadership is grounded in partnership and shared success, emphasizing close client engagement and thoughtful collaboration with project teams to bring complex design visions to life. She also extends her leadership beyond the firm through service as co-chair of the Marketing Committee for CREW Portland, supporting advocacy, visibility, and advancement for women in the commercial real estate and design industries.

View entire list of honorees here: Oregon 250 – Daily Journal of Commerce

Business Development Specialist Lauren Evans Receives Cascade Business News Accomplished Under 40 Award

LRS Architects is proud to announce that our very own Lauren Evans was one of 20 recipients to receive the Cascade Business News 2025 Accomplished Under 40 award. This award is given to accomplished young professionals who have excelled in their careers and have dedicated their time to giving back to the Central Oregon community.

As the Business Development Specialist at LRS Architects, Lauren leads business development for the Bend office to drive local growth and visibility. She has a proven track record of driving growth through strategic marketing and business development, increasing community engagement, and enhancing brand identity. Lauren contributes to LRS’s Charitable Giving Committee and is a part of the Leadership Bend Class of 2026. Known for her compassion, empathy, and dedication to excellence, Lauren stands out for her ability to uplift others, foster collaboration, and communicate with authenticity.

LRS is an Oregonian Top Workplace for the Tenth Consecutive Year

We are proud to share that LRS Architects has earned a place on The Oregonian’s Top Workplaces list for 2025! The accolade marks the tenth consecutive year LRS has received this recognition. Each year, The Oregonian collaborates with Energage LLC to survey employees at businesses across Oregon and Southwest Washington to identify great places to work and “reveal the jobs employees love.”

Thank you to our awesome staff – not only for participating in this survey and lifting up our firm for the tenth consecutive year – but also for making LRS such an amazing place to work.

Our commitment to our employees and our core values:

Work-Life Balance: LRS Architects understands the importance of maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal life. This commitment to work-life balance has resonated with employees and contributed to their overall job satisfaction.
Employee Morale: The firm places a significant emphasis on boosting employee morale by creating a positive and empowering work environment. Open lines of communication and a sense of belonging among team members have played a pivotal role in this regard.
Flexibility: Recognizing that life can be unpredictable, LRS Architects provides flexibility for its employees, allowing them to better manage their work responsibilities alongside personal commitments.
People-First Approach: The core of the firm’s success lies in its people-first philosophy. Every team member is valued and empowered, creating a cohesive and inclusive workplace culture that fosters collaboration and innovation.

LRS strives to create a fantastic work environment and support our team members in pursuing their passions outside of the office. This commitment to holistic well-being helps employees thrive both personally and professionally.

Thank you to The Oregonian for recognizing local firms that prioritize their employees’ voices and well-being. LRS strives to set a positive example for businesses everywhere by prioritizing a people-first approach that leads to sustained success and excellence in the workplace.

View the entire list of firms honored in 2025 here.

Amalia Mohr Selected for Leadership Portland Class of 2026

LRS Architects is proud to announce that our very own Amalia Mohr has been selected for the Portland Metro Chamber’s Leadership Portland Class of 2026! She joins the ranks of this prestigious program that has amassed nearly 800 local alumni dedicated to serving the Portland community. Amalia is a Principal and Senior Interior Designer at LRS and a leader in the commercial office and workplace studio. She has years of experience spearheading award-winning designs for civic, retail, and workplace environments – she will be a fantastic addition to Leadership Portland, and we are excited to see what she accomplishes in our community.

This year’s Leadership Portland class consists of 50 professionals representing a broad range of businesses, nonprofits, and public sector organizations. For the next year, participants will be immersed in the Portland community learning about key issues and opportunities facing the city.

Congratulations, Amalia! Read the Portland Metro Chamber’s full announcement here.

Check out Slabtown Square in the IIDA Oregon 2024 Design Excellence Awards Winner’s Gallery

Last fall, LRS was delighted to learn that Slabtown Square was the recipient of two recognitions at the IIDA Oregon’s 2024 Design Excellence Awards! This 220,000 SF mixed-use apartment project includes a mix of market-rate and affordable units in Portland’s Slabtown neighborhood, with a prominent public plaza and beautifully-realized amenity spaces. This project earned an Honorable Mention in the Multi-Family Living category and a People’s Choice Award for 2024.

Congratulations again to our collaborators at Tello Interiors, the women-owned firm who guided the vision for Slabtown’s award-winning interior design!

Check out Slabtown and the full gallery of award winners for 2024 here.

LRS is to be honored among the DJC Oregon’s 2025 Construction All-Stars

LRS is pleased to share that we have been nominated as an Architecture Firm of the Year for 2025 in the DJC Oregon’s Construction All-Stars program! This new award program recognizes “excellence in the AEC industry,” and we are proud to be honored alongside several of our clients and frequent collaborators, including Davis Wright Tremaine and the Vancouver Housing Authority.

Congratulations to all the honorees! We look forward to celebrating together in the spring.

Blueprint for Inclusivity Pt. 3: Responsive Design Framework Case Study

By Jenny Baines and Britney Hale | Adapted from their presentation “A Blueprint for Inclusivity – A Human Centered Design Process” delivered for the IFMA Oregon & SW Washington Chapter in Ridgefield, Washington. This piece is the third in our series discussing inclusivity, human needs, and Trauma-Informed Design (TID) in office and workplace design. Check out Part 1: Applying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs As A Design Lens and Part 2: Trauma-Informed Design Applications for the Workplace to learn more.

In our previous installments of this series (linked above), we’ve explored topics related to inclusivity, human needs, and Trauma-Informed Design (TID). But how, as architects and designers, do we integrate all these ideas into our work? How do we design to exemplify these values and bring them to life in the real, built world? That’s where a responsive design framework structured around human needs and experiences comes in.

As designers, we work with a variety of organizations with vastly different purposes, missions, and work cultures. At LRS, we work with engineering firms, product design firms, law firms, global tech firms, government agencies, and non-profits. We’ve designed everything from corporate headquarters to regional satellite offices and local tenant improvements. Each project and client is unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

In workplace design, we see employees as the secret ingredient. When it comes to company culture, mission, and values, employees are invaluable subject matter experts. As workplace designers, it is our job to leverage the knowledge of our clients and their staff, asking the right questions to spark new ideas and applying what we learn.

We start with the big questions: What are your must-haves in a new office space? Are you all about collaboration, need your personal bubble, or crave some lounge spaces that simulate you’re at home environment? If you have the choice to work at home or at the office, which type of space encourages you to make the drive into work?

For a recent project, LRS surveyed 300 of a client’s employees about their top priorities in the design of their new offices. The results shown in the pie chart above offer a representative breakdown of the responses we typically see. At a glance, this suggested some conflicting priorities would come into play. As with many of our clients, this survey identified a strong split in employee’s desire for collaboration space and individual workspace. This client has perhaps an even split of staff who see the office as a collaboration destination, who come in-person to work with their colleagues, and feel strongly that it is important to their success. They also have staff who crave their focus space for individual work. Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a design lens, we understand as designers that we need to include both types of spaces for this workforce to thrive as a whole.

We also ask open-ended questions, like: What are you looking forward to the most? (And yes, even with over 300 responses, we read through each answer!) Each response is like a little nugget of insight into the soul of the workplace.

Case Study: Inclusive Space Planning at KinderCare Headquarters

Working Neighborhoods: In many of our workplace projects, we promote the idea of “neighborhoods,” as shown in the floor plan below, that LRS developed for our clients at KinderCare, to reimagine their post-pandemic hybrid office. Various working neighborhoods are located around the perimeter, prioritizing views to the trees. Each neighborhood has a very different vibe: one provides workstations focused on collaboration and celebrates the client’s bold brand colors; the quiet neighborhood features desks with tall plants dividing each workstation to reduce chatter and create a sense of seclusion; a social garden is located near reception, offering a venue for quick, informal meetings or gatherings without the need to book a conference room; and the social garden, which provides a lively, flexible space for collaborative work, informal meetings, and social gatherings.

Amenities & Wellness: KinderCare has employees who come into the office every day, and they have their preferred workstations available. They also have employees who prefer to choose where they sit based on their tasks that day, whether it be a hoteling office, an open collaboration space, or a workstation in the quiet neighborhood that fits their workload and activities for the day.

Collaboration & Gathering: The amenities at KinderCare are centrally located with ease of access for employees as well as visitors. Amenities are located down a hallway to provide privacy from the workstation neighborhoods, including two wellness rooms and four unisex restrooms in addition to the gendered restrooms. Other design moments like the phone rooms and restful nooks throughout the office provide many opportunities for rest and recovery throughout the day.

This concludes LRS Architects’ three-part series Blueprint for Inclusivity, exploring real-world examples of office and workplace design that successfully incorporates principles from Trauma-Informed Design, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and human-responsive design to create more inclusive, accessible workplace environments.

Curious about integrating inclusive design principles into your project, or interested in speaking events with Jenny Baines and Britney Hale? Directly connect with our team by clicking on this link!

LRS celebrates 2024 Women of Vision Award recipients Amalia Mohr and Calista Fitzgerald

Last week, LRS turned out in style at the Sentinel for the DJC Oregon’s ceremony celebrating the 2024 Women of Vision! We lifted many cheers to LRS Principal Amalia Mohr and Associate Principal Calista Fitzgerald, who were both recognized this year for their phenomenal leadership and contributions to our firm, our industry, and their communities. We are so proud of Amalia and Calista, and so lucky to have them as leaders and colleagues – if you’ve had the pleasure of working alongside them, you know this recognition is timely and well-deserved for them both.

Congratulations, Amalia and Calista!

Vote now for the 2024 IIDA Oregon People’s Choice Award!

Public voting is now open for the 2024 IIDA Oregon People’s Choice Award, to be bestowed next week at the IIDA Design Excellence Award ceremony! We are thrilled to have three LRS projects in the running this year:

Davis Wright Tremaine, a gorgeous, wellness-focused law office located within the Ritz Carlton and designed to support a hybrid workforce;
Porsche Studio Portland, Porsche’s first studio location in the United States, offering a cutting-edge design innovation gallery and vibrant community space;
And Slabtown Square, a multi-family housing project with beautiful interiors designed and nominated by our collaborators at Tello Interiors.

Congratulations to our project teams and partners – we invite our colleagues, friends, and families to check out this year’s nominees and get in on the voting action. Thank you for helping us to celebrate these stunning and award-worthy LRS projects!

LRS is an Oregonian Top Workplace for the Ninth Consecutive Year

We are proud to share that LRS has earned a place on The Oregonian’s Top Workplaces list for 2024! Each year, The Oregonian collaborates with Energage LLC to survey employees at businesses across Oregon and Southwest Washington to identify great places to work and “reveal the jobs employees love.” Thank you to our awesome staff – not only for participating in this survey and lifting up our firm for the ninth consecutive year – but also for making LRS such an amazing place to work.

Our commitment to our employees and our core values:

Work-Life Balance: LRS Architects understands the importance of maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal life. This commitment to work-life balance has resonated with employees and contributed to their overall job satisfaction.
Employee Morale: The firm places a significant emphasis on boosting employee morale by creating a positive and empowering work environment. Open lines of communication and a sense of belonging among team members have played a pivotal role in this regard.
Flexibility: Recognizing that life can be unpredictable, LRS Architects provides flexibility for its employees, allowing them to better manage their work responsibilities alongside personal commitments.
People-First Approach: The core of the firm’s success lies in its people-first philosophy. Every team member is valued and empowered, creating a cohesive and inclusive workplace culture that fosters collaboration and innovation.

View the entire list of firms honored in 2024 here.

VOTING OPEN! Alta University Place is a finalist at the 2024 NAIOP Night of the Stars

LRS is delighted to share that Alta University Place is a finalist for the 2024 NAIOP Night of the Stars! Our 277,000 SF apartment community in University Place, Washington is up for an award in the Multi-Family Residential Suburban Development of the Year category. This project fully transformed an underutilized site with a shuttered theater, bowling alley, and massive blacktop lot into a lush, well-connected pedestrian-friendly community, providing 274 family-oriented homes in the bustling Tacoma region.

Public voting is open until Oct. 3 – check out the stunning interior amenities and whimsical details of Alta University Place in NAIOP’s finalist gallery here and show this fantastic multi-family housing project some love!

Congratulations to our team and to our project collaborators at Wood Partners, Stonewood Structural Engineers, AHBL, MKE & Associates, Morrison Hershfield, and Tenor.

DJC names Amalia Mohr and Calista Fitzgerald among the 2024 Women of Vision

LRS is proud to announce that two of our visionary firm leaders have been named among the DJC Oregon’s 2024 Women of Vision! Please join us in congratulating LRS Principal Amalia Mohr and Associate Principal Calista Fitzgerald on this well-deserved recognition – we look forward to celebrating the region’s outstanding women leaders at the DJC’s reception on October 17.

Nomination excerpts:

“Amalia is the rare individual who seamlessly balances excellent client service and team leadership with ambitious design vision to truly elevate the quality of LRS’ work and service. Among her many accomplishments, Amalia is the first interior designer to be named a Principal at LRS in the firm’s nearly 50-year history.”

“Calista has been instrumental over the years in shifting LRS’ design culture to become more collaborative and inclusive. One of the great successes of her management style is her dedication to creating an integrated design process that seeks out the perspectives and input of everyone across the design team, regardless of their position or perceived years of experience.”

Parkview at Terwilliger Plaza earns a 2024 Merit Award from ENR Northwest

LRS is thrilled to share that Parkview at Terwilliger Plaza has been awarded a Merit Award in ENR Northwest’s 2024 Regional Best Projects competition! Engineering News Record’s awards program celebrates Pacific Northwest projects that demonstrate the ability to overcome challenges, contribute to the industry and the community, and showcase excellence in safety, construction, and design quality.

Congratulations to our project team and collaborators, including our clients at Terwilliger Plaza, Walsh Construction, and of course PAE Engineers! We are immensely proud of all that Parkview at Terwilliger Plaza has achieved so far – learn more about the West Coast’s largest Passive House structure here.

Hospitality Snapshots features the Travel Portland Visitor Center

The Travel Portland Visitor Center is now featured on Hospitality Snapshots! Opened in summer 2023, this incredibly unique, award-winning visitor center was designed by the LRS team for accessibility, inclusion, and to extend a big, warm “welcome to Portland” to all. We are thrilled that it is now included in Hospitality Snapshot’s inspiring design platform and database among the world’s best hospitality architecture projects.

Great design and authentic, local travel experiences go hand-in-hand at the Travel Portland Visitor Center – check it out here on Hospitality Snapshots and get inspired!

Awards

Great design begins with meaningful connection.