Year Seven was an exciting time of change and growth at Republic. While design work on RAINO was already underway, our team dove deep into research and exploration for what our future home could be. Our seventh retreat to Los Angeles, CA became the perfect backdrop for this inspiration hunt. From the striking forms of Emerson College on Sunset Boulevard, to the serenity of Headspace in Santa Monica, to the innovative studios of HOK in Culver City and Michael Maltzan Architecture in Los Feliz, every stop sparked new ideas. We stood in awe of Frank Gehry’s dynamic and visually striking design of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, wandered through Downtown LA, looked to the stars at Griffith Observatory, and admired Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic Hollyhock House—all the while, taking notes on how creativity and culture can shape a space.

Back home, the team was also growing. This year we welcomed Jordan Loewen and Cristina Bustamante, who brought fresh energy and much-needed reinforcements to our technologist and project management teams. At the same time, our identity was evolving too: republic Architecture Inc. officially became Republic Architecture Inc.—complete with new brand guidelines that better reflected the maturing firm we were becoming.

September 2016 marked another milestone as construction officially began on RAINO. Breaking ground on our future home was both exciting and symbolic: Republic wasn’t just imagining growth, we were building it.

Year Seven also brought new tools to our practice. For the first time, we used Virtual Reality (VR) technology on a project, giving clients a chance to step inside their future spaces in a way that felt truly transformative.

With all this momentum, it’s no surprise that we flew past another milestone: surpassing Project 200 and closing out the year with 253 projects in our portfolio. And because history matters, this was also the year the Republic “historians” introduced a new rule: pics or it didn’t happen. From team events to retreats, we started building a visual archive of our adventures—capturing the moments, both big and small, that make Republic what it is.

Year Seven reminded us that growth isn’t just about numbers or new services. It’s about curiosity, exploration, and inspiration—the kind that comes from standing in admiration of great architecture, from welcoming new faces into the fold, and from daring to imagine the spaces where our own story would continue to unfold.