Michael Lehmberg, Architect
Ethos
Michael Lehmberg
AIA, LEED AP
"Creating Architecture is mostly an act of faith. It is a belief in the idea that collective effort toward a common goal will create something of great value, contribute to quality in the built environment, and enrich the human condition. Guided by this ethos, we take on the responsibilities of helping fulfill our client’s aspirations with careful attention to the natural and social environments that sustain us all.
"My hope is the work shown here demonstrates this faith and commitment to Community. As one contributor among many that brought these projects to realization, I’ve learned just how much the act of collaboration helps ‘build’ Community. The artistic use of concept, expression, and craft draws on the strengths of many to articulate a new vision. The most successful and beautiful projects happen when the goals of the client, designer, builder, and Community overlap and coalesce.
"One very rewarding part of practicing Architecture is being a part of history. The ever-changing fabric of towns and cities is the story of their evolution. The small adaptations of the countryside to human interventions speak of our desire to live in the beauty of nature. The architect must understand the roots that grow a particular place so that each building project expresses a connection to its place, and therefore writes a unique and enduring chapter in its history."
Architect Bio
Beginnings
Lehmberg’s career as a Design Architect and Studio Leader shows a broad curiosity for the built environment and a multi-decade pursuit to weave together communities while advancing sustainability across building types. Lehmberg’s dual priorities of community and environment were forged by the time he graduated with his Bachelor of Architecture from The University of Arizona in 1984. While there, he spent his study years immersed in the extreme climate of Tucson, AZ, and the cultural complexity of not only living on a major internal border but also in the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the US. Taught a place-based design approach, Lehmberg was constantly pushed to deepen how his design projects could combine cutting-edge environmental research to the historical-cultural layers of the city. It’s evident Lehmberg absorbed these values and made them his own, as Lehmberg became the Teaching Assistant for the History of Western Architecture course as well as a Research Apprentice with the Urban Land Institute, where he assisted with the Tuscon case study.
A new program called LEED
In the late ’90s during Lehmberg’s early years working as a Project Manager for the architecture firm LPA, Inc., in Irvine California, he convinced the studio to aim for LEED certification, a newly launched program by the Federal Energy Management Program in August of 1998. Noticing that the greater architecture profession also needed to support the LEED program, Lehmberg worked hard to establish the Committee of the Environment and the Sustainable Design Award at the AIA. When LPA agreed to give LEED a shot, Lehmberg helped successfully integrate the sustainability considerations into the studio’s project development process. Several years later, LPA was recognized as a sustainable design leader. As soon as LEED offered architecture professionals leed accreditation in 2001, Lehmberg immediately applied for it and became of the first ten architects to receive it in California.
With his new LEED credential, Lehmberg moved to Williams + Paddon Architects + Planners in 2001, where he accepted the position of Director of Sustainable Design. He was tasked with establishing the company as a regional sustainable design leader, not just for buildings this time, but also for the expanded scope of urban planning projects. To adapt, Lehmberg forged a new synthesis between land planning and building design to implement a smart growth strategy that enhanced the community experience and the easy use of public space. His extensive experience in executing building projects helped him connect the planner’s birds-eye view of transportation impacts and resource efficiency with the practical execution of the designs. During the next five years, he led the construction documentation and construction administration on design award-winning and LEED-certified projects, such as the Fairway Canyon Aquatic Center.
Buildings You May Know
Going on to work at NTD Architecture, Swatt | Miers Architects, and JK Architecture Engineering, Lehmberg has gone on to construct over a million square feet of high-quality, award-winning, LEED architecture across California, particularly in the greater Sacramento region. He continues to dedicate his practice to elevating the technical implementation of architecture to the needs and values of various community groups. His broad curiosity about the built environment and his dexterity with working with different contexts is visible in the diversity of his portfolio- everything from schools to town halls, community centers, and animal care facilities. For those living in Placer County, it’s likely one has been in a Lehmberg building, such as the LEED Gold City of Roseville Martha Riley Branch Library, the AIA Design Honor awarded Placer County Community Resources Building, or the Sierra Community College - Nevada County Campus Expansion to name a few. His work remains guided by the belief that every project’s design potential is realized by channeling team and community strengths in a process that is both measured deliberation and dynamic interaction- a merging of science and community history to produce places that people love.
