- Research
- Sustainability
- Equity
- Community Action
Elevating Design with Research
Curiosity is one of our core values. It fuels our research-driven, holistic approach, allowing us to identify unique insights that, when applied to design, generate truly meaningful solutions. Explore our projects, expertise, and impact.
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HGA's Design Insight Group (DIG) takes curiosity to another level. With backgrounds in fields like anthropology, data science, and process engineering, DIG teams support design outcomes with research, innovation, and thought leadership.
HGA partnered with the Minneapolis Downtown Council to shape its 2035 Strategic Plan—using design research and community engagement to reimagine a more innovative, inclusive, and connected future.
Blending design research, analytics, and stakeholder insights, HGA partnered with Scripps Health to deliver a next-generation hospital tower advancing technology integration, patient experience, and operational efficiency in modern healthcare.
HGA’s post-occupancy research at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center explored how interactive feedback screens shape behavior, revealing that hands-on awareness can inspire students to adopt lasting conservation habits at home.
Research in Action
The goal of our research is always to elevate our practice and design outcomes. Our focus on research, innovation, and thought leadership that informs design has benefited clients across sectors, project types, and sizes.
Learn More350+
Client Projects
Supporting Design
Research-based design leads to better outcomes. We integrate research into our design process to create more sustainable, efficient, user-friendly buildings.
31
Research Awards
Recognizing the Work
Our research has not only advanced firm knowledge and improved client projects but has also been recognized with industry awards.
175
Research Grants Funded
Investing in Research
Since 2015, HGA has funded 175 internal research grants empowering employees to explore ideas that advance design innovation and client impact.
68
Research Presentations
Engaging the Industry
Thought leadership moves the industry forward. In 2025, we presented research at 11 conferences, advancing ideas around healing, sustainability, and behavior in design.
Performance Review
Meeting Project Goals
Through post-occupancy evaluation, HGA examined how Reich Hall at Marlboro Music delivered on its vision. The study found that the new rehearsal and library building enhances performance, supports collaboration, and strengthens the campus community.
Measuring Meaning
Driving Discovery with Microgrants
HGA’s micro-grant research at MetroHealth’s Glick Center examined how artwork rooted in community identity influences wellbeing. Surveys of caregivers, patients, and visitors found that vibrant, locally inspired pieces fostered positive emotions and a stronger sense of connection to Cleveland. The study demonstrates how evidence-based design can capture the spirit of place while enriching healthcare experiences.
Our Strategic Priorities
At HGA, our purpose is to create enduring impact through the application of original insight. Our research strategy enables us to dig deeper to uncover insights and innovative solutions to help our clients and communities thrive.
Grow and Integrate Research & Innovation within HGA
Goal: Streamline access to research resources for all design teams.
Increase Research and Innovation on Client Projects
Goal: Expand and enhance services to promote data-driven design outcomes and process.
Share our Knowledge and Depth of Research within the Broader Industry
Goal: Leverage platforms such as conferences, publications, and our own communications.
Grow and Integrate Research & Innovation within HGA
Goal: Streamline access to research resources for all design teams.
Increase Research and Innovation on Client Projects
Goal: Expand and enhance services to promote data-driven design outcomes and process.
Share our Knowledge and Depth of Research within the Broader Industry
Goal: Leverage platforms such as conferences, publications, and our own communications.
Great Design is Sustainable Design
Sustainability is at the heart of our holistic design approach and guides us as we shape our future. We aim for every project to be a commitment to a healthier planet, incorporating decarbonization, healthy communities, and/or climate adaptation goals. Explore our projects, commitments, and recognition.
Learn MoreEmbracing a Sustainable Legacy
With more than 70 years of experience as an interdisciplinary design firm, we have developed an integrated approach to our work. Teams collaborate across disciplines to consider environmental impact and resilience, setting ambitious yet achievable goals. Our high-performance projects, industry commitments, and collected metrics are evidence: we have the knowledge and tools to design for mitigation and adaptation.
Learn More1,306
Projects reported to AIA 2030
Measured Progress
In 2024, HGA reported 100% of eligible building and interior projects—up from 94% in 2023—advancing progress toward AIA 2030 net-zero targets.
212k+
MTCO2e Avoided
Building Green
Projects that reported for AIA 2030 avoided 212,844 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) in 2021-2024—that’s like taking nearly 50,000 gasoline-powered cars off the road for one year.
207
Accredited Professionals
Our Collective
HGA staff are accredited in LEED, WELL, LFA, SITES, Passive House, and Commissioning. Working across disciplines, we help our clients prepare for an evolving future.
Rebuilding Together
Enduring Strength
After wildfires devastated Los Angeles, HGA leaders Amy Hellmund and Ariane Laxo share lessons in recovery and design—showing how thoughtful planning and community collaboration can help rebuild stronger, safer places.
HGA is Carbon Neutral
Community Spaces, Sustainable Places
The Value of High-Performance Buildings
HGA’s 2024 AIA 2030 results highlight how innovative design drives real sustainability impact. Our civic projects are leading the way, with many surpassing 80% energy reductions compared to baseline buildings. From a lakeside activity center and nature center each achieving 90% reductions to other facilities delivering major efficiency gains, we’re proving that high-performance design can elevate community spaces, reduce long-term costs, and deliver lasting environmental and operational value.
Our Strategic Priorities
With vision and strategy, we have made progress toward aligning our internal structure to position our company and clients to create the greatest possible impact. As we build physical environments that are sustainable and resilient, we are also building relationships with other leaders and changemakers in the form of clients, employees, and partners.
Embed Sustainability in Holistic Design
Goal: Continue to develop our holistic, sustainable design practice.
Elevate the Baseline of Knowledge and Experience
Goal: Ensure that every HGAer, regardless of role, knows how to integrate sustainability into their work.
Prioritize Accountability: Sustainability is Everyone's Job
Goal: Integrate sustainability at all levels of the firm and report progress and challenges annually.
Embed Sustainability in Holistic Design
Goal: Continue to develop our holistic, sustainable design practice.
Elevate the Baseline of Knowledge and Experience
Goal: Ensure that every HGAer, regardless of role, knows how to integrate sustainability into their work.
Prioritize Accountability: Sustainability is Everyone's Job
Goal: Integrate sustainability at all levels of the firm and report progress and challenges annually.
Advancing Sustainability
Our increased commitment to sustainability has resulted in a firmwide culture shift. Every HGA project now includes a sustainability lead on the design team. Sustainability considerations are becoming ingrained in every project and are a targeted focus for all disciplines.
As design professionals, we are ethically responsible to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Our design work—aiming to foster healthy communities and ecosystems through climate change mitigation and adaptation—is rooted in this ethos.
Ariane Laxo, CID, LEED AP BD+C ID+C, EDAC
Director of Sustainability
Our Ongoing Commitment to Equity
Equity is not a strategy or a department; it’s an ongoing process of creating spaces where everyone can thrive—within HGA and through our client work. Explore our project stories, impact, and industry leadership.
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Equity is a living, breathing part of HGA—woven into the fabric of our culture, it is reflected in our work, our people, and our strategy. Great design is equitable design: fueled by curiosity, informed by diverse perspectives, and elevated by insight directly from those who inhabit our spaces.
Learn MoreToolkit
for Equitable Design
Design Guidelines
Our new resource offers research, design considerations, and sample plans for creating meaningful equity spaces such as multi-user restrooms, prayer rooms, and more.
47%
Diverse Business Partners
Expanding Equity
In 2024, 47% of our project partners were diverse businesses, reflecting HGA’s commitment to equitable opportunity across the communities we serve.
Just.
Commitment to Social Justice
Corporate Transparency
HGA has achieved the Just Label 2.0, a voluntary disclosure platform for organizations to share their operations, including employee well-being and community commitment.
Going Global
Design for Good
HGA planner Taruna Gupta co-founded Defining Humanity, a nonprofit using design and technology to improve education, housing, and health globally.
Healthy Together
A Collaborative Vision for a New Community Center
Building Pathways
Fostering Diversity in the Next Generation of Industry Professionals
Supporting Diverse Talent
From partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to internships to architecture programs for kids, we seek opportunities to encourage people from diverse backgrounds to choose the design industry.
Our Strategic Priorities
At HGA we embrace a responsibility that is both inspiring and humbling: to generate positive and lasting impact through design. To do that, we have developed a comprehensive equity strategy to build our culture, contribute to our communities, and create work that is inclusive and accessible.
Build Culture and Capacity
Goal: Grow our infrastructure in a way that helps all employees thrive professionally and personally.
Develop Authentic Partnerships
Goal: Establish and nurture partnerships to ensure an ecosystem for meaningful work.
Push the Industry Forward through Thought Leadership
Goal: Research, establish best practices, and share knowledge.
Contribute to the Resilience of our Communities
Goal: Address inequities and disparities within our local communities.
Practice Holistic Design
Goal: Put equity into practice through our design process and outcomes.
The Journey Continues
HGA was founded on the belief that diverse perspectives are integral to great design. As a firm dedicated to learning and growing, our definition of diversity has evolved significantly. Now our work continues, and we will persist in our pursuit of equity, accessibility, and inclusion within our designs and for our broader community.
This year reminded us that design is more than aesthetics—it's a responsibility. Embedding equity into our practice challenges us to listen deeply, question assumptions, and create environments that serve people with dignity and intention.
Terri Howard
Director of Equity
Designing for Social Impact
Creative, passionate people naturally want to promote positive change. Our Community Action program makes design accessible to nonprofits and community organizations that lack access to professional services. Explore our partnerships, outreach, and impact.
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A Service Commitment to Community
HGA’s Community Action days of service unite employees across offices to serve local communities—from mentoring students in design to volunteering alongside nonprofits that advance equity, education, and environmental stewardship.
Over Years, a Plan Takes Root
For Como Community Center in Minneapolis, HGA provided pro bono design services to support site renovations and fundraising, later returning to help build a community garden reflecting the site’s history and neighborhood spirit.
Fighting for Food Insecurity
Kinship Community Food Center in Milwaukee aims to end hunger, isolation, and poverty. An HGA pro bono workshop helped Kinship develop a program, select a new site, and create renderings for fundraising and site acquisition.
Community in Action
In 2025, HGA’s Milwaukee office launched its first Giving Week—a coordinated effort informed by a community needs assessment, supporting local nonprofits addressing homelessness, foster care, and services for women, children, and individuals with disabilities.
Transforming Values into Action
HGA's Community Action program empowers employees for positive impact. Through pro bono projects, days of service, mentoring, community engagement, advocacy, and charitable contributions, we partner with nonprofits to elevate voices often unheard.
*Numbers reflect Community Action program impact 2014 through December 2024.
60+
Pro Bono Projects
Free of Charge
We provide pro bono design services and engagement workshops for nonprofits, community associations, and schools. Applications are reviewed through each of our 12 offices.
900+
Total Staff Engaged
Locally Grown
Each of our 12 offices are empowered to identify and partner with local organizations that align with their unique passions and interests, and all employees are encouraged to participate.
20,000+
Hours Volunteered
Time for Good
From pro bono design to mentoring kids to community cleanups, over the last decade HGA staff have shared professional expertise and personal enthusiasm with community partners.
$2.5M
Charitable Giving
Giving Back
We contribute 3% of our net profit each year to support national and local nonprofit community organizations, causes, and initiatives we care deeply about.
Pro Bono Design Workshop
Community Action Programs
Committing Resources
Begun as a grassroots effort and formalized firmwide in 2014, our Community Action program aims to enhance the social impact of our work through six primary programs:
- Pro Bono Projects
- Days of Service
- Mentoring
- Community Engagement
- Advocacy
- Charitable Contributions
Our Strategic Priorities
We are a design firm made up of generous, talented people who want to make our world a better place. HGA strives to create a powerful impact on the social, environmental, and economic health of the communities we live in.
Advance Authentic Engagement through Pro Bono Design
Goal: Make design accessible for organizations that lack resources to acquire our services.
Mentor the Next Generation of Designers
Goal: Partner with educational organizations to help expose a diverse body of students to careers in the industry.
Put Equity Values into Action through Days of Service
Goal: Support individual office events to create immediate impact in communities.
Support Communities through Charitable Giving
Goal: Contribute 3% of net profit to national and local nonprofit organizations.
Fostering Change Locally and Beyond
We believe that contributing to our communities is not just a corporate responsibility—it’s a human responsibility. Inspired by our founders’ early work in education and the arts, and propelled by current employees’ commitment to civic engagement, HGA will continue to invest time, resources, and expertise to create positive local impact. Hear more about how our teams turn these values into action in this conversation with the co-directors of HGA’s Community Action program.
As designers, we carry both privilege and responsibility. Our social impact work, whether through advocacy, pro bono, mentorship, or hands-on service, ensures that we use that responsibility to open doors and create opportunities for others.
Kaitlin Schalow, AIA & Hannah Holbach, Assoc AIA
Co-Directors of Community Action