What does this place want to be, not just functionally, but emotionally, experientially, and years from now?

Steve Simpson has been asking this for his entire 35 year career, from courthouses for the people and museums that evoke curiosity, to libraries filled with natural light and family homes perched above Alaskan coves. The work is varied but the approach is not.

Every project in Steve’s firm begins by listening — he believes architecture should not impose a vision on a place or a client; it draws one out. It emerges from the nature of the site, the quality of the light, the way people move through their day, and the values of a community.

The result is a design that is purposeful and precise, spaces rich with activity and anchored by materiality. Where the details are resolved and the connection to the greater landscape feels inevitable. Not a style imposed from the outside, but an architecture that could only have come from this place, this client, this conversation.

The process is collaborative, direct, and enjoyable. Steve works in real-time 3D from the earliest stages, so clients can see their project take shape and respond to it as a living thing rather than a set of technical drawings. Ideas are tested quickly. Decisions are made with confidence.

As design principal of two renowned Portland firms, Steve spent the first three decades of his career working on large, civic buildings.  Now he enjoys a more intimate one-on-one practice, focusing on his love for residential as well as smaller-scale commercial, institutional and civic work. He is the recipient of many design awards and enjoys mentoring young architects, as well as teaching at the University of Oregon.

We are currently accepting new clients across Oregon and Alaska. If you have a project, large or small, residential or civic, we would love to start a conversation.