Our team at Gaines Group Architects was honored to be named one of the “Best Tiny Home Architects in the US” and the only firm named in Virginia and West Virginia.
Home Builder Digest blog named 35 firms in their recent list of The Best Tiny House Architects in the US. The tiny house movement or small house movement is a social change in our country where people want to live simply and shed their stuff. The most recent definition of a tiny house that I could find is a maximum of 400 sf excluding lofts. So our small house mentioned in the article is actually large at 448 sf.
Built by Beck Builders, this house was an experiment for our client to see how economical we could create detached housing in the City of Harrisonburg. Our client wanted to help solve the affordable housing issue that we are facing and this project shows us a solution. Smaller footprint homes along with more density, smaller lots, a variation of project types, land trust, and new zoning solutions will all have to come together to solve our local affordable housing challenges.
While the national trend is for larger houses, we are seeing renewed interest in more intentional design that is smaller and more affordable. I hope this trend continues as we need more diversity of house types in the area and I love working on these smaller footprint homes! Here is one I designed with hopes of seeing it built in the future – maybe a cottage/office for a future backyard infill project?
The economy and pandemic combined are doing everything possible to stop construction. It is a challenging time to build, but I am thrilled to say we have a custom home in Keezletown under construction. This custom house we designed is special not just because it is moving forward in a time when so much is on pause, but because it is for some of my favorite people.
The one-story house on a full basement fits comfortably on the sloped farm site. The design was kept compact on purpose while the strategically placed windows capture the incredible views. We wanted this house to have multiple connections to the land surrounding it with exterior space positioned for shade, function, and views throughout the day.
The home features an open floorplan, sunroom, two-bedrooms, and one bath. There is a full walk-out basement that could provide more living and storage space in the future.
I am very thankful that this one is making progress, it is good to see the design taking shape. There are plenty of challenges right now, but with interest rates so low we are still seeing strong interest in custom home design solutions.
Our second Dairy Queen we had the pleasure of designing is now under construction. The first project we completed, Dairy Queen Harmony Square, featured many innovative green strategies. However we stayed true to the corporate design with some minor modifications to allow for additional cake freezers.
However, Charter Colony has a design control district that does not allow for corporate design. It was a challenge to work through the process to develop something that fit their criteria, but we did it and construction has started.
This beautiful one-story Dairy Queen located in Charter Colony will feature cathedral ceilings in the dining room, a large front patio, and of course blizzards!
On my last visit to the site the foundation work was well underway and the under slab piping was being installed. I cannot wait to see where they are at in the coming weeks!
Like most construction during a pandemic, this job has faced so many challenges to get underway. I am thankful for clients that are continuing to move their projects forward and for allowing us to be part of them.
At the Young Architect Winter Series virtual conference session yesterday, “Mastering your inner game…” one question posed by Julia Jack was what is your purpose. Why do you do what you do? She said we should keep asking why of ourselves until you get to our endgame – why are you doing that thing today. Think of something you would give everything up for – that is your because / why. Your because / why drives you each day and gives you energy to keep going. Of course my first because / why is family and friends, but my purpose in life is to serve my community. It is why I make the decisions I make and do what I do each day. I believe that through architecture we can create a greater good.
This service above self approach to life leads me to make design, business, and life decisions. It helps me figure out where to put my time. It also opens me up to failure, disappointment, and rejection like losing an election. Those are the risks of taking a leap of faith to live your life of purpose, your because, to answer your why.
One of the people I see making the biggest difference in the world of architecture right now is Michael Riscica and his organizationYoung Architect. Attending an industry conference where 71.5% of the people are under 35 years old is fairly amazing. There is not talk about needing to add diversity because it is already in the room, attending and presenting, and the space is welcoming and safe for everyone. The sessions being presented are often the first time the presenter has done a training session and they are still top notch. The questions are quality and the chat is crazy active. This is a model of how to build a community that works together for the greater good of an industry, community, and world. I cannot give Michael all the credit as I know Joanna and Destiny are the backbone that makes it happen. This is an amazing community that wants to see other members in the industry find success. I am proud to be part of the YA community and to be recognized for the work I am doing giving back to others.
Michael, Joanna, and Destiny – thank you so much for this recognition. It is very much appreciated. Congratulations to the other YA Award Winners.
For anyone in the industry that wants to do good, here is a great way to do it – sponsor Michael’s work!!!, pay it forward, ask him how you can best support him, show up and mentor others, listen to the young architects in your firm because I am hearing and seeing the future of our industry at this conference and the future is bright (and right now, it is already happening).
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.
