The IIDA Oregon Chapter is advanced by the dedication, support and leadership of our community. The Legacy Award recognizes and honors a person, company or organization whose contributions have advanced the Interior Design profession and enriched Interior Design in Oregon. The recipient of this award has exemplified traits as an advocate, mentor, design innovator and sustainable leader – values held by the IIDA Oregon Chapter.

The winner of the 2018 Legacy Award winner is Sarah Weber, IIDA, Associate Principal at BORA Architects. Sarah has been nominated multiple times by her peers, and the award comes as no surprise to those who have worked closely with her whether in the office or in a volunteer setting. She has a proven track record of tireless hard work, organization, leadership and advocacy of the Design profession. She has made her mark on the Portland landscape through her 10+ years of work as a Designer at BORA and YGH, plus her service on the IIDA Board as Oregon Chapter President.

Sarah joined the IIDA Oregon board as President Elect in 2013. It is almost unheard of for someone to join the board and immediately take on such a demanding role, but Sarah made Chapter President look easy as she overhauled the organization of the chapter, boosted participation from and added value to student members, and increased collaboration with other western state chapters.

Sarah spent countless hours in addition to her full time job at BORA overhauling the organization of the IIDA Chapter. When she came into her role, board members were still passing on outdated file folders full of outdated information for each board member role from year to year. Sarah introduced the chapter to the Google Drive, and implemented countless tools that have made it easier to pass information forward to the incoming board from year to year.  Sarah played a key role in overhauling the IIDA Oregon website, connecting it with the chapter’s various social media platforms and streamlining how content is displayed and shared.

Sarah helped found the Local Student Design Charette, where students from all Oregon design schools can participate on teams to address a design challenge. Through her increased collaboration with other Western State chapters through the Regional CLC, she helped create the Western Region Student Design Charette, which brought winning teams from the local chapter charrettes together to compete for a chance to go to Chicago for the National Student Design Charette every June. All of this was no small task – as it involved intensive planning on many levels from planning logistics on a regional scale to developing a way to finance, sponsor and fund the initiative.

These are just a few of the many amazing things Sarah accomplished during her award winning tenure as president and on the IIDA board. Meanwhile, she managed to equally contribute to her firm, BORA, working on projects in multiple sectors including education, housing and workplace. Sarah puts so much love and passion into her projects and focuses on every detail of the design. She focuses holistically on the built environment, the user, sustainability and the brand. A great example of her work is the Airbnb project in Portland. She juggled the design of this award winning project – one that employees often call an extension of their “home” – all while IIDA Oregon Chapter President. Sarah’s work on the Airbnb project won her firm the Design Excellence Awards Best in Category for the Airbnb Customer Experience Hub, Juror’s Choice for – Architecture +Collaboration for Airbnb Customer Experience Hub and Silver Lion – Branded Environments for Airbnb Customer Experience Hub. Sarah also won the Merit Award for DOW Chemical Company – Houston Regional Office. All of this amazing work is a testament to her being a design innovator for our community and beyond.

Sarah exemplifies in so many ways the characteristics of a strong leader, mentor, design innovator, and all-around passionate role-model. Congratulations Sarah on being the recipient of the 2018 IIDA Oregon Chapter Legacy Award, you are a genuine asset to and advocate of the profession of Interior Design in the State of Oregon.