Led by an AIA-credentialed managing principal, DGA operates its San Diego office from 2550 Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest as part of a four-city California practice founded in 1995. The 180-person firm specializes in laboratory and science facility architecture for life sciences, biotech, and mission-critical clients, working in the same technical-facility lane as San Diego peer Research Facilities Design. The practice philosophy — codified as The Union of Design and Technology — integrates lab programming, systems coordination, and high-performance workplace design into a single architectural deliverable. Ground-up campus projects at this scale pair the architectural scope with heavy general contracting capacity, the kind of multi-trade coordination carried at the general-contractor tier by Highland - Construction Services on commercial builds. In-house services span feasibility studies, test-fits, programming, laboratory planning, medical planning, interior architecture, and master planning for both new construction and facility upgrades. The ongoing Ionis Pharmaceuticals expansion in Carlsbad — a new three-level, 165,000-square-foot laboratory and office building adjoining the existing 400,000-plus-square-foot campus — represents the firm's current flagship San Diego project.