Design Matters

Thoughts of an Architect

A Message from The Firm

Our blog, Design Matters, is a place for our team to share our knowledge, community events, projects, resources, and opinions. It is a place for you to keep up with us and for us to hear from you. Thanks for reading!

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First Friday Featured Artist: Charlie Raisner

By Annie | May 31, 2022 | artwork, community, First Friday

First Fridays at the Depot are full steam ahead and we are excited to feature artist Charlie Raisner at our next ...

New Coloring pages – Flags

By cbhendricks | May 30, 2022 | architecture, Fun

Why not create some new coloring pages if you are working on your holiday, hope someone enjoys ...

Blue Ridge Mountain Home Update

By cbhendricks | May 29, 2022 | architecture, project update

Our first house in Elk Rock Meadow has made some great progress since our post about the framing being in progress ...

Charles named Fixr’s Top 200 Experts in the Construction Industry 2022

By Annie | May 15, 2022 | Charles Hendricks, Harrisonburg Architect

Charles Hendricks Named as a Top Expert in the Construction Industry 2022 Fixr.com’s annual list of the top ...

Best of the Valley – Round 1

By cbhendricks | May 9, 2022 | architecture, citizen architect

We are honored to be nominated in the Daily News Record Best of the Valley contest in several categories and ...

Gaines Group Community Involvement

By Annie | May 3, 2022 | citizen architect, community

Many exciting projects are underway, and our team is tackling both our design work while deepening our community ...

First Friday: Featuring Rocktown Urban Wood

By Annie | May 2, 2022 | artwork, First Friday

We are excited to feature pieces from the talented group of local artisans known as Rocktown Urban Wood. These ...

Shenandoah Comic and Toy Show

By Annie | April 28, 2022 | citizen architect, community

We love seeing diverse and fun events happen in the Valley and are always looking for ways to support them. The ...

The Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project: Completing an Energy Audit

By Annie | April 27, 2022 | Building Science, Charles Hendricks, citizen architect, community, Green Building

The Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project (SVBH) is a non-profit organization in Harrisonburg that exists to ...

Cabin on the mountain

By cbhendricks | April 24, 2022 | architecture, project update

Finding just the right site to build your dream house is a chore for sure. This building site for a cabin on the ...

Multi-Family Design

By Annie | April 20, 2022 | architecture, project update

Over our 35 years of experience at the Gaines Group, our team has emerged as a leader in multi-family residential ...

Deering Hall: Restoring and Celebrating a Historic Landmark

By Annie | April 18, 2022 | Historic Renovation, project update

Design can build a better future. We believe this holds true for both ground-up projects and the preservation of ...