(SAN DIEGO, Calif.) February 2, 2016 — LPA Inc., one of California’s largest design firms, recently relocated its downtown San Diego office. The new 9,500-square-foot, one-story space has been strategically renovated by LPA’s integrated design team as a showcase of the firm’s collaborative process and sustainable practices.
Just four years after moving into the historic Wonder Bread factory in East Village, LPA has outgrown its location. The design firm’s new building is situated on National Avenue and was constructed in 1935 as a shoe factory. Later converted into a mixed-use space, the historic structure is a few a blocks south of the previous East Village location.
The new location will allow the firm to accommodate the growth of the office and expand its integrated design practice. The new space includes 50 workstations, four hoteling stations, two 12-person conference rooms and a large collaborative room that can be used for project work space and team meetings.
“We wanted to practice and demonstrate to our clients how the nature of a creative space works both in education and in a corporate setting,” said Dave Gilmore, Principal at LPA. He continued, “A workspace needs to support collaborative behavior and problem solving.”
LPA designers wanted to feature the natural daylight and spacious qualities to the space while creating an innovative, collaborative and sustainable office space—in line with the firm’s other four offices in Irvine, San Jose and Sacramento, California, as well as San Antonio.
Featuring a unique structural system that supports a saw-tooth roof with high-bay clerestory windows the space includes ceiling heights as high as 25 feet which flood the space with daylight. Surrounded with classic industrial windows that promote natural views, the open floor plan has no private offices and has a “do more with less” attitude with exposed concrete floors and structure.
The three existing conference rooms were repurposed as well as the centrally-located atrium courtyard. The courtyard has been planned to be an extension of the workplace and will be used for an additional hoteling area for traveling LPA staff and clients, team meetings and social activities. Drought-tolerant native plants were included throughout the courtyard space as well.
The space is tracking a LEED CI Gold rating and exceeds California’s Title 24 standards and the 2030 Challenge for interior spaces. Additional sustainable design features include: high performance, suspended LED ambient lighting with LED task lighting at workstations; flexible modular furniture with 70 percent recycled content and low-flow plumbing and efficient water closets reduce water consumption by 35 percent.
1600 National Ave. San Diego, CA 92113
About LPA Inc.
Founded in 1965, LPA has more than 300 employees with offices in San Antonio and Irvine, Sacramento, San Diego and San Jose, California. The firm provides services in architecture, sustainability, planning, interior design, landscape architecture, engineering and graphics. With a proven commitment to integrated sustainable design, LPA designs facilities that span from K-12 schools, colleges and universities to corporate and civic establishments. More than 700 major design awards attest to LPA’s commitment to design excellence. For more information, visit
