Wood in Architecture Magazine features Auburn University Kreher Preserve & Nature Center Environmental Education Building in an article “Built from the land it stands on”, highlighting the project’s design philosophy and layout, conscientious details and sustainability features, taping into regional forestry and mass timber, and the broader vision beyond recognition.

“The mission of the Kreher Preserve and Nature Center is to promote harmony between nature and human beings, and to teach our youngest children to respect and protect the environment. The whole idea is to defer to the landscape and what is already there.”

– Tom Chung, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C as quoted in Wood in Architecture

See article here on pages 38-40

LWA’s Layla Ni & Maryam Karime, AIA, joined the METROPOLIS inaugural Arch30 Circle event in NYC, speaking with like-minded individuals celebrating innovation, collaboration, and professional growth.

Principal Ashley Rao, AIA, LEED AP Phius CPHC joins the Texas Society of Architects 2026 TXA Design Award Jury!

“The Texas Society of Architects Design Awards program recognizes outstanding architectural and urban design projects by architects practicing in Texas to promote public interest in design excellence. The competition focuses statewide attention on the quality of our built environment while highlighting the important role architects play in every community.” – Texas Society of Architects

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Think Wood features National Museum of Forest Service History Conservation Legacy Center as a Project Case Study, “Leers Weinzapfel’s Conservation Legacy Center Showcases Sustainable Forestry and the Building Products Derived From It” in their New + Now March Newsletter.

“This case study, developed in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, explores the new home for the National Museum of Forest Service History. Opening this summer, the museum is a living showcase for sustainable wood building products housed under a pleated wood roof in Missoula, Montana.” – Think Wood

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Four Generations of LWA Women – Principals Jane Weinzapfel, FAIA, and Ashley Rao, AIA, LEED AP, Phius CPHC, Associate Zhanina Boyadzhieva, AIA, and Architect Maryam Karime, AIA – shared their professional and personal journeys, highlighting moments that challenged the status quo. The presentation prepared for AIA WLS 2025 provoked an empowering and empathetic discussion in the office and sparked ideas for future collaborations. 

Architectural Record features Principal Andrea Leers’ “Requiem for a Building: Romaldo Giurgola’s South End Branch Library”, a reflection on Romaldo Giurgola’s South End Branch Library. The article captures the history and the charm of the library featuring Peter Vanderwarker photography.

“The architecture of the library is proudly modern; it is based on simple geometries, abstract wall planes, and large expanses of glass. References to bow windows, cornice detailing, and decorative elements are nowhere to be found. At a time when renewal and reinvestment in community looking to the future were the top priorities, the city welcomed the library’s thoughtful adjustment of scale, material continuity, and a profound sense of fit without imitative forms and historic gestures.” – Andrea P. Leers, FAIA

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Williams College Davis Center has receives a 2025 BSA Design Awards Commendation in the Built Design, Educational Facility. The Davis Center manifests the enduring impact of student advocacy for social justice and inclusive community at Williams College. The reimagined 25,800 sf Center is unified by a major new addition nestled between the existing and beloved Rice and Jenness Houses. A central plaza unites the three buildings, which house affinity group spaces, a multipurpose event space, a community kitchen, space for religious practice and meditation, study spaces, and staff offices.

Jury Comment: “Historic, connector, and contemporary—solidly really good work. Williams College commons building navigates a difficult site with an interesting bridge connection to the Rice House. High sustainability metrics add to a strong, thoughtful project.”

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We are pleased to announce that Cornell University Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science has received a 2026 Chicago Athenaeum American Green Good Design Award in the Green Architecture Category!

Bringing together the departments of Computer Science, Information Science, and Statistics and Data Science for the first time, the  Cornell Bowers College of Computing and Information Science creates both a precinct and a destination for the university’s rapidly growing computing and information science programs.

The Green Good Design Awards aims to bring appreciation to projects  design upon sustainable ideals. “This new design approach centers on the idea of repairing our worldwide environments with sustainability and for total ecological restoration.” – The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies The Chicago Athenaeum

Learn more about the winning features of the Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science here

Principal Tom S. Chung FAIA, LEED AP BD+C is heading to New Zealand this June for the Teulo Talks: Live, which he will talk about Leers Weinzapfel Associates recent mass timber projects such as the University of Massachusetts John W. Olver Design Building and the Adohi Hall at University of Arkansas. In preparation of this event please check Tom Chung previous podcast talk with Daniel Gudsell from Abodo Wood Ltd about Mass Timber here

Check out Think Wood’s feature on Auburn University The Kreher Preserve and Nature Center Environmental Education Building highlighting the sustainable use of locally sourced mass timber, “bringing nature to play”.

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