Interior Design Coordinator: Education Studio

LPA Design Studios takes on OC's biggest projects. Yuika Yoshida August 24, 2026 LPA Design Studios, Orange County's largest architectural firm by billings, is coming off one of its biggest projects yet - the completion of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian's $1.2 billion Sun Family Campus - with more major work on the way. The firm was chosen as the lead architect of the six-building campus, which is being capped by four facilities dedicated to women's health and cancer and digestive health opening next month. The facilities feature outdoor courtyards designed by LPA to bring natural light and open air into patient areas. "Hoag is a huge project, so that has been something we've been working toward," Chief Executive Wendy Rogers told the Business Journal. "For the team and for us all to see that come to fruition is tremendous." LPA is now turning its attention to two projects at Irvine's $1.1 billion Great Park development: the upcoming Asian American Museum and the relocation of nonprofit Pretend City Children's Museum. Irvine-based LPA is the largest architectural firm in the region with $92.7 million in local billings, according to the Business Journal's annual list of architectural firms (see page 20). The firm, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, has seven offices in California and Texas. The firm's busy project pipeline has also earned national recognition with LPA receiving the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) 2025 Architecture Firm Award, the industry's highest honor, for its integrated model that brings multiple design disciplines and engineering under one roof. "I think the integrated firm makes a difference, but also the fact that we have eight different practice areas," Rogers said. Some of LPA's strongest markets have been commercial and workplace projects, along with healthcare, a sector the firm entered about a decade ago. Great Park Projects The Asian American Museum and Pretend City Children's Museum will be located at the Cultural Terrace area of the Great Park, home to a collection of new museums and a renovated community events center. Development is ongoing at the Asian American Museum while construction is underway at Pretend City. Initially greenlit by the City of Irvine in 2024, the Asian American Museum aims to preserve and share Asian American history and culture in a county with more than 750,000 Asian Americans. The 220,000-square-foot museum will include 94,000 square feet of potential exhibition space, along with a 400-seat auditorium and a performance venue and food hall featuring a range of Asian cuisines. The Cultural Terrace is also slated to become the new home of Pretend City, whose current 28,000-square-foot location in Irvine has reached capacity, prompting the nonprofit to look for more space in the past several years. Meanwhile, Pretend City is expanding from a warehouse to 72,000 total square feet at Great Park, with 56,000 square feet of indoor space and 16,000 square feet outdoors, giving the children's museum more room for customized learning spaces. Pretend City will bring its interactive play concept to the new facility, creating a child-sized city fit with a post office, doctor's office and café. Construction is expected to begin in October, with groundbreaking planned for winter 2026-27 and completion anticipated in spring 2028, according to LPA. The Cultural Terrace's museum lineup will also include the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum, adding to aviation history in Orange County. The $63 million facility is slated to open in 2027 and will house several military planes that were previously stationed at the El Toro base. Nonprofit performing arts school Orange County Music & Dance had intended to relocate to the Great Park for more space, but abandoned the plans due to unforeseen delays and incurring debt. In June, the nonprofit announced a $10.8 million purchase of a 25,000-square-foot building for use as a second campus, along with the appointment of OCSA founder Ralph Opacic as CEO after Douglas Freeman stepped down. LPA Designs New Middle School, Gym For Sage Hill School Another recently completed project for LPA was Sage Hill School's new middle school and gymnasium building, which opened this month. The Newport Beach private high school launched a $25 million campaign in 2023 to fund the construction of a 38,658-square-foot middle school, adding two grade levels and making Sage Hill the only independent school in Orange County to serve grades 7-12. Rogers said that she attended the ribbon cutting ceremony on Aug. 17 where the school welcomed its inaugural class of approximately 140 middle school students. "It was a bit of a teary moment, if I'm being honest," she said. "It was 30 years ago I was walking across the snake ridden landscape, talking about what that school would be." The project marks another chapter in LPA's decades long relationship with Sage Hill, dating back to 1966 when the firm master-planned and designed the school's original campus. Rogers said that LPA helped the school's founders find leftover land from the Irvine Co. Since then, LPA has done additional projects for Sage Hill including an aquatic and tennis center with a 25-yard-by-33-meter competition pool and modernization of a 20-year old library. Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country? Sign-up for its FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox! 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LPA honored with AIA San Antonio design Awards. At the July 28 People & Place Awards, the Texas AIA chapter recognized LPA Design Studios with two distinctions for design excellence. The San Antonio chapter of the American Institute of Architects announced the winners of its 2026 People & Place Awards, recognizing impactful community leaders and outstanding projects across civic, commercial, education and residential design typologies. Harris Elementary School, designed by LPA's integrated team, won a Committee on the Environment (COTE) Award, given to work that exemplifies sustainable design excellence and supports ecological resilience, human health and community building. The project also won a Place Award in the Educational category, celebrating quality architecture, innovation and community impact. About Harris Elementary School Harris Elementary serves a community where many families face economic hardship, and roughly three-quarters of students are identified as being at risk of disengaging from school. The design responds directly to this by shaping learning environments that emphasize student wellbeing, safety and a sense of belonging. The school is arranged as a series of neighborhoods with intimate sub-communities within the larger campus. Each neighborhood includes a mix of nooks, small-group rooms and collaborative zones that support learning at multiple scales. Students also have immediate access to outdoor instructional areas, such as a plaza constructed with 10,000 reclaimed bricks. Inside, clerestory windows and light-colored finishes maximize natural daylight and reduce reliance on artificial lighting. This helps students maintain lower cortisol levels, supporting emotional regulation and building long-term resilience. Harris Elementary is pursuing LEED Gold certification and a Three Star rating from Austin Energy Green Building, reflecting the school's commitment to sustainability. Read more about the project in issue 32 of Catalyst

Union hits Folsom with CEQA suit over builder's materials for 1,424-home project. By Theresa Clift July 30, 2026 2:43 PM Gift Article A lawsuit seeks to force a developer to change some building materials planned for a large Folsom subdivision, claiming violations to the California Environmental Quality Act. National home builder Toll Brothers, based in Pennsylvania, plans to build 1,424 homes on 464 acres in southeastern Folsom, near the corner of Alder Creek Parkway and Prairie City Road, and on both sides of Oak Avenue Parkway. The Folsom City Council on June 23 approved the project in a 4-1 vote, with Councilmember Barbara Leary voting against it. Then last week, the Laborers' International Union of North America Local 185 (LiUNA) filed the suit in Sacramento Superior Court against the city and its city council. The union, which largely represents construction and energy sector workers, has over 3,200 members who live in Sacramento County and at least 27 who live in Folsom. The suit alleges the project's use of formaldehyde-emitting wood composite building products will cause indoor air pollution to nearby homes, exposing residents to increased risk of cancer. It suggested Toll Brothers instead construct the project building "no added formaldehyde resins," which the California Air Resources Board recommends. The project falls within the Folsom Plan Area Specific Plan, which was certified in 2011, the suit alleges. When the city approved the project, it was using the environmental impact report from 2011, which did not include indoor air pollution. In addition, science on air pollution and formaldehyde has improved since then, the suit alleges. The suit asks a judge to rescind the city's approval of the project and for the city to prepare a new environmental impact report. "The City supports the development of Toll Brothers' Alder Creek project as it provides a variety of housing types in Folsom," said Desmond Parrington, Folsom planning manager, in a statement. "However, the City does not comment on pending litigation." Toll Brothers, which is named as a "real party of interest" in the suit, did not respond to an email seeking comment on the suit. The project includes both traditional single-family homes, as well as so-called half-plexes on smaller lots, Parrington said. Half-plexes are separate homes on separate lots but with one shared wall separating them. They can be bought and sold individually. The project also includes a neighborhood park and sites for an elementary school and fire station to be built in the future. The development still needs city Planning Commission approval for the design of the homes, which will happen later this year or early next year, Parrington said. Toll Brothers was planning to start grading the site this fall, and construction will take several years, Parrington said. CEQA suits in recent years in the Sacramento area do not often result in a judge agreeing to block a project. However, they can delay projects by at least two years, which can make the projects no longer viable. Earlier CEQA suit delays Sacramento high-rise project. LiUNA also filed a CEQA suit against an LPA Design Studios plan to build four high-rise towers with 787 market-rate apartments along the American River in Sacramento. A judge eventually ruled the project, called American River One, could move forward. However after the delay the suit caused, along with a suit by Save the American River Association, the market for multifamily properties was "somewhat soft," Anthony Scotch, the broker for the project, said in January. It's unclear if the project will move forward.