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Seaosd honors lpa with structural engineering award. During the Structural Engineering Excellence Awards on June 25, LPA Design Studios earned a top honor recognizing significant achievement and innovation. LPA earned a 2026 Structural Engineers Association of San Diego (SEAOSD) Structural Engineering Excellence Award, part of an annual program recognizing the region's most impactful projects and the professionals who deliver them. SEAOSD honored the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Mandell Weiss Theatre and Shops Seismic Improvements project in the Retrofit/Alterations category, celebrating the team's structural analysis and design approach. This marks LPA's sixth SEAOSD win and the second UCSD retrofit project to earn an Excellence Award, underscoring the strong, ongoing partnership the firm has built with the university. The Mandell Weiss Theatre is the primary performance space for UCSD's Department of Theatre and Dance and the home of the renowned La Jolla Playhouse, an institution central to San Diego's cultural landscape. The team developed a seismic retrofit strategy that addressed the structural needs of the two-building facility - the theater and the scene shop - while minimizing costs and allowing construction to move forward without disrupting the venue's demanding performance schedule. "Coordinating this project meant navigating a maze of undocumented field conditions, many of them hidden behind custom-built scenery or tucked into makeshift storage rooms," said Bryan Seamer, LPA Director of Structural Engineering. "Juliet Crowder, Peter Damore, Ben Ness, John Wilson and the rest of the team found innovative solutions that kept Rudolph and Sletten's construction work moving and ensured performances could continue without missing a beat." To navigate the project's constraints, the team choreographed construction in alternating zones, ensuring the theater could welcome audiences even as structural work progressed. Their efforts elevated the building's seismic resilience within UCSD's targeted performance and cost parameters. Key improvements ranged from bracing and strengthening existing structural elements to expanding a major seismic joint and fortifying column bases for uninterrupted load transfer.

LPA's Texas Studios take home two critical Awards. In late April, LPA Design Studios was honored with two major recognitions: a Texas Society of Architects' Design Award for the Thomas G. Harris Elementary School, and the A4LE Southern Region Annual Conference's Summit Award for General Marshall Middle School. Both schools, located in Austin, Texas, are a study in how deeply collaborative community and district engagement drive design solutions that uniquely serve their student populations. Texas Society of Architects (TxA) Design Award Thomas G. Harris Elementary School The Texas Society of Architects' Design Awards program focuses statewide attention on the quality of the built environment, while highlighting the critical role architects play in communities. Thomas G. Harris Elementary School is home to a largely economically disadvantaged population, with three out of four students designated as being at risk of dropping out. The design addresses this by creating healthy, equitable learning environments that prioritize student wellbeing, security and stability. As the project kicked off, the district selected a team of teachers, representatives, staff, parents and community members, which collectively drove all the decisions on the project. The final outcome reflects their vision. The campus is organized into neighborhoods, establishing smaller communities within the larger school. Nooks, small-group spaces and collaborative areas offer multiple scales for learning. Each neighborhood also has direct access to outdoor learning spaces, including a plaza paved with 10,000 salvaged bricks. Clerestory windows and light-toned interior finishes, meanwhile, amplify and reflect natural daylight while reducing the need for artificial lighting during occupied hours, which allows students to maintain lower cortisol levels, directly supporting their emotional regulation and resilience. "The Harris project reflects what is possible through a collaborative design process," said LPA Project Architect Katie Cavazos. "The TxA Design Awards recognize work that unites design quality, performance and meaningful impact on people and place. Harris embodies these principles, serving as a public school that nurtures connection, inspires learning and creates a foundation for a better future within its community." A4LE Southern Region Annual Conference's Summit Award General Marshall Middle School The A4LE Summit Award is given to just one project that positively impacts teaching and learning in the Southern United States, including Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, which came to fruition as the result of a planning process involving the needs of the community. General Marshall Middle School is a new 130,000-square-foot campus on a 10-acre site in Austin's Mueller Development. Like the Thomas G. Harris Elementary School, the campus was developed with extensive input from a stakeholder committee, which participated in visioning exercises, site visits and campus tours, alongside community engagement meetings. The campus ultimately balances academics, wellness and neighborhood integration, while fostering student engagement and belonging. Flexible learning neighborhoods, maker spaces and collaboration spaces that extend outdoors promote academic, social and emotional growth. These neighborhoods provide inclusive spaces where all students, including neurodivergent learners, can thrive, featuring operable partitions, small-group rooms, varied collaboration areas and visual connections supporting this teaching and learning model. Sustainability and resiliency are also central to the project, with durable materials, solar-ready roofs, water recycling and flexible planning for long-term use, earning an AEGB 4-star certification. Active and passive strategies reduce energy use by 60 percent, and even without dedicated funding, features like optimized acoustics, humidity control, natural ventilation, native planting and stack effect enhance comfort while lowering energy demand. "The recognition for General Marshall Middle School is really a celebration of Austin ISD's forward-thinking approach to learning environments that enable flexibility, equity and collaboration," said Federico Cavazos, LPA Principal and Design Director. "Being able to close out the bond with this hallmark project was a gift we didn't take lightly."

Lawrence Speck joins LPA Design Studios. Press play to listen to this content LPA Design Studios has welcomed Lawrence Speck - a respected architect, educator and leader - as a Senior Designer in the firm's Austin office. Speck's deep involvement in Austin's transformation, combined with his current role at UT Austin educating the next generation of designers, brings a unique perspective to LPA. Over the past 25 years, Speck's work has earned more than 120 design awards, including 30+ from the American Institute of Architects. As an educator, he has received more than 40 teaching and service honors, including the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion, the highest recognition in North America for excellence in architectural education. He has taught at M.I.T., the University of Western Australia and the University of Texas at Austin, where helped found the Center for American Architecture and Design, before serving as Dean for the School of Architecture from 1992 - 2001. Speck is also an AIA Fellow and served as chair of the jury to select fellows in 2005. "LPA is the right culture fit for me - the sincerity, the attitude, the authenticity," said Speck. "I love the interdisciplinary approach of everybody working together, the commitment to sustainability. It is just an ideal fit." "Bringing Lawrence Speck into the LPA fold is a rare moment of the stars aligning - one that strengthens our impact in Austin and deepens our contribution to the city's design legacy," added LPA President and Chief Design Officer Keith Hempel, FAIA. "Larry's storied connection to Austin and passion for design excellence, community-driven placemaking and meaningful carbon-reduction strategies resonate deeply with the principles that guide LPA."