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People first. Design forward.
 
 
 

Our office culture is open, inclusive, and collaborative.

We think of ourselves as a perpetual Portland-based architectural start-up. This mindset keeps us enthusiastic, collaborative, experimental, and fun. It also keeps our firm ethos front and center: “People First. Design Forward.”

 
 
 

Homeroom Structure

Our firm is structured across 4 “Homerooms”: Commercial, Community, Residential, and Wellness. Each homeroom is led by multiple principals, creating a collaborative platform for us to better share resources and strategy in our design approach and the pursuit of new work. The homerooms also provide staff the flexibility in choice to specialize in a particular market or to fluidly work across multiple typologies. Our nine primary market sectors are distributed across the homerooms as follows with Interiors a constant in each: 

 
 
 
3 people at a computer reviewing work
 
 
 
 

We’re community driven.

Our firm’s commitment to our community is evident in the type of work that we do—our very first project was the renovation of a dental clinic for Virginia Garcia Memorial Health and our partnership with non-profits and community organizations has only grown from there. Since our founding, SEA has worked with over 90 non-profit organizations and at any given time this work typically makes up a third of our active projects. We have a passion for empowering others through architecture and look for ways to push our designs to the farthest reaches of possibility.

 

Our Community Efforts and Internal Groups

  • In alignment with firm design ethos, the Design Committee fosters and facilitates events and discourse around the celebration and spirit of design at SEA. Through these events, the Design Committee creates pathways and support to elevate design approach, inspire mentee/mentorship, and promote open and objective dialogue around our work.

  • The Sustainability Committee builds a culture of sustainability within the firm by leading by example through office policies, operations, and practices, and informing staff of initiatives that enhance design solutions. Committee members serve as sustainability champions and subject matter experts, acting as a resource and advocating for firm best practices. The committee upholds SEA's commitment to serve as ambassadors within local, regional, and national sustainability organizations, connecting staff with opportunities to share knowledge, inspire, and grow.

  • Cultivate a diverse and inclusive workplace culture by examining our internal systems, structure, and the work we do with our clients and communities.

  • The Documentation & Standards Committee is responsible for establishing office standards and best practices for project documentation. The committee promotes document content and composition that reflects the firm’s design values and is recognizable as a quality SEA product.

  • The Project Management Committee provides incremental improvements to tools and templates that increase efficiency and effectiveness while reducing the risk of the firm’s project management delivery. Committee deliverables support project managers by streamlining processes and prioritizing firmwide consistency across project communications and best practices.   

 

We feel a responsibility to share our knowledge with younger generations.

We strive to educate young people in not only in understanding architecture and its role in building our communities, but to also empower them to pursue a career in our industry. Through involvement in local programs like ACE Mentorship and AFO's Architects in Schools, we have achieved our goal to have at least 10% of our staff take an active role in providing mentorship and learning opportunities to local elementary and high school students.

 
“SEA’s commitment to the
next generation is truly inspiring.”
— Kate MacKinnon Kiser
ACE Board Secretary
 
 
 
 

Kelly J. Edwards
Architecture Scholarship

Now in our 6th year, SEA has proudly awarded
8 Kelly J. Edwards Architecture Scholarships
to underrecognized student(s) pursuing an
architecture degree. The $5,000 scholarship is
distributed over two years, and after the second
year, the student can work with SEA as a paid intern over the summer.

Read more

 
 
“SEA’s commitment to the next generation is truly inspiring.”
— Kate MacKinnon Kiser
ACE Board Secretary
 
 

Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

In 2019, SEA established an internal JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) committee to start making positive change inside and outside our organization. There are four subcommittees that focus on these key areas of need: Increasing Diversity and Representation, Social Justice Lens for Projects, SEA in the Community, and Training and Education.

 
 

Increasing diversity and representation

  • Restructure hiring practices and offer paid internships

  • Create wage transparency

  • Increase internal and external mentorship

  • Enact onboarding buddy system

  • Strengthen COBID-certified partnerships/relationships

SEA in the community

  • Target charitable donations to organizations serving underrecognized communities

  • Dedicate at least 200 hours of pro bono work improving these communities

  • Volunteer with impact throughout the year

  • Award annual SEA Scholarship

  • Outreach to school-aged children to increase architectural awareness

Social justice lens for projects

  • Evaluate project selection, Social Equity Report, and Critical Race Theory

  • Advance design approach and communication

  • Develop a library of ‘mindful materials’

  • Discuss wealth inequality in our society

Training/education

  • Facilitate firm-wide conversations on JEDI topics

  • Curate a social justice resource library

  • Facilitate organization of reading/study/discussion groups

  • Build capacity for anonymous feedback/questions

 

Just Label

Scott Edwards Architecture chose to pursue the International Living Future Institute’s Just label not only to be transparent with our practices, but to improve upon them. The very process to apply allowed us to have an immediate positive impact by restructuring some policies as they were evaluated. And now post-evaluation, we know where we need to focus our efforts in the next two years and will establish strategic goals to get there. By identifying our strengths and weaknesses using these metrics, we have a clear direction for creating a more socially responsible firm in a thoughtful, measurable way.

 
 

If you are a COBID-certified firm and are interested in working with our team on future projects, please reach out to marketing@seallp.com.

 
 

Part of what sets SEA’s culture apart is our commitment to fun.

The firm hosts a range of social activities throughout the year, from movie nights to quarterly birthday parties to our annual parking lot party. We believe that building camaraderie between coworkers outside of project work is an important part of who we are and adds a tremendous amount of value to our company culture. We are a busy bunch of volunteers, athletes, and artists, and there is never a shortage of ways to engage! Learn more about careers at Scott Edwards Architecture.

People in office kitchen eating donuts