The League’s First Friday events are informal social gatherings that allow members to visit the offices of leading design practices and see work on the boards.

Free and open to all, past online First Friday events were known as “distance editions.” In January, we invite you to join us for a distance edition not on the first Friday of the month but on the second Thursday: ST – Distance Edition.

LEVER Architecture is an architecture practice based in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles. Recognized for their innovative work with mass timber construction, the 35-person firm works on cultural, corporate, and institutional buildings, often collaborating with communities and foregrounding social and climate justice projects. Founded by Thomas Robinson in 2009, the firm is currently led by six principals. Alongside their ground-up and renovation projects, LEVER also pursues grant-funded design research to develop and test the next generation of building assemblies and sustainable tools and materials.

‍

Completed projects include:

843 N Spring Street LEVER grafted a new structure on top of a 1980s-era retail warehouse to create a new office building, one of the first and largest hybrid Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) buildings in Los Angeles.

Adidas A major expansion of the global brand’s North American Headquarters, this target LEED Gold project created a new arrival sequence and inserted two mass timber buildings around a new central sports plaza

The Nature Conservancy, Oregon Conservation Center This renovation and expansion of The Nature Conservancy’s Oregon headquarters transforms a 1970s office building into a collaborative hub designed to reflect the mission of the environmental nonprofit.

Current and upcoming projects include:

Portland Museum of Art This design to transform the Portland, ME Museum’s 60,000 square-foot campus was selected through an international design competition.

Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design Working with students, faculty, and staff, LEVER will design a new home for the Portland State University school, Oregon’s largest and most diverse art school.

Multnomah County Albina Library Targeting LEED Gold certification and guided by community input, this renovation project restores the existing Carnegie-era building and integrates a 30,000 square foot addition, doubling the library’s size.

The event will be moderated by architect and researcher David Benjamin. Benjamin is the founding principal of design studio The Living, director of architecture research at Autodesk, and an associate professor at Columbia University GSAPP. His work combines research and practice, with a focus on “an expanded and actionable framework of environmental sustainability,” in his own words.

‍