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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.”

 
 
 
 
 

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

  • Volunteering is also a large part of our commitment to the community. SEA hosts volunteering efforts at least once a quarter, with an emphasis on directly benefiting underrepresented communities. Some of our more recent efforts include working with Rebuilding Together, SOLVE, Habitat for Humanity, and several school supply, food, and clothing drives.

  • We have been a part of the sleeping POD Program since 2018, a partnership between the City of Portland, Multnomah County Joint Office of Homeless Services, and Do Good Multnomah, providing pro-bono design services and volunteering time to construct PODs for Kenton Women’s Village and St. John’s Village.

  • SEAlab is a fun, fast-paced, and productive design incubator. Held once a month and lasting an hour, staff work together to produce as many design solutions or ideas as possible for an active project that is ideally in Schematic Design. Any staff member faced with a design challenge can bring their project to SEAlab. Working as a group, small 2-3 person teams, or as individuals, our teams tackle the presented design challenges in a charrette format.

    Creating a safe space to collaborate and solve problems, discuss strengths and weaknesses in the design, and generate new ideas keeps our team comfortable discussing each other’s work. SEAlab strengthens the bonds between us as an office and above all elevates our design work through critical creative thinking, giving design the place of importance it should have in all our projects.

  • SEA-University, or SEA-U, serves as a host of continuing education events for all individuals and levels of the firm. Presenting quarterly, the committee seeks out experts in a particular field to educate staff on industry trends, innovations, or challenges the teams are working through. The expert presenter is able to help our team focus purely on learning for the benefit of the firm. The committee then serves as stewards, providing the archived information and professional references to project teams.

  • SEA’s internal Sustainability Committee serves as a resource to help guide projects through sustainable practices. Because each market sector takes a different approach to sustainability, the committee can suggest approaches ranging from Net-zero energy to selecting materials that will support health and well-being. Members of the committee assist our design teams at different points throughout the project to ensure we are designing a building that maximizes sustainable features, whether the client is pursuing a certification or not. SEA also partners with the Oregon Institute for Health in the Built Environment, supporting further research into sustainable practices in the industry.

 

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

In 2020, Scott Edwards Architecture launched an architectural scholarship to honor the firm’s late co-founder, Kelly J. Edwards. The focus of the scholarship, in partnership with ACE Mentorship, is to support underrepresented students that reflect what Kelly stood for as they pursue an architectural education. SEA is elated to have awarded scholarships to four women of color pursuing an architecture degree.

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 underrepresented 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.