SmithGroup, one of the nation’s leading integrated design firms, has elevated interior designer Megan Skaalen, CID, to serve as Workplace studio leader at its San Diego office. In her new role, Skaalen will continue to work with San Diego and Los Angeles leadership to expand the firm’s workplace and mixed-use expertise and strengthen the firm’s growing presence in the greater San Diego area. 

“Today’s business leaders are facing unprecedented challenges and require design partners that can help them find flexible solutions to propel them ahead of the curve,” says Lise Newman, director of SmithGroup’s Workplace Practice. “Megan’s focus on building authentic relationships and bold, playful design makes her an ideal creative partner for a wide range of clients in the San Diego market.”  

Skaalen has focused the last decade of her career on developing design solutions for owner, developer and end user clients, with an emphasis on creatively adapting existing assets into forward-thinking business environments. She is currently leading the design of Ora @ Pacific Station, a conversion of a former grocery store into retail and office space in Encinitas, California. Recently completed projects include the Encinitas Wellness Center, which reimagined a 1970s-era racquetball center into a wellness destination in Encinitas, California; and Doctor Multimedia, which transformed a former retail suite in the Westfield UTC Mall in San Diego into a creative office space for a digital marketing company. 

“The design of office and commercial environments are undergoing a fundamental change in response to recent world events,” states Bonnie Khang-Keating, director of SmithGroup’s San Diego and Los Angeles offices. “Megan not only understands these immediate challenges but can identify innovative strategies and design solutions to spur long term success.” 

Skaalen graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio arts from the University of Arizona and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in interior design from the Design Institute of San Diego. She is a certified interior designer (CID) in the State of California.