JA was recently named one of Washington’s Best 100 Companies to Work for! Our core commitments to social justice, equity, sustainability, and community wellness helped us stand apart.

The View from Here is a collaboration with Facing Homelessness. The piece is designed to shine a light on our neighbors who now live unsheltered in Bellevue and Seattle.

Mary Johnston spoke to Audrey Cavenecia about the impact of nonlinear design in leadership on the Amplify Voices Unlikely Podcast.

“I think of libraries and houses in the same way: people are passionate about them.”

— Ray Johnston, FAIA

A Seattle family trades the bustle of city life for the peace and quiet of a tiny house of Orcas Island.

Ray Johnston was featured in a career and workplace article, All The Comforts of Home in the Puget Sound Business Journal (PSBJ), focusing on the fate of traditional office spaces post-pandemic.

Wellman and Robinson knew what they were looking for when they started house hunting. Their first impression of the house wasn’t great, but the spacious house on 30 acres started to grow on them. The site, adjacent to Lucky Jim Bluff on the valley floor, and the all-day natural lighting eventually won them over, along with helpful ideas from Johnston Architects.

In the International Living Future Institute™ (ILFI) Just program, we found the perfect measure to gauge our success and see where we fell short. The program helped highlight the nature of JA’s commitment and act as a framework to guide the progression of the firm as a model for social justice in the workplace.

A Washington Couple Built a Gear Loft to Stash Sports Equipment. Now They Practically Live There. Because of Covid, they now spend a majority of their time inside the 750-squre-foot space.

AIA Seattle has selected Gear Loft in Washington’s Methow Valley as a Home of Distinction.

Architects across the country have noticed older clients are increasingly taking on new construction and major renovation projects. It is partly because there are more households led by people 65 or older, with a million added nationwide every year between 2014 to 2019, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

JA has promoted Harmony Cooper and Liz Wasson Coleman to Associate.

Featured in Seattle Magazine as one of their local hidden gems, JA is among a handful of PNW organizations adding detached accessory dwelling units (DADUs) into the range of work they offer.

Seattle Refined featured Gear Loft today - the perfect social distancing holiday getaway right here in Washington’s’ beautiful Methow Valley.

JA expects to soon roll out its Parametric Casita, which makes it easier for property owners to create detached accessory dwelling units (DADUs), in single-family zones in Seattle. A client inputs their address and is presented with the developable area on their lot. They create their own layout option, hit submit and a simplified structural model, bill of materials and rough construction costs are generated. If they want to build, JA will develop construction documents from Revit models that have been premade.

JA has hired two more designers, both recent University of Washington graduates with Masters in Architecture. Today, the firm is more than one-third Huskies.

“Their vision went from drawing board to reality in 2013, collaborating with renowned Seattle architect Ray Johnston of Johnston Architects. The result was an award-winning, unique, energy-efficient, eco-conscious, high-tech mountain getaway.”

Johnston Architects has collaborated with developer/builder Bill Parks of William Parks Inc. for over 20 years on multifamily projects throughout Seattle. Most are collections of townhomes or condos on hillsides and surrounded by landscaping, and most incorporate a water feature. Woonerfs and pedestrian paths are another common thread in the developments. Our latest collaboration is Lee Street Lofts, recently featured in the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.

When it came to buying land and building a place in the Methow Valley, Heidi Durham and Leslie Garrard had their parameters firmly in place.

Before the COVID Quarantine, Ray and Mary Johnston had a virtual interview with John Riha of Tiny Homes Magazine about what it was like to design - and live in - their delightful “tiny” Twisp Cabin. Read on to learn more about their design and construction process, how they live in the space, and what it means to them to have put down roots in their beloved Methow Valley.