Bringing new experiences to daily life

Portland Commercial Architects

Scott Edwards Architecture designs commercial spaces that enliven daily life. Our firm provides architecture, interior design, and planning services to the Pacific Northwest and across the United States. We collaborate closely with our clients to develop office buildings, retail spaces, tenant improvements, industrial buildings, veterinary hospitals and clinics that exceed design expectations. We also specialize in renovations, adaptive reuse, and historic preservation. Our commercial spaces intentionally create unexpected architectural moments, support streamlined operations, and prioritize the experience of customers, staff, and guests.

When we design commercial spaces, we’ve seen tremendous value in identifying all potential users—including staff, visitors, and even pets—and incorporating each of these perspectives in our response. This approach ensures the place we’re helping develop is inclusive, inviting, and efficient for all who will be using it. To gather these perspectives, SEA will often host workshops where we invite members of stakeholder groups to help us with visioning. We start with a blank slate, gather ideas, goals, and inspiration, and then our designers come back to the group with drawings and diagrams based on what we learned. This approach is an exciting and tangible way to develop concepts in real-time.

What this looks like are office spaces that include brand integration, modern office trends, wellness-centered spaces, biophilia, technology-informed design, office sustainability, and trauma-informed design. Retail spaces such as grocery stores and neighborhood markets, and financial institutions like banks and community credit unions, along with manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and showrooms, similarly benefit from our approach to designing commercial projects. We’ve also applied these methods to places that serve animals and the humans that care for them, such as neighborhood veterinary clinics, non-profit veterinary hospitals, animal training facilities, and even dog hotels for overnight boarding and daycare.

Our tailored approach helps us define what matters to our client, and that becomes the project throughline. We develop a cohesive vision by seeing how all the pieces we learn through engaging with stakeholders connect and using good design to make those connections. Because of our experience with a diversity of project typologies, we are unencumbered by the traditional ideas of what any given project type is expected to be, and this openness frees our client to explore ideas for solutions that achieve their vision, and not just the expected vision. This can mean applying elements of sustainability, unexpected materiality, or any number of innovative solutions that may not be obvious, but that are right for the project.

3rd Avenue Creative Offices
CASA of Oregon Offices
Castaway Event Space
Children’s Gym
Columbia River Veterinary Specialists
Gibbs Development