LEVER Architecture

06/26/2026

LEVER is honored to be included among the firms featured in Out There: New Architecture Across America. The book, by Robert Ivy, Cathleen McGuigan, and Peter MacKeith, with a foreword by Marlon Blackwell, examines contemporary architectural practice across regional cities and towns throughout the United States.

Published by Merrell Publishers, the volume presents the work of 50 architecture firms through a selection of 170 projects. Through essays, photography, and drawings, it explores each firm’s design philosophy and selected work, documenting approaches shaped by local culture, geography, and community needs.

Project: Meyer Memorial Trust
Photo credits: © Jeremy Bittermann / JBSA
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06/23/2026

Designed by LEVER in collaboration with Field Operations, the NBCUniversal Campus Project reimagines the historic studio lot through new buildings, landscapes, and outdoor gathering spaces that connect the campus and bring people closer to the outdoors. The project introduces a central green, a planted paseo, and indoor-outdoor spaces that support work, events, dining, and social interaction.

The campus includes The Commons, an 84,000-square-foot circular amenity building with a lenticular façade inspired by early zoetropes and the origins of moving pictures. The building contains screening rooms, a special events theater, and a top-floor events center with views across the campus, while connecting directly to the plaza and paseo.

At the west end of the paseo, One Universal is a 350,000-square-foot office building organized around a double-height lobby, flexible work and meeting spaces, screening rooms, and an exterior terrace overlooking the campus, the Valley, and the San Gabriel Mountains.

For more information about this project, please visit: https://leverarchitecture.com/projects/nbcuniversal_campus_project

Photo credits: Ema Peter Photography
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06/19/2026

Designed by LEVER, the Jefferson High School modernization project in Portland, Oregon broke ground last month, marking the start of construction.

Portland Public Schools’ Jefferson High School has served Portland students and the broader community for more than a century. The project honors the school’s history while creating contemporary learning environments that support teaching, learning, and student engagement. Community outreach during the conceptual phase helped inform a design that serves students, educators, families, and alumni while establishing a foundation for the school’s next chapter.

Additional project partners include Bora Architecture & Interiors as collaborating architect, Hoffman Construction Company and Colas Construction as general contractors, Place as landscape architect, and Colloqate Design and Chromatográfica as cultural placemaking consultants. Rendering by Side Pixel Studio.

For more information, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/5c4bxsvn

06/18/2026

06/17/2026

Designed by LEVER, 843 N Spring Street transforms a windowless 1980s-era retail warehouse and parking garage in Los Angeles’s Chinatown into a hybrid mass timber office building. The project combines CLT, steel, and concrete construction, creating one of the first and largest hybrid CLT buildings in Los Angeles while extending the existing structure rather than replacing it.

Organized around a central open-air garden atrium, the building integrates landscape, circulation, and workspace across multiple levels. Working in collaboration with Field Operations, the landscape design includes a public garden, a vertical courtyard, outdoor work areas, private balconies, and a rooftop garden that connect occupants to the outdoors throughout the building.

The hybrid structural system combines CLT panels, steel framing, and concrete topping slabs to support flexible office layouts while building on the existing foundations. Sustainability strategies include natural ventilation, a rooftop solar PV array, EV charging stations, rainwater recycling for landscape irrigation, and façade shading designed to reduce solar heat gain.

For more information about this project, please visit: https://leverarchitecture.com/projects/843_n_spring_street

Photo credits: © Jeremy Bittermann / JBSA
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06/16/2026

06/16/2026

LEVER is honored to be among the recipients of the 2026 Daily Journal of Commerce Top Projects Awards. The firm's three award-winning projects include T. Joyce Phillips Apartments, Albina One, and Albina Library.

DJC Top Projects is the premier recognition program for the region’s built environment, honoring outstanding building and construction projects across the Pacific Northwest. Honorees are announced at an annual event attended by professionals from across the industry.

T. Joyce Phillips Apartments is a 187-unit affordable housing development in Portland. Delivered in two phases to allow existing residents to remain housed during construction, the project provides housing ranging from studio to four-bedroom units and includes a community center, covered basketball court, and resident amenities. The development is named in honor of T. Joyce Phillips, an early learning educator who served Dekum Court families for decades.

Learn more about T. Joyce Phillips Apartments: https://leverarchitecture.com/projects/dekum_court_affordable_housing

Albina One is the first built project in the Albina Vision Community Investment Plan. Located in Portland, the development includes 94 affordable family housing units, community spaces, courtyards, and outdoor play areas. The project was designed to reflect Albina Vision Trust’s vision of place, culture, and community while creating new public and communal spaces for residents.

Learn more about Albina One: https://leverarchitecture.com/projects/albina_one

Albina Library transformed the historic Albina branch of the Multnomah County Library system through a renovation and expansion project. The work created 40,000 square feet of new and renovated space while preserving and upgrading the original 1912 Carnegie Library structure. The project included a seismic upgrade, a mass timber addition, and sustainability measures, including a rooftop solar system.

Learn more about Albina Library: https://leverarchitecture.com/projects/albina_library

For more information or to view the full list of 2026 Top Projects honorees, please visit: https://leverarchitecture.com/news/news_post/three_lever_projects_receive_2026_djc_top_projects_awards

Photo credit [image 1]: Justin Cordova
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Photo credits [images 2 and 3]: © Lara Swimmer / Esto
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06/12/2026

We are honored to announce that Albina One has received a 2026 Housing Award in the Excellence in Affordable Housing category from the The American Institute of Architects.

Designed by LEVER in Portland, Oregon, Albina One is a multifamily residential development that provides affordable housing for families of varying sizes while incorporating open spaces, porches, gathering areas, and community artwork. The project was recognized for design excellence within housing, reflecting the award program’s emphasis on the integration of beauty, safety, sustainability, and comfort.

As the first project in the Albina Vision Community Investment Plan, Albina One draws from the surrounding neighborhood’s creativity and resilience through its architecture and artistic elements. The award acknowledges the project’s approach to affordable housing and its contribution to community-centered residential design.

Project partners include Vega Civil Engineering (civil), Glumac (electrical), Arris Consulting (mechanical/plumbing), Holmes and Skyline Structural Design (structural), Colas Construction (general contractor), Ground Workshop (landscape architect), O-LLC (lighting consultant), Jensen Hughes (acoustics consultant), RDH (envelope consultant), Kayin Talton Davis (artist), and Albina Vision Trust, Edlen & Company (client).

For more information, please visit: https://leverarchitecture.com/news/news_post/levers_project_albina_one_receives_2026_aia_housing_award

Photo credits [images 1, 3–5]: © Lara Swimmer / Esto
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Photo credit [image 2]: Justin Cordova
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06/10/2026

California Magazine’s Summer 2026 spotlight on notable Berkeley architects and designers highlights UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design alumni whose work spans architecture, landscape architecture, and design across a range of scales and contexts.

Thomas Robinson, Founder and Principal, LEVER, leads a practice that advances mass timber architecture and design research. The firm’s work has focused on demonstrating the viability of tall timber construction and expanding the use of mass timber in contemporary architecture.

Walter Hood, Founder and Creative Director, Hood Design Studio, creates landscape projects that connect history, culture, and place through public spaces, memorials, museums, and civic environments.

Rossana Hu and Lyndon Neri, Founding Partners, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, lead a multidisciplinary practice spanning architecture, interiors, master planning, graphic design, and product design.

Stanley Saitowitz, Founder and Principal, Natoma Architects, has developed a body of work that includes residential, civic, and religious buildings informed by decades of architectural practice.

Hao Ko, Global Design Director, Gensler, leads projects across workplace, education, hospitality, and mixed-use sectors while helping shape the firm’s global design direction.

Written by Esther Oh, James Pagett Tollen, and H.J. Valerio, with illustrations by Heather Gatley

Read California Magazine’s Spotlight: Summer 2026, (A few of) Berkeley's Most Notable Architects and Designers:

(A few of) Berkeley's most notable architects and designers

06/10/2026

In this residential project designed by LEVER, a central skylight complements the white interior, enhancing the tranquility of the space with natural light. The interplay of light and volume is carefully considered, as the skylight harmonizes with the interior to create a serene ambiance, while the integrated mezzanine level with the living area below contributes to a fluid and functional living environment.

For more information about this project, please visit: https://leverarchitecture.com/projects/house_hallovi

Photo credit: © Jeremy Bittermann / JBSA
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