PUSADEE’S GARDEN. PHOTO BY ED MASSERY PHOTOGRAPHY

Although he spent years working for a firm in Denver, architect Andrew Moss, who grew up in Pittsburgh, always felt something tying him to the Steel City.

“I continued to feel the pull to come back home,” he says.

After returning to Pittsburgh, he started his own firm almost 20 years ago. Specializing in creative offices, restaurants, retail, residential, adaptive reuse, parks and cultural
Facilities, mossArchitects — which has its home base in Garfield — recently designed the reimagined Pusadee’s Garden in Lawrenceville, which has been praised for its innovative, oasis-like design, and the Penn Atlantic Building, an arts-focused, mixed-use building in the East End.

THE PENN-ATLANTIC BUILDING. PHOTO BY ED MASSERY PHOTOGRAPHY

The innovation of the firm, which in 2022 expanded its ownership to include principals Katie LaForest and Darren Lloyd, hasn’t gone unnoticed. Near the end of 2024, mossArchitects received a prestigious American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award from AIA’s Pennsylvania chapter.

“We are the first Pittsburgh-based firm to receive this, which doubly makes it all that much significant and important,” Moss says. “Hopefully, we will continue to see many other Pittsburgh firms recognized in a similar way.”

Acknowledging exceptional design, ideal practices and dedication to architecture’s effects on society, the award is the highest achievement given by the AIA’s Pennsylvania chapter, according to a news release.

MOSSARCHTECTS STAFF PHOTO COURTESY OF MOSSARCHITECTS

When creating his firm, Moss had a goal of building an environment where he wanted to go to work each day — and where he could share his passion for architecture with his colleagues.

“I say to everybody who works here, ‘When you wake up in the morning and decide that you’re not excited about going to work today, you need to change something,’” he says.

Some of the many projects the firm has completed throughout the city include a contemporary house atop Mount Washington, the softly illuminated Greer Cabaret Theater in the heart of the Cultural District and a building that combines accent wood with black and white tones at Incline Equity Partners in Downtown. The firm also has completed projects in other states, including Michigan and California.

“I think something we do particularly well is not just renovate a building, but reinvent it,” Moss says.

PUSADEE’S GARDEN. PHOTO BY ED MASSERY PHOTOGRAPHY

Although they design new buildings, when reimagining an existing building, the firm thoroughly explores how the space can be repurposed in a creative way. One example of this is Lawrence Hall on Butler Street; Built in the 1890s, the 6,000-square-foot space, which once served as a motion picture theater, is now an event space and food hall housing four local restaurants.

Moss adds the firm prioritizes listening to the clients needs, while incorporating the history and context of the neighborhood that surrounds the structure. While most of the team’s work can be described as modern or contemporary, their projects differ from building to building thanks to the various voices influencing the work they do.

GREER CABARET THEATER. PHOTO BY ED MASSERY PHOTOGRAPHY

There is a common thread between these structures, though, according to Moss — the commitment to quality architecture and craftsmanship. Questioning initial assumptions and figuring out the status quo helps the firm to push the boundaries of design.

“It’s different for every single client and every single project, which is part of what I love about this work,” Moss says.