This summer in Portland, we’re excited to offer two internships to current architecture and urban design and planning students! Bring your unique perspective to real projects at every phase of the design process and collaborate with our design professionals in a vibrant studio culture. Apply now! Why intern at SERA this summer? Enriching experiences! SERA’s […]

Today, we break ground on the ROSE/APANO Affordable Mixed Use Development in Portland’s Jade District! The project is the culmination of a thorough public engagement process, with project manager Gauri Rajbaidya and lead designer Travis Dang acting as facilitators for the development team. Next year, the project will bring undersupplied one-, two- and three-bedroom units, […]

In a first for SERA, we coupled our 2017 Sustainable Action Celebration with a Design Week Portland session in back-to-back events last week. Our celebration comes on the heels of the AIA’s recent report “The Habits of High-Performance Firms,” which highlights SERA’s four AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten project wins. The report attributes […]

In September of 2016, The Center for Public Interest Design reached out to their network of designers and activists to participate in the POD Initiative, to design and build a modestly sized home for someone without one. We previously wrote about that here. Since then, the POD Initiative and the City have been in talks […]

UPDATE: See photos of the completed project on our Facebook page. Fourteen locally-designed and built “sleeping pods” intended to address homelessness — including one by SERA staff — will be on exhibit in early December. SERA’s PAD, or Portable Adaptive Dwelling, is one of 14 submissions for the Partners on Dwelling (POD) Initiative, intended to ensure […]

Despite what Howard Roark and Ted Mosby imply, most buildings are not the product of a sole architect’s vision at the drawing board. Rather, a design is created by the architectural team and engineers, who hand over the permitted documents to the contractor to build. This is how it’s planned, but what really goes on? […]

If you’re like me and don’t know the difference between a fun hobby and just more hard work, then you might be interested in building yourself what is called an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU). An ADU is essentially a small home in your backyard that is just small enough to seem like a project any […]

Note: Next week, SERA Architects will join workplaces across the region for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s Bike Commute Challenge. A symbol of our dedication to sustainability, the challenge to bike to work every day is often a motivator for new and recreational cyclists to try commuting for the first time. For some, it’s the discovery of a new passion.  Biking for […]

SERA Architects is opening its doors during Design Week Portland to ask the question, “What does a wonderful waterfront look like to you?” Like many Portlanders, we admire the Willamette – it’s the physical and emotional heart of Portland. And we feel lucky to have Tom McCall Waterfront Park, a strong model of urban walkability, […]

In 2011, we wrote about Portland’s Creative Class slump, noting that, despite being generally regarded as one of the country’s preeminent “creative class” cities, Portland has failed to translate its reputation for livability into real economic gains. Given the city’s persistent struggles with unemployment, underemployment, and low wages (despite attracting artists, designers, intellectuals, hipsters, and […]