Peter M. Trapolin and Paula M. Peer
FAIA, Principal & AIA, Principal
Trapolin-Peer Architects
Trapolin-Peer Architects is a human-centered design practice with an imaginative and sustainable approach to reinvention and revitalization. The firm specializes in adaptive reuse, historic restoration and contextual new construction design work spanning a variety of uses throughout the Southeast. TPA’s recent projects include The Sazerac House; The Julia Apartments; The Pearl Hotel in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi; 1 Palafox Place in Pensacola, Florida; Edna Karr High School; May and Ellis; and the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences.
What is the biggest challenge facing your industry in this new normal and how are you adapting?
With the positive momentum today surrounding design equity, our industry has an opportunity to reconsider socially resilient architecture. Alongside our development partners, TPA is consciously examining how people experience the spaces we create and how the projects ultimately impact and interact with the communities in which they are developed. The common thread we’ve identified is the need for increasingly flexible design in all of our project types, from education to multifamily to hospitality to community spaces. For the latter in particular, flexible design means a property can pivot to maintain active programming, regardless of the climate.
What changes do you see in your industry in the next year?
We are currently collaborating with Son of a Saint and YWCA to create the flexible spaces they need to navigate this transitional moment and beyond. We hope this shift toward recognizing architecture as an agent of change continues to be at the forefront of national dialogue, and we are proud to help lead the way in the Southeast.
