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Yost Grube Hall Architecture recently was honored for its work on two projects – its downtown Portland headquarters and a U.S. embassy in Dakar, Senegal.

YGH staffers last year moved into a remodeled office space on the 12th floor at 707 S.W. Washington St. For its design, the architecture, planning and interior design firm received a merit award in the office category of the 2014 Home Design Magazine Australian Living Green Interior Awards. The awards program recognizes projects that use green interior products.

The project incorporated various sustainable materials and is expected to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating, YGH marketing manager Amy Winterowd said.

A roughly 1,200-square-foot space in the Union Bank Building has a tighter floor plate than the firm’s previous office and allows staffers to work more collaboratively, President Nels Hall said.

“All of a sudden, we could have all of our studio in one space,” he said. “We decided no one was going to have an interior office. You can reorganize teams very efficiently. We have what I would call a very, very flexible space.”

For the American embassy in Dakar, YGH received a merit award in the government building category of Engineering News-Record’s 2014 Global Best Projects Awards. The firm was the design architect for the $148.6 million replacement effort completed last year. Architecture and engineering firm Page served as the architect of record for the design-build project.

The new embassy was built on a site where a resort hotel with prime ocean views once stood, Hall said. The design takes advantage of the site by placing the main public atrium space on the second floor with windows looking out onto the Bay of Dakar and Atlantic Ocean.

“One of the biggest things is: How do you take a, generally in terms of security, closed environment and make it appear open?” Hall said. “I think that’s one big reason why it got an award.”