Why do I spend so much time and energy talking about sustainable architecture with so many groups? I want to spread my love for sustainable architecture. The idea of sustainable architecture is often not thought about by those outside of the design world. However, without sustainable architecture we lose function and beauty in our built environment. Sustainable architecture is the key to a sustainable future for all of us. Sustainable architecture allows for smaller more functional structures that use fewer resources. Sharing my passion for sustainable architecture will hopefully inspire the next generation of designers and more clients of designers. EMES’s kindergarten class was a great opportunity. If you have a community group or class I would love to join you and share my excitement for sustainable architecture.
We love our building and love sharing that love with everyone – so we made t-shirts with our logo and a picture of the Chesapeake Western Railroad Depot! The art work was created by Stronge Designs. He included a sketch of one of the diesel engines that used to run on the track next to the building as part of the design. The Depot logo featured on the shirt was created by Estland Design that has an office on the second floor along with us. This is the first time we have printed t-shirts for marketing our firm. What do you think?
Of course t-shirt marketing is not anything new. In fact, our friends at Cheido Labs held a cool fundraiser earlier this year. They challenged fans to wear a Cheido shirt in front of their business sign and take a selfie on a particular day and post it to social media. With each post, Cheido made a contribution to support On the Road Collaborative. A great concept to do good in the community, market their business, and have fun!
I wonder what contest we could hold to do good in the community and a little marketing? Maybe even include the Chesapeake Western Railroad Depot… Thoughts?
One of my favorite structures to photograph is the barn behind our house. Recently the construction photo was shared with me. How cool is this picture?
Simple changes around your house will save you money
Simple changes around your house will save you money. Some of the changes I have mentioned in the past include things easy to do in a finished house like:
Those are all fairly easy to do in an existing house. However, if you are doing a bigger renovation or changing out flooring you can caulk the wall to the subfloor. This is a huge air leak in most of the houses that I do audits on in the area. Adding caulk around the inside and outside walls will limit air leakage and reduce your monthly energy bills.
Gaines Group Architect celebrate the holidays with 20% employment growth
Another year is coming to a close and I am taking some time to reflect on how we have done. We have seen another strong business year including a 20% growth in number of employees over last year. With this comes many young people at the office and many young families in our extended family.
It really hit home at our annual holiday party when we took up most of the dining room space at Ruby’s Arcade how big we have grown. We had almost everyone in attendance at the event and looking at the table – we are a BIG family now.
It is especially rewarding to see the next generation playing together. Our firm has always been one big family. It is now bigger than it has ever been before.
