Over our 35 years of experience at the Gaines Group, our team has emerged as a leader in multi-family residential design. We have proudly completed projects throughout Virginia ranging from smaller, single-building urban solutions to large 14 building residential communities.
Our depth of experience allows us to quickly identify economic and feasible solutions to a specific site while considering both zoning and parking requirements, fire safety, and accessible design requirements. We work to ensure the site layout and grading allows us to maximize the number of dwelling units without sacrificing valuable amenity space.
Each project solution involves working closely with our developer’s goals and market information specific to the project location. Whether we are working with limited square footage or large luxury units, efficiency is key in multi-family design. Efficiency becomes paramount when designing units that need to meet accessible design requirements and clearances.
Most of our projects take advantage of green building programs to qualify for specific financing credits. We are well-versed in helping clients find the sustainable solutions that are most valuable to a project. Many of our completed projects have received the Earthcraft multifamily certification without a significant increase in budget.
Fostering a sense of community in every multi-family project we take on is central to our mission. We strive to make a difference in our communities through design, and know that creating spaces where residents love living, allows them to stay and invest in their communities. Our amenity spaces are designed to “wow” future residents while providing design that promotes community growth. We are proud that our projects have a track record of leasing up quickly!
Our team recently had the opportunity to help preserve a slice of history in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Minor-Nelson house is a historic home dating back to the early 1800s and we were tasked with recreating a historic façade that appropriately honors the Georgian form it was originally built to reflect. The façade needed to include a front porch, steps, and other pediment and architectural detailing to make it appear “original” to its early 19th century roots. Before beginning the design process, we first investigated the home at UVA’s archives and Charlottesville’s Historical Society to uncover more information. Named after the original owner Martha Minor, the home was built between 1827-1840 and served multiple uses in its lifetime. It was originally built as a private residence but during the Civil War, the house functioned as a branch of Charlottesville General Hospital. It continued to serve as a medical practice after the war and changed hands to Dr. Hugh Nelson.
Although there was limited information specific to the front porch detailing, we uncovered the photograph below and took clues from the original construction. We based the design around the indications noted from this early photograph as well as the details found in the current door surround. The side veranda was also used as a guide to influence the design of the front porch as it displays many original architectural details.
The carpenter gothic porch and front gable detailing were added to the house in the early 1900’s. This photograph shows the house in the 1960’s.Around 1971, the front covered porch was removed and replaced with brick and stone double curved stairs. The door surround was used as a guide to rebuild to covered porch.
Referencing the early photos and Georgian style, we planned for the removal of the existing porch and double stairs. We designed a gothic gable and porch using both tapered half-square and “Temple of the Winds” columns. Additional architectural elements utilized in the design were the additions of cornice, entablature, dental mould, and frieze board. Although still under construction, the following photographs show the porch near completion.
Current (2022) photograph of the Minor-Nelson House porch.
After presenting our design to the Charlottesville Board of Architecture Review, the design was approved in record time! We enjoyed working on this historical project and serving as a resource in restoring a historical landmark in Charlottesville.
No project is too small, no dream is too big when it comes to the projects we design. One of our strengths as a firm is our diversified portfolio and eagerness to take on a range of projects. From custom residential to commercial, industrial, multi-family, church, school, and even a backyard playhouse, we enjoy the creative challenges these projects allow us. We value serving as a resource to our greater communities in designing a variety of projects and solutions.
We love sharing our work and will be highlighting the diversity of our designs under #WeDesignThatToo to help inspire your next project!
A backyard greenhouse in Albemarle County, Virginia.Modern home in Harrisonburg, Virginia.A 108,000 square foot award-winning warehouse in Harrisonburg, Virginia.Multifamily Community in Charlottesville, Virginia.Custom playhouse designed by Charles Hendricks.
As a small architecture firm, we love being a dynamic team that is ready for the next creative challenge. Our portfolio and upcoming posts under #WeDesignThatToo on our social media pages are a great source of inspiration and demonstrate our ability to take on many different types, sizes, and styles of projects. Think you might have a design idea and want to explore it further? Reach out and we will gladly talk through your vision!
If there is one thing we can all count on, it’s the inevitability of the numerous decisions we will navigate daily. From the moment we decide when to get out of bed, the average person will make thousands of decisions throughout the span of their day. Most of us love having options, but we commonly make our best decisions earlier in the day when we haven’t been inundated with countless, weighted choices. The same logic is applied to a custom home or renovation project and avoiding decision-making fatigue is achievable. Our team has collectively designed over 1,500 projects and we are here to offer guidance on how to avoid the inevitable creep of anxiety caused by making too many decisions.
First, it’s important to create a plan with a solid vision and commit to it (this might be a collective commitment if you are designing with a spouse or partner). This process of working out the plan to fit your vision for your dream house is the foundation of why you hire an architect. Our team has a process of asking questions to figure out the solutions to bring your dreams to reality.
One of the most important components in creating a plan is to develop a realistic budget. Often in the planning stage, the average homeowner doesn’t always know the cost of their design selections. This is where our experienced team brings huge value to your process. We can help guide you towards your budget and help you pick out the special elements in just the right places and elements to conserve on budget in others.
Your ability to make decisions can directly influence the length of time it takes to complete your project and therefore, the budget! During the design process testing options early on is relatively inexpensive, but simple changes made late take a lot of coordination and budget. In the same line, testing out design options on paper is way less expensive that doing it during the construction process.
Time is valuable; therefore, we recommend trusting an expert who has already put in the time and has up-to-date knowledge on the best and most efficient selections. Professional designers and architects are trained to focus on the details and guide you in the decision-making process. Experts will also often utilize industry-specific software that will allow you to see renderings of your space with your design selections. The ability to visualize a space can greatly help you make decisions and ease worries over how a project will turn out.
There are thousands of decisions involved in creating a dream design. Planning ahead, prioritizing decisions that emphasize function, and seeking guidance from a professional are critical in avoiding decision burn-out and completing a successful project.
We understand residents who are seeking accessible homes already face numerous challenges in their day-to-day lives. Our goal is to design accessible spaces that minimize these challenges and promote the highest quality of life and a sense of independence in everyday living. We prioritize creating both indoor and outdoor spaces that are conducive to varying gathering sizes and movement abilities while minimizing excessive ramping or paved surfaces.
There are a variety of standards that regulate the requirements for designing spaces that promote equal access for varying abilities including Fair Housing regulations, ADA, ANSI 117, Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS), and Universal Design standards. Meeting these regulations can often be challenging, but we believe they can be an excellent opportunity to provide housing equality to all residents and visitors. Following and adapting to these regulations inspires our architects to be creative in the design process and deliver solutions that serve all abilities.
The above sink has been lowered in a clubhouse kitchen for increased accessibility.
Although the different classifications of accessible homes can vary within a multifamily community, most homes do not require much more space than a standard kitchen or bathroom. The clearances required for these homes make the space more adaptable for people of all abilities, ensuring a functional arrangement that can be well utilized by everyone. Designing spaces that are adaptable to changing needs allows residents the ability to remain in their homes despite changes in health and mobility.
These are removable cabinets with a shallow roll-under sink. The adjacent cabinet is removable and can be lowered into a work surface.
The biggest challenge in designing for accessibility in multifamily projects is creating accessible routes throughout the community. It is critical to provide easy access for people of all abilities to fully utilize all amenity spaces. One of our team’s favorite challenges is designing a swimming pool that can be used by many different ages and abilities. This is an example in which we consider specific pool depths, layouts, and entry points. In a previous project, the first apartment leased was a fully accessible home because the resident fell in love with the ramp access to the pool!
Accessible pool entrance at the Goose Creek Apartments Project in Fishersville, Virginia.
Please join us as we celebrate Adrienne Stronge, RA, CSI, CDT, in her achievement of passing the Architectural Registration Examination. She is now a fully licensed architect! Adrienne has worked tirelessly to achieve this monumental goal and we are so proud of her achievement. Her story is telling of the dedication it requires to become licensed and how the profession has progressed over the last two decades.
Unlike many other career fields, one is not required to hold a license in order to design some buildings. For instance, houses up to a certain size don’t typically require an architect, and some designers go their entire careers only doing house plans to avoid the liability of being licensed and the complicated process it involves. It is also possible to work under the direction of a licensed architect who takes responsibility for your work allowing you to design larger and more complex projects (for instance working on staff at Gaines Group Architects). Legally, you are not an “architect” until you pass the rigorous exams. Each state controls its own requirements and regulations, but it usually takes an accredited degree, 3,740 experience hours under the supervision of a licensed architect, and passing a series of six exams. To be considered an accredited degree, an architect’s education must be either in a 5-year Bachelor of Architecture program or a 4-year undergraduate program combined with a 2-year Master’s program. Adrienne graduated with her BS in Architecture from the University of Virginia School of Architecture in 2006 (a 4-year undergraduate program).
Upon graduating, Adrienne was working multiple jobs, including ecoMOD where she designed and helped build a house that was transported to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. She was recruited to Gaines Group Architects when they heard of her passion for doing good in the community. She joined the Gaines Group team to gain experience before beginning a Master’s degree. All within her first few years of graduating from UVA, Adrienne got married and bought a house. The recession hit in 2008 and the architectural industry was hit hard. As fellow architectural firms laid-off employees, Gaines Group Architects was able to avoid layoffs making it through by shortening team members’ hours on occasion and the three partners giving up paychecks for almost a year. During this time, Adrienne and her husband became extremely resourceful and managed to stay afloat via hard work and sheer determination. As you can imagine, graduate school was the last thing on Adrienne’s mind and the idea of adding more student loan payments was daunting.
The economy eventually recovered, and the architectural industry improved. The firm established a strong track record for multi-family design where Adrienne excelled as a project manager. She unquestionably loved her job but continued to feel the pull to be a licensed architect. Feeling a bit stuck, she saw fellow colleagues tackling this achievement while she danced around the official title. She felt confident in her skill set and was performing at a high level within the industry, so she began taking the steps to apply to graduate programs and research licensing requirements in different states. Knowing this was a goal she wanted to achieve, it was difficult to envision taking the next steps as her husband was in the process of starting a business. Adrienne and her husband’s lives then dramatically changed as they welcomed their son, Allister to their family.
At the beginning of 2021, a partner at Gaines Group Architects encouraged Adrienne to attend the Young Architect virtual conference (the firm supported 5 people to attend this amazing conference). It was during this enlightening experience that Adrienne met fellow professionals in the field who pursued licensure through alternate means. She learned there are numerous states in which licensure can be granted through logged experience in lieu of an accredited degree, but this is not an option in Virginia. Inspired by these colleagues, Adrienne activated her records and began documenting years of back hours.
By late September of that year, Adrienne had filed her hours, secured professional references, and was approved by the State of Tennessee to pursue architectural licensure. This opened the door to allowing Adrienne to sit for the six exams required to pass before officially becoming “an architect”. The series of exams are anywhere from 3-4 hours in length and are extremely challenging. To understand the level of difficulty, these exams had an average pass rate ranging from 47%-63% in 2021 compared to the BAR exam’s average of just under 75% in Virginia.
Adrienne buckled down and worked tirelessly to pass all the exams in only a few short months (something rarely done). She completed all of this on top of excelling professionally and balancing her family responsibilities. She credits so much of her success to her husband, Andrew. In reference to him, she said, “I studied roughly 35 hours a week on top of my job, and he sacrificed a lot to allow that to happen. I am so thankful to be married to someone who is so invested in my success.”
She is now waiting on the paperwork to make it all official, but we are not waiting to celebrate her achievement of officially being “Adrienne, Registered Architect.” She is pursuing a certificate that may allow her to earn reciprocity in Virginia in a few years. Adrienne’s story is inspiring as she balanced tremendous responsibilities and overcame numerous obstacles to fulfill a goal she set for herself 20 years ago.
In Adrienne’s words, “I’m thankful to work for a supportive firm who helped me through this process and has already questioned how we can secure work in Tennessee. Kudos to all of you who are working hard to make your goals and dreams happen. It is so tough, but so rewarding!”
