THE OFFICE

Founded in 2021, the New Orleans-based OFFICE La is best known for creating intuitive architecture and interiors for clients. Projects range from Residential to Commercial, working throughout New Orleans and beyond.

Led by Partners Lauren Hickman and Robert Baddour, their innovative design vision, architecture training, passion for music, art, color theory and hand-crafted sensibilities. They are inspired by time and place, intent and culture, and creating spaces that offer unexpected playfulness and timeless charm.

Creativity is central to everything we do.

Two young adults standing side by side indoors. The woman is wearing a pink ribbed sweater and has shoulder-length light brown hair. The man has wavy brown hair, a mustache, and is wearing a dark jacket over a gray shirt. They are standing in front of a wall with colorful rectangular panels and shelves, with some fabric and rolls of paper or fabric on the left side.
Two young adults standing side by side indoors. The woman is wearing a pink ribbed sweater and has shoulder-length light brown hair. The man has wavy brown hair, a mustache, and is wearing a dark jacket over a gray shirt. They are standing in front of a wall with colorful rectangular panels and shelves, with some fabric and rolls of paper or fabric on the left side.

Lauren Hickman, RA, Partner

Lauren has a broad range of professional and academic experiences, and has assisted clients in realizing various cultural, institutional, hospitality, and residential projects. She is on the search for innovative and playful ways to reflect and inspire communities, especially those of the Southern United States.

Lauren began her studies at Tulane University and went on to receive her Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Fine Art from Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. As a young student of architecture she had the opportunity to learn from multiple pedagogies, ultimately challenging and broadening her understanding of the built environment and the ways in which architecture engages a culture.  

She completed her graduate studies at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation where she received her Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design. While at Columbia, her research focused on strategies of the copy, the ironic, and the cliché as a means to challenge architecture’s role with cultural identity.

Robert Baddour, Partner

Robert Baddour joined OFFICE La after 15 years experience in the architecture profession. He associates his deep appreciation for the intersection of the built environment, cultural identity, and civic intervention to his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee and adopted home of New Orleans.

Robert received his Bachelor and Master of Architecture from Tulane University, where he participated in the URBANbuild design-build program. He first came to New Orleans to study architecture when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf South. Being engaged in the city during this formative recovery period firmly rooted him, and it most significantly shaped his understanding of what architecture should provide communities. Robert also serves on the board of Docomomo Louisiana – Gulf South.