Insights

The First Annual DIGGY Awards!

by | April 18, 2023 0 Ideas, News + Announcements

Last week, SERA held its first annual DIGGY Awards, an event that celebrates the firm’s culture of design and innovation. Project teams from across the firm put together submissions representing their best work from the previous year, and the entire firm voted on the winners. Organized by SERA’s Design Initiative Group, a collective of designers […]

New Leaders at SERA in 2023

by | April 11, 2023 0 News + Announcements

Last week, SERA held its annual celebratory toast to recognize the work and announce the promotions of 15 individuals who have demonstrated firm-first loyalty and a strong commitment to SERA’s values, goals, spirit of collaboration, and employee-ownership culture. “Associates are responsible for our near-term wins, our long-term success, and our succession planning as we think […]

SERA and Just: the intersection of diversity and inclusion

by | April 4, 2023 0 Ideas

Since 2019, SERA has participated in the Just program, a voluntary disclosure tool directed by the International Living Futures Institute (ILFI), that helps organizations measure and track their progress toward goals around diversity and inclusion, equity, employee health and benefits, stewardship, and purchasing. The program provides clear methods and structured metrics for accomplishing some pretty […]

Tipsu Palach Park: The gift of outdoor gathering

by | March 8, 2023 0 Ideas, Landscape

Deriving its name from the Chinuk Wawa words for “plant gift,” Tipsu Palach Park in Dundee is a testament to the power of a community coming together to create an outdoor place to gather, refresh, and restore. The creation of this two-acre park, located off Dundee’s historic Main Street in the heart of Oregon’s wine […]

Addressing the climate crisis with embodied carbon benchmarking

by | February 27, 2023 1 Ideas, Sustainability

In 2022, we at SERA completed our second annual assessment of the embodied carbon emissions for our full portfolio of projects. We’re pretty excited about this. Why are we so passionate about such a technical undertaking? It’s only partly because we’re data geeks. Tracking carbon and avoiding materials and assemblies with large carbon footprints help us […]

Caring for the planet, and ourselves

by | February 13, 2023 1 Ideas, Sustainability

Breathe in.  Breathe out.  We’ve all been carrying a lot. Sustainability leaders in the built environment are no exception. Our roles are demanding – holding hope that our industry can make the monumental shift needed to reduce emissions, center human health and social equity, and halt ecosystem collapse, while also holding the reality that we […]

SERA Academy: Why emerging professionals love SERA

by | February 1, 2023 0 Ideas

Ask anyone how they felt as an intern or a brand new employee, and you’re bound to get a range of emotional responses. On the one hand, you’re excited about the potential and opportunity, but you’re also worried, stressed, and a little intimidated. There’s so much to learn when starting a new career, and all […]

Fostering creativity in the SLAB

by | January 19, 2023 0 Ideas

SERA project teams have an array of tools to assist with their design and presentation work, and they love nothing more than to dive in and playfully experiment as they bring their visions to life. A few months ago, we learned how SERA’s Viz Team uses augmented and virtual reality to not only present projects […]

SERA at Galleria: Professional development through human experience

by | November 15, 2022 0 Ideas

SERA was recently recognized as an Emerging Professionals Friendly Firm by the Northwest and Pacific AIA, and we have no doubt that our Galleria office will continue to make SERA a great place for interns and young professionals to learn and grow their careers far into the future. Because when it’s done right, an office […]

The future is bright with AR and VR technologies

by | October 27, 2022 0 Ideas

SERA has been involved in some pretty complex, multilayered corporate planning and streetscape projects. Endeavors like The Village at Lagoon Valley in Vacaville, the Eugene Riverfront District Master Plan in Eugene, and Alpine Avenue in McMinnville require great understanding of the site, its limitations, and its potential new uses. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality […]