LPA BOOK CHALLENGES AEC INDUSTRY TO DO BETTER, “NO EXCUSES”

New release from LPA Design Studios, “No Excuses: Integrated Design for a Sustainable Future,” offers a ‘road map’ for a new generation of integrated design firms committed to eliminating carbon and elevating the human experience in the built environment.

In celebration of earning the 2025 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Architecture Firm Award, LPA has released “No Excuses: Integrated Design for a Sustainable Future,” a detailed exploration of the firm’s culture and integrated design process hailed by the AIA as a “a trailblazer in sustainable, high-performance architecture.”

“This book is evidence of the power of design to shape a better future,” Mazria writes. “It is a call to architects, planners, and all those involved in the built environment to embrace their role as catalysts for change.”

“No Excuses” traces LPA's evolution from a traditional practice founded in Orange County, California, 60 years ago to today's integrated design firm with 500 employees, 10 practices and seven studios. Step by step, the firm grew as a multi-discipline collaborative, adding engineers, interior designers, landscape architects and researchers to achieve better results.

Inspired by the firm’s submission for the AIA 2025 Architecture Firm Award, “No Excuses” is organized around the core elements of LPA’s philosophy: “Everything Counts, There is Always a Way and We Don’t Do This Alone.” The text breaks down the elements of shared responsibility, integrated design, informed design and applied research at the heart of the firm’s design process.

A curated list of civic, education, commercial and healthcare projects illustrate the process in action, highlighting the combined efforts of landscape architects, engineers, interior designers and researchers to achieve results. Projects are grouped around their impact: Transformative Experience, Equitable Communities, Contextual Response and Sustainability at Scale.

Ultimately, the book is a call to action, providing compelling evidence that the industry will need to work differently and think differently if it hopes to achieve its goals.

“It’s our time as designers—designers of all disciplines—to step up and meet the moment,” Hempel and Rogers write. “We must be bold and refuse to accept the norm. We can’t take the easy way out. We have a responsibility to our communities and future generations to remain focused on our climate targets and leave the world a better place than we found it.