Ashley Heeren, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
PRINCIPAL
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Ashley works to celebrate communities and places with resilient, inclusive design. She believes that powerful connections made through the design of shared architectural spaces can inspire both individual and societal wellness.
Ashley's strengths have been recognized most recently with an AIA Austin Honor Award for Emerging Professional Achievement and as an Austin Under 40 Finalist. Her professional expertise focuses on benefitting communities and ecosystems across diverse scales and typologies, including award-winning development, hospitality, and educational projects. Ashley has leveraged her work experience to advance thought leadership as well; she has been a featured speaker at AIA and ASLA events across the U.S., locally, and on international media. She ardently promotes education and mentorship, especially efforts to amplify female voices, and is a regularly invited school critic and lecturer.
Ashley received her BA from Yale and her M.Arch from Harvard GSD with Ryan and DK. She helped launch LowDO as a decentralized experimental office, contributing to projects in Nigeria and the U.S. before recognizing her desire for broader experience with public-spirited work. She then spent over ten years with Lake|Flato Architects, where she helped open and grow a successful Austin office engaged in projects of varied program and scale, all aiming to prioritize sustainability. In returning to LowDO, Ashley married two powerful worlds: experience delivering complex high-performance projects with LowDO's focus on building societal equity.
Ashley serves on committees for The Trail Conservancy, ULI Austin, and other local groups working to improve the Austin community. She also remains passionate about learning from varied global perspectives; with experience living abroad and in continuing to work internationally, she strives to design environments that bridge divides and forge connections.