LPA Inc. has been voted ENR California’s Design Firm of the Year by the regional editors of Engineering News-Record.

This California-based firm, with offices in Irvine, Roseville and San Diego, focuses on school construction (K-12, college, university).

The firm, founded in 1965, will be featured in the June 4 issue of ENR California. In the same issue will be our annual Top Design Firms rankings.
LPA was chosen based on a variety of accomplishments in the past year, including revenue in the state, major projects completed or begun, sustainability initiatives, industry awards and recognition, and community outreach.

It recently completed two LEED gold projects – the Recreation and Wellness Center at Cal State East Bay and the Student recreation Center for Cal State Northridge. Both projects “speak to what we are excited about, the integration of architecture and engineering within our firm (we hired our first engineer in 2005),” said LPA President Dan Heinfeld. “We are creating a new model for the industry – an integrated design firm that uses sustainability to lead the design process in which solving problems is valued over chasing fashion.”

For the 35th year in a row, LPA has been recognized with AIA chapter project awards, including honor awards for the Palomar College Multidisciplinary Building and the South Lake Tahoe High School Green Career Technical Education Building from the Orange County chapter, plus two awards from AIA Long Beach and one each from AIA Central Valley and AIA Inland.

This year, LPA expanded its Irvine and San Diego locations, with offices that double as “Sustainability Labs,” which are test grounds for trying new features and technologies prior to using them with clients (i.e., fuel cells, LED lighting, vegetative walls, light louvers, daylight-controlled sun shades, operable windows, Solatubes, and furniture solutions, as there are no private offices at LPA). Both expansions are on track to receive LEED gold certification.

Congratulations to LPA.