GLPM Architects Inc. boasts a long list of completed projects in Lawrence, from designing the Lawrence Public Library to upgrading Memorial Stadium to overhauling Massachusetts Street to include streetlights, planter boxes and saw-toothed parking.

And it all started 50 years ago, in a second-floor office covering all of 300 square feet.

“We used $5,000 left over from the sale of a house,” said founder Dick Peters, who retired 17 years ago. “We used all our financial resources.”

Today, GLPM designs projects ranging from $150,000 elevator replacements to $50 million construction jobs, all the while staying true to a customer-centered philosophy that has grown out of the firm’s humble beginnings.

“We don’t have a particular style,” said Dale Glenn, president and principal, who joined the firm 34 years ago. “Our projects reflect the needs and desires of the client. We believe in lasting architecture, and architecture that meets people’s needs, and I think we’ve really done a nice job of accomplishing that.”

The Lawrence Arts Center is among the projects where the firm’s design work would be considered customercentric – and more, said Jeff Shmalberg, who helped arrange for the downtown redevelopment project.

The center had been working for years to try to come up with an expansion plan for its original historic home in the former Carnegie Library on Ninth Street. After those plans proved unfeasible, GLPM leaders quickly shifted gears to a site on New Hampshire Street owned by a group that included Shmalberg.

Within months, the project had a design and development plan that met or exceeded the center’s classroom, theater, gallery, studio, office and other needs, he said. And then there’s the visually attractive exterior that promises to stand the test of time in a redevelopment area destined to include retail shops and possibly a hotel.

“They design from the inside out,” Shmalberg said. “It’s amazing how they do that. They don’t just draw a pretty building on the outside and then hope it works. It’s designed from the inside out, and makes sure all the departments work the way they’re supposed to.

“Then it’s, ‘Well, what’s it look like?’ And then you know: The form has taken shape, meeting all the needs. And it’s always great.”

The firm has designed more than 900 projects in Lawrence, including City Hall, Lawrence Public Library, Free State High School, Langston Hughes School, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America building, a city parking garage in the 900 block of New Hampshire Street, expansion and renovations at Memorial Stadium and restoration and reconstruction of Budig Hall at KU.

Today, GLPM has 24 architects, designers, construction administrators and support staffers working at 1001 N.H., but the firm has roots that stretch back 50 years and include 377 professionals, past and present.

Along with principal David Livingood, Glenn looks forward to the future for a firm that hasn’t forgotten where it came from, nor how it will continue to thrive.

“It’s all about people,” said Glenn, reminiscing with Peters last week. “We’ve got great people, and Dick hired great people. We took his advice, and we continue to hire people that work harder and are smarter than we are, and those are the people who will lead the firm in the next 50 years.”