Practice with Purpose: A Guide to Mission-Driven Design

Practice with Purpose is about designing buildings beyond their property lines to address some of society’s most urgent challenges: the climate emergency, racial and ethnic injustice, chronic homelessness, educational crises, and the preservation of the embodied carbon and culture of existing buildings. 

To successfully contend with these ecological and societal emergencies, the design values and practice of architecture must be rapidly transformed within the next decade. Architects must become creative agents of change, providing the vision and skill to lead our communities toward an equitable, climate-positive future for all. 

Twenty years ago, San Francisco–based Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects rededicated its practice to focus on these urgent issues. Its mission-driven designs not only address the critical concerns of twenty-first century architecture, but also bring clients and users into the dialogue. LMSa’s award-winning works show the creative potential of building a practice with purpose. In this book, LMSa shares its experience and insight as a call to action to the architecture profession. Through case studies, data-driven essays, user testimonials, and thought-provoking questions, LMSa offers design strategies to architects who want to make an environmental and social impact.