Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 6

45 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 6 that fit the climate and the landscape. Slowly but surely, they began to take on larger projects, commercial projects, that took them to places beyond these initial residential designs.” Lake|Flato today has been in practice nearly four decades and has a staff of about 130, including 50 registered architects, 42 LEED-accredited professionals, and a Design Performance team made up of industry leaders dedicated to advancing best practices in sustainable design and technology. Ten partners empower the teams that lead each project from concept to completion, and collaboration with clients and consultants lays the foundation for all their design and creative work. “We’re all over the country now,” Wascher announces. “We have projects in virtually every state. We even have some hospitality projects in Baja California Sur, Mexico, and the Caribbean.” Few design firms are as celebrated as theirs – Lake|Flato Architects are the winners of more than 300 international, national, and regional awards, and placed 1st in Architect Magazine’s 2019 Top 50, an annual ranking of the best U.S. firms. Even with all this success, Wascher says the firm still loves to do those “really nice, really fun” Texas ranch-styled homes, but admits that they regularly turn their attention to other market sectors. “Our office is broken up into several studios,” he explains. “We have a higher education studio that deals with college and university projects. We have a K-12 studio that primarily focuses on grade school learning environments. We also have studios that exclusively handle commercial developments, which is the studio I support. We LAKE | FLATO ARCHI TECTS Magdalena Hotel Courtesy of Casey Dunn Magdalena Hotel Courtesy of Casey Dunn