(SEATTLE, March 19, 2025) – The global multidisciplinary design firm DLR Group has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2025. This year’s list shines a spotlight on businesses that are shaping industry and culture through their innovations. Alongside the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, Fast Company recognizes organizations that are setting new standards and achieving remarkable milestones across all sectors of the economy.

DLR Group has engaged in adaptive reuse projects across a range of sectors, building types, and geographic locations. The firm reimagined a vacant big-box store in Gladstone, Missouri as the vibrant 112,000-square-foot North Kansas City Schools Early Education Center, which opened to students less than a year after beginning design and delivered twice the amount of space at a similar cost to a school built from the ground up. In Phoenix, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office proved it was not just possible, but environmentally and fiscally responsible to adapt a decommissioned jail into a Class-A office building: the project reused 2.1 million pounds of steel and saved 65 million pounds of concrete from being sent to the landfill, with cost savings to the county reaching nearly $70 million. In Minneapolis, DLR Group repositioned the historic Advance Thresher/Emerson-Newton building as lifestyle hotel, Canopy by Hilton Minneapolis Mill District, preserving and reusing approximately 135,000 SF and honoring the 1904 industrial building’s past as a flour and fabric mill with nods to quilting, weaving, and industrial materials in the design.

While many design firms participate in the preservation and adaptive reuse movement, DLR Group’s in-house multidisciplinary expertise spans architecture, engineering, interiors, planning, lighting, acoustics, and specialized high-performance design. Its integrated design approach fosters holistic problem-solving and early identification of potential issues, giving clients an advantage when assessing the feasibility of transforming existing spaces into other property types and deciding to build new or invest in existing structures. For a comprehensive overview of DLR Group’s experience in adaptive reuse, visit here.

The World’s Most Innovative Companies stands as Fast Company’s hallmark franchise and one of its most anticipated editorial efforts of the year. To determine honorees, Fast Company’s editors and writers review companies driving progress around the world and across industries, evaluating thousands of submissions through a competitive application process. The result is a globe-spanning guide to innovation today, from early-stage startups to some of the most valuable companies in the world.

“This year, we recognize companies that are harnessing AI in deep and meaningful ways, brands that are turning customers into superfans by over-delivering for them, and challengers that are introducing bold ideas and vital competition to their industries. At a time when the world is rapidly shifting, these companies are charting the way forward,” continued Vaughan.

The full list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies honorees can now be found at fastcompany.com. It will also be available on newsstands beginning March 25.

Fast Company will host the Most Innovative Companies Summit and Gala for honorees on June 5. The summit features a day of inspiring content, followed by a creative black-tie gala including networking, a seated dinner, and an honoree presentation.

Read more on the adaptive reuse stories of these projects here.