Here is my COVID confessional, I am mentally exhausted.
2020 was a year like no other, in fact, I believe it was actually a decade long. There was so much weight, heavy emotional draining weight. Did it hit you? How have you found a way to bring joy to life and lighten the load of all that heavy in the world?
As a release I have started decorating the house I purchased a year ago. I was putting off decorating until I got all the broken / outdated things fixed, but that is going too slow. The house still needs walls painted, terrible wallpaper removed (example above, but should also include the wallpaper of grapes on the kitchen and the flowers in the master bath), landscape cleaned up and more. I just got tired of waiting to get everything right before I started making it home. I created the art wall first. This is a collection of my favorite local artists – Sophie Hendricks, Patricia Hendricks, Steve Flora, and Tonya Pickett. I love this wall, it brings me so much joy.
I am expanding my collection of wall art to include photography of my own and from the girls. I get joy from these creations hanging on the wall. The photos bring memories of places, times, and events. This source of joy gives me energy. It breaks up the heaviness in the world and helps me center.
Who is your favorite local artist? What works bring you the most joy?
As with most things, hosting high school students in my office this past year looked a little different. I was able to have two high school students, from Eastern Mennonite School, join me virtually to explore a career in architecture via weekly virtual meetings. It was not the same. It was not as good for them. However, we did it, made it through, and each of them got some insights into the career they are interested in exploring further. Most of their time was used learning SketchUp, talking about life as an architect, visiting a job site socially distanced, and meeting with industry professionals. Eli, one of the students, has applied to a few architectural programs and at the time of this blog is waiting to hear back on his options for the coming years. I asked him to write about his time in the office, here is his summary.
A possible career in architecture has been hanging around in the back of my mind for a while now, but I never really had the chance to get a true taste of what that career would entail. Thankfully, I got a chance to get that taste and I’m deeply grateful to Gaines Group Architects for being willing to give me that chance. They were willing to let me job shadow and the time I spent learning from them has been informative and has given me a good idea of what the future might hold for someone going into college with a career in architecture in their sights.
Before this point I had only ever seen the finished products of other architects and I wasn’t sure where to begin if I was presented with the challenge of designing a house. Charles Hendricks, my mentor for the job shadow, presented me and another student with that very challenge. He gave us pointers on where we could improve our respective designs and helped us figure out the process of designing a house. Learning the ins and outs of a career isn’t something that happens over the course of a couple months, but Charles was able to impart enough of that knowledge that I wanted to learn more. That desire for knowledge cemented my decision to major in architecture during college and honestly made me look forward to college even more.
However, he did have some warnings to give when it comes to majoring in Architecture at college. One of the main points he mentioned was the fact that it was NOT going to be easy. I believe his exact words were, “College is going to wring every bit of work it can out of you.”, and I had heard jokes about this very fact before when looking around architectural social media. I recognize that college is shaping up to be the most challenging, not to mention the most expensive, 4-5 years of my life. But during the job shadow I realized that I do enjoy planning a building and trying to make the best living space possible for whoever is going to be residing there. I wouldn’t have realized this without trying it myself and hopefully that focus of designing somewhere that people can feel at home and feel safe will help motivate me during college.
Charles also imparted a bit of advice to us as well; College is going to be a time of exploration and of learning what it means to be living on your own. It’s important to explore that space and to connect with others working alongside you. Those connections you make will stick with you throughout the rest of your life and perhaps even help land you a job in the future. I have a better idea now than I used to of what the future may hold and hopefully it shapes up to be a bright one.
Thinking about cost of construction, changing economy, the coming year, business survival. the cost of living over the last 20 years has risen dramatically while wages have not and the added challenges of surviving 2020 has made it tough for small business owners.
Life is hard.
I am working 60+ hours per week to do what I can to make sure my business survives. I am tired. However, my industry is one of the lucky ones coming out of 2020. We were able to change our focus to residential architecture and came through ok after a hard summer. So many other small business owners in other industries are facing harder struggles. Please do what you can to support your neighbors, do good in the community, and resist the urge to be negative to others. We still have a long way to go to get through the pandemic.
Also not overlooking the toll that losing friends in the community is having on each of us. Just thinking about finances tonight.
Here is some food for thought.
This is based on averages as our country starts debating minimum wage impacts if it increases to $15 per hour:
Over the last 20 years (pulled from google searches for data which varies depending on source, but this should be close)
Course description: Participants will become familiar with multiple strategies that K-12 schools can utilize to mitigate the spread of viruses, such as COVID-19.
Paul Klee AIA, LEED AP is a Principal at G+P with 30 years of experience in school design. He has managed more than 60 projects in the region. His leadership has resulted in many award-winning projects, and his work has earned the praise of clients and contractors. His philosophy of inclusion and effective communication with stakeholders actively shapes the vision for his projects. He creates progressive school designs that inspire learning through enhanced, “student-centric” environments. Paul stays abreast of the latest trends in K-12 learning environments, including technology, safety, and health + nutrition. He previously served on the Board of Directors for the VA Chapter of the Association for Learning Environments. He has also authored several presentations on Career and Technical Education and collaborative learning environments.
Alexandra Struble IIDA, NCIDQ, is a Certified Interior Designer with 7 years of experience. She has worked closely with many of our public clients, leading them through a collaborative process that results in delightful, thoughtful, and highly functional spaces. They reflect a careful attention to detail and highlight the unique culture and personality of the communities they serve. Her process brings measurable results and brings great value for their dollars invested.
Laura Smyles AIA has over 9 years of experience as a Project Architect at G+P. She has a proven track record of success working closely with clients and overseeing the design process through all phases to deliver quality projects that accurately address the owner’s needs and result in high levels of customer satisfaction. Laura works closely with the entire team to assure that client expectations and stakeholders objectives established early in the project are clearly communicated and addressed at every stage of the process.
Jill Thomas LEED, Green Associate is a talented and motivated architectural team member with a strong passion for school design, aiming to help develop and improve communities and the lives of the students that grow up in our schools. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a minor in Sustainability Studies. She has 2 years of experience that includes multiple K-12 facilities in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas.
Construction continues on this custom home in Keezeltown, VA, just outside of Harrisonburg. The compact floor plan works to facilitate the life our clients want to live on this beautiful property by minimizing wasted space and connecting to views. We nestled the house into the topography and sculpted a variety of outdoor living spaces.
The upper level of the house, or first floor, features a covered front porch, sunroom, and will eventually have an exterior deck around two sides of the house. These spaces all combine to frame this amazing view while giving plenty of access to be outside in covered and shaded spaces.
The footprint of the home is compact featuring two bedrooms and one bath of the upper level and a wide open floorplan allowing for a variety of furniture layout options. As we continue to see the cost of construction rise, we are working harder than ever to make sure the design decisions we are making maximize value and quality of life.
As I continue to figure out ways to live in a time of COVID, this generous client allowed me to meet my two high-school interns on site so they could see drawings vs actual construction happening. We all practiced safe distancing and wore masks and of course arrived in individual cars. These two Eastern Mennonite High School students have been doing a virtual job shadow with me meeting once a week online to learn more about the profession, software used, and how to think about design. It has not been perfect, but we are doing everything we can to continue with tasks we enjoy and mentoring students brings me a lot of satisfaction. I am thrilled their school has found ways to continue to enrich their students experiences this year by allowing this virtual job shadow opportunity.
Paul Klee AIA, LEED AP is a Principal at G+P with 30 years of experience in school design. He has managed more than 60 projects in the region. His leadership has resulted in many award-winning projects, and his work has earned the praise of clients and contractors. His philosophy of inclusion and effective communication with stakeholders actively shapes the vision for his projects. He creates progressive school designs that inspire learning through enhanced, “student-centric” environments. Paul stays abreast of the latest trends in K-12 learning environments, including technology, safety, and health + nutrition. He previously served on the Board of Directors for the VA Chapter of the Association for Learning Environments. He has also authored several presentations on Career and Technical Education and collaborative learning environments.
Alexandra Struble IIDA, NCIDQ, is a Certified Interior Designer with 7 years of experience. She has worked closely with many of our public clients, leading them through a collaborative process that results in delightful, thoughtful, and highly functional spaces. They reflect a careful attention to detail and highlight the unique culture and personality of the communities they serve. Her process brings measurable results and brings great value for their dollars invested.
Laura Smyles AIA has over 9 years of experience as a Project Architect at G+P. She has a proven track record of success working closely with clients and overseeing the design process through all phases to deliver quality projects that accurately address the owner’s needs and result in high levels of customer satisfaction. Laura works closely with the entire team to assure that client expectations and stakeholders objectives established early in the project are clearly communicated and addressed at every stage of the process.
Jill Thomas LEED, Green Associate is a talented and motivated architectural team member with a strong passion for school design, aiming to help develop and improve communities and the lives of the students that grow up in our schools. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a minor in Sustainability Studies. She has 2 years of experience that includes multiple K-12 facilities in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas.
