Rotary Club of Rockingham County Peace Pole Project

by Charles Hendricks | Jul 27, 2024 | Charles Hendricks, citizen architect, community, Empathy, Leadership, Local Leaders, Office Culture, Rotary, team

The Rotary Club of Rockingham County is working on a Peace Pole project to spread peace in the Harrisonburg / Rockingham community. Promoting peace is a cornerstone of the Rotary Mission. We believe when people work to create peace in their communities, that change can have a global effect.

Peace Pole Project

The Peace Pole is an internationally recognized symbol of the hope and dreams of the entire human family, standing vigil in silent prayer for peace on earth. Each Peace Pole bears the message May Peace Prevail on Earth in eight different languages, a braille plaque, and these poles will also have a Rotary logo, Veterans for Peace logo, and a rainbow flag. It’s estimated that there are over 200,000 Peace Poles in the world with at least one in every country, each dedicated as a monument of peace.

Planting a Peace Pole is a way of bringing people together to inspire, awaken and uplift the human consciousness the world over. It is a wonderful project for any community, organization, or your home. They remind us to think, speak, and act in the spirit of peace and harmony. Planting a Peace Pole in a high pedestrian traffic area will remind those seeing it on a daily basis to be kind to others.

There is an international registry showing Peace Pole locations around the world. The Rotary Club is also working on finding and registering existing Peace Poles in the Valley. So far we have registered 3 and are waiting to hear back from the owners of two more to get permission to register them.

Each peace pole will cost approximately $600, including installation. We have secured installation locations for the first two poles and are working on fundraising for our third. We hope and plan to do many more.

For more information on the effort contact Charles Hendricks at [email protected].

Celebrate with us in Charlottesville

by Charles Hendricks | Jun 20, 2024 | architecture, Charlottesville, community, team

Gaines Group Architects has a new home in Charlottesville at 910 East High St. We hope you will Celebrate with us in Charlottesville for a Chamber of Commerce Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting on Wednesday, July 10th from 9am – 11am. Stop by on your way to work and grab a bagel and some coffee, stick around until 10am for a ribbon cutting, then hang out for a bit to let us hear all the incredible things you are doing.

After spending a few years on Pantops Mountain, it was time for us to get back to our roots in downtown Charlottesville. Our former offices have been located on Water St. and Ridge St., just a few steps from the downtown walking mall, and now, as they say, “Guess who’s back, back again”! We are excited to be able to walk to downtown local restaurants, so reach out to us if you ever want to grab lunch.

This bright blue house is the first time in a few decades our office has been in a space we didn’t design, so stay tuned, we are scheming for a very cool future! Please feel free to stop in and visit with our team, hear what they are working on, and see our new space. We look forward to connecting or reconnecting with you soon.

Parking:

– Limited parking behind building and on nearby streets.
– Short walk from Market Street Garage. The first hour at the Market Street Garage parking is free.

Tribute to Roger N. Bryant

by Charles Hendricks | Jun 3, 2024 | family, team

Written by Raymond E. Gaines.

Tribute to Roger N. Bryant

1958-2024

Roger Bryant, who spent over half his life with The Gaines Group, passed away peacefully on May 25, 2024. Roger’s life embodied creativity, adventure, family, and faith, but not in that order.

Roger was a man of deep faith. When I first met and hired him, the list of hobbies on his employment application included Gospel singing with his family as item number one. The depth of his faith became apparent to me as I got to know him over the 33½ years that we worked together.

Roger was a family man, even though he remained single his entire life. He often spoke of his love of family when he would talk about his nieces and nephews and his relationships with his parents, grandparents, siblings, and aunts and uncles. Roger was always there for them as they navigated the good times as well as the illnesses and tragedies of life. He participated in at least three family reunions annually, and typically organized the Labor Day gathering at the family home. He also spoke fondly of the times he spent on the Cowpasture River and at Douthat State Park each year with his family.

Roger was a world traveler. When I first met him, he had just returned from Europe. He spoke of multiple trips to Europe and “the islands”, often traveling to sing with the family. He visited The UK, Germany, and Russia over the years that we worked together, and told many amusing stories arising from these trips. When he retired, he was following his brother-in-law, Bob, on his quest to run marathons in all fifty states, watching the races with his sister, Belva. I do not know if he ever completed that particular quest.

Finally, Roger was a talented designer and mentor. His hands-on knowledge of building materials and his ability to use them in aesthetically and stylistically pleasing ways is a talent that few possess. Roger was comfortable with any style, particularly with Virginia Vernacular. His body of work also includes Georgian, French Provincial, Prairie, Contemporary (whatever that is) and a touch of Art Deco. He would always share that with our younger staff. You have most likely touched Roger’s work from his years as an industrial designer prior to 1989.

Roger’s design talent was not limited to just the built world but he was a genius at floral arranging. He did the flowers for multiple weddings over the years, and would personally arrange sympathy flowers when they were called for.

He was a loyal friend and colleague from the day he started work in January 1989 until his retirement at the end of June 2022. He watched my three daughters grow up, and mentored one of them as an interior designer. He provided a living example to them, and all of us, of how to be a Christian in today’s world.

Rest in peace my friend.

Architect Mom

by Charles Hendricks | May 11, 2024 | family, team

By Architect, Adrienne Stronge.

Architecture can be a demanding profession. There are deadlines, client demands, and even construction emergencies. Design also has a way of infiltrating your very existence, and it can be impossible to shut off your brain when you’re trying to solve a particularly complicated problem (often solved at 3am or in the shower as you turn your vision around and around in your head). It is very hard, if not impossible, to only be an architect from 9-5 on weekdays.

It becomes even more difficult when babies are added to that picture. I was 14 years into my career before I had my son, who was born in 2020. My world turned inside out because while my job / career had been my primary focus for over a decade, now I was hyper-focused on this tiny little babe who had me wrapped around his finger. His sister joined us in 2023, and they bring me more happiness than I ever expected.

Even with the tremendous support of my spouse who is our stay-at-home parent, balancing my career with being a mom is tough. I love what I do, but I’m also determined to always make my time at home count. My kids are already growing up so fast and I don’t want to miss out on time with them. A few things that help me:

Find your village.

Your village may be family, friends, neighbors, or even a network of other parents online (there is both a Parents in Architecture and a Mothers in Architecture group on Facebook). Figure out where you can go to vent or ask questions. Any time we’ve needed help, we’re always surprised at just how big that village can be.

Establish and communicate priorities.

Family always comes first, but there are days / weeks where I need to invest extra time into work to make things happen. I try to clearly communicate with my family the times I might be busy. Conversely, there are times that family priorities get posted to the calendar so that work knows that I am unavailable at those times.

Delegate and outsource.

It’s impossible to do everything. Even with one parent at home, we find ourselves short on time to tackle everything. Being comfortable delegating work to a team member or outsourcing household or yard tasks is important. My husband and I have always been hands-on DIYers, but now with kids, we recognize we can’t do it all and have hired help for portions of our to-do list. At work, finding or training a person you can easily delegate tasks to is important.

Establish routines.

Kids thrive on routines and while I’m the first to break routines on the weekends, we have a pretty good routine during the week. I always get some snuggles in the morning before going to work, and unless there is a rare event, I’m home for bedtime routines.

Make time at home count.

While it’s tough to be active and engaged after a long day at the office, I try to cram a lot of fun things into our weekends. I keep track of a lot of local events and playgroups so that we can have fun together. If I need to work, I try to push it until after the kids have gone to bed. We have already made a lot of great weekend memories!

With architecture being a profession that changes based on clients, jobs, and even design stage, and with kids changing every week as they grow and develop, finding a sustainable balance is something I’m sure will be a continuous struggle, but having a career I love and a family I adore makes it all worth finding that balance.

Charlottesville Moving Back Downtown

by Charles Hendricks | Apr 18, 2024 | Charlottesville, team

By Architect, Adrienne Stronge.

Gaines Group Architects is very excited to be moving back to downtown Charlottesville! The firm has long roots in the downtown area. Ray started his career across the street from our new office while doing his professional externship with Sandy H. Lambert, III during his education at VA Tech. He then worked just off of the downtown mall during his time with Tom Wyant.

The first official Gaines Group office (then known as Raymond E. Gaines, Architect) was started off of West Main Street from 1989-1993. As the group expanded, they moved to East Market Street into a building that we designed – a place where current partners, Charles, Paul, and Adrienne started their careers with the firm. In 2011, the opportunity to move into a roof terrace space at Luxor office park (which the Gaines Group designed) was too good to pass up. The firm has been located on Pantops ever since.

Recently, we realized our space there didn’t match our current needs, so we decided to explore places closer to where we began. The opportunity arose to share some office space with a local civil engineering firm, Shimp Engineering, and his survey team, Foresight. We’ve worked closely with Justin’s team on many of our previous projects. This move puts us within walking distance of the downtown mall, and we’ve all been excited to explore the surrounding area as we move in.

The space we’re moving into is a house that was built in 1920, affectionately known by us as “The Blue House”. We are across from the old Martha Jefferson Hospital right at the corner of High and 9 ½ Street. We are still doing finishing touches, and some of us have more to unpack than others, but we would love to have visitors if anyone would like to stop by. We hope to more formally host guests in the future once we have finished our move.

Architect Bibliophile

by Charles Hendricks | Mar 21, 2024 | Office Culture, team

By Principle Architect and Multi-Family Director, Adrienne Stronge.

I have always loved books. I have been on a lifetime of adventures from my couch / bed / chair, thanks to the amazing power of printed words. At a very young age I knew two things; I wanted to be an author and I wanted to live in a house with a library. As I got older, I realized that my talents were better suited to creating tangible buildings rather than fictional worlds, but I knew that my hobby would make me a better architect.

Reading allows me to practice designing in my mind, turning written words into beautiful buildings without pictures to guide me. It’s like exercising my design muscle, especially with fantastical worlds that exist outside of our reality. Books also help me practice empathy. Walking in someone else’s shoes and reading someone else’s perspective works towards building empathy for other experiences. As architects, we need to be able to listen and empathize with our clients to create personalized spaces that fully meet their wants and needs.

While I did not become a writer, I do have a “library” with bookshelves shoe-horned into every blank wall of my house. I love having a house full of books and places I can go to comfortably read them. If you are like me and need a place in your home for books, or even just spaces to cozy up with your e-reader, here are some tips below:

1. Make sure your architect knows the size of your collection. Built-in bookcases with adjustable shelves are better than individually bought shelves for safety reasons, but if you will have any heavy furniture pieces, consider adding blocking in the wall for anchoring these pieces. Ensure your bookcases are designed near a bearing wall if you have a large, weighty collection. Don’t forget to design places for any oversized books in your collection, which are best stored flat to avoid stressing the spines.

2. Reading next to a window is one of my favorite places to curl up with a book, but avoid direct light in rooms with books. Direct sunlight will fade spines and make books age faster. Work with your architect to conduct sun studies that will allow enough indirect light to comfortably read but block harmful direct light.

3. You will want to ensure there is no excessive moisture in the room that will house your books. A well-balanced HVAC system with a well-designed and constructed building enclosure is key for this.

4. While I love natural light in my reading space, the room needs ample artificial light for night or rainy day reading. If your reading space will be in the center of your room, consider adding a floor outlet for your reading lamp to avoid trip hazards from wires. Direct, individually switched sconce lights over beds will allow you to continue your reading well into the night when you just need to consume “one more chapter…”

5. I love the cozy image of reading next to a fire. An efficient heat pump should keep you comfortably warm in your home, but you could consider adding a visually appealing electric fireplace. These will give you the cozy effect of reading by a fire, without the introduction of flame and particulates to your library.

6. For a bit of whimsy, consider using a bookcase as a hidden doorway. Creating a secret room adds a fun, unexpected element to your library.

7. Don’t forget your outdoor spaces! Make a cozy nook outside for a great reading spot. My ideal outdoor spot is covered for all weather, includes a ceiling fan to discourage bugs, includes artificial lighting for reading late into the night, and has well-placed blocking in the ceiling so I can install a swing or comfortable hanging chair.