When our firm takes on a project, there are numerous creative minds behind each detail of the design. We recognize the depth of talent and knowledge held in our team and want to celebrate the faces behind our designs. We are carving out space to share a bit more about our team members and how their paths led them to the Gaines Group. To kick off this effort, we are spotlighting Trevor Jones, a team member working in our Charlottesville office.
Since early childhood, Trevor aspired to pursue a career in architecture. This passion led him to complete a Master of Architecture degree from Hampton University in 2015 where he gained a strong foundation in building and architectural design. During his time at Hampton University, he participated in a traveling studio program to France where he learned to sketch the vernacular architecture. Trevor credits this experience with expanding his views and being a catalyst in his pursuit of the “glorious” field of architecture.
Trevor officially joined the Gaines Group in November 2016 and has been shocked by how fast his 5-year tenure has rapidly passed. He truly hit the ground running as he quickly took in stride the learning curves of growing and applying his knowledge of construction administration paperwork, submittals, and relearning the ins and outs of AutoCAD. Once he strengthened these skills, Trevor took the next leap into design work. He supported the team in completing large, multifamily design projects across the Commonwealth and developed a focus on accessible design. Within his growing skillset, he learned how to apply his knowledge in accessibility requirements, buildings codes, and health and safety requirements.
The pandemic provided opportunities for our team in both the Charlottesville and Harrisonburg offices to work more closely on projects as remote work became essential This opened the door for Trevor to learn and support custom home design projects. Although the last few years of the pandemic have felt like a “blur” to many of us, Trevor continues to meditate on his five-year tenure and is grateful for his work experiences, growing relationships with colleagues and clients, learning from great mentors, and his continued love for architecture that will grow for many years to come!
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!”
We feel the challenges faced in our community every day as we work to build a better community. In today’s climate, there is a shortage of affordable housing, flexible childcare, efficient transportation options, and food accessibility challenges. We know these problems can be solved and there are good people determined to find solutions, but complications continue to hinder progress. These are not simple challenges, but rather systemic problems with many challenges and barriers to face before finding a solution. We want to be a part of the solution and believe that paying a living wage is essential to building a healthy, vibrant, and livable community. Thus, we are encouraging business owners to begin the journey of paying a living wage and spread the message about its importance.
The Harrisonburg Rockingham Living Wage Certification serves to enhance the health, vitality, and livability of our community. Foundationally, our team at Gaines Group Architects strives to build a better community through design, this guides our decisions in projects, pro-bono work, and where we invest our time and resources. Our mission gives us a baseline in accomplishing business ethically and with care, which led us to learn more about obtaining the Living Wage Gold Certification. We understand there is a relationship between thriving team and community members who feel valued for their contributions and the subsequent positive impacts on our client’s experience.
As an architecture firm, we exceeded the baseline for gold-level certification without modifying pay scales. The process of learning about the impacts of paying a fair wage gave us the opportunity to engage in intentional and clarifying discussions concerning our most valuable asset: our team members. We are accustomed to adjusting pay rates along with advancement in careers and inflation, but this was the first time we discussed what it takes to live comfortably in a community. Some of the areas we identified as essential in promoting quality of life ranged from access to childcare, the ability to pay utility bills, or appropriately budget for groceries.
Paying a living wage directly affects the overall community and supports a robust local economy. There is a chain reaction that occurs when we invest in our workforce, and we encourage all businesses in Harrisonburg and Rockingham to consider this certification. Even if your organization is unable to currently meet the standard, it will open up a thoughtful conversation about the cost of living in our community. For more information on this program, visit www.hrlivingwage.org or watch the video here https://www.facebook.com/hrlivingwage/videos/387194656280216/.
As an architect, I am trained to think about problems–the things that are not working–and develop solutions to fix them. Design matters, and through design, we can build a better future. This requires trust, hope, faith, and experience. You must learn from your past experiences, and I think you must be very skilled at using empathy. However, empathy is a two-edged sword. As you improve your design skills by increasing your ability to feel what others are feeling, you also open yourself up to feeling deeply the tragic evils that happen in our world.
At times it feels like the evils of the world are overwhelming, and this week was one of those times. When evil strikes your community, impacts your friends, hurts good people, and changes forever a peaceful place, it is hard to take. I am not just talking about the evil that makes national news; I am talking about the little comments you make about others that hurt. I am talking about people who are willing to take advantage of someone who has given them a second chance. I am talking about dishonest, unethical, and evil behaviors that all compound how hard life can be on a daily basis. The little things build into big hurts.
It was a hard week here in the valley for so many people.
Fortunately, these evils are not the majority in our world; they just get amplified as they compound. There is more good in our community than there is bad. There are more honest people who do want to see others succeed than there are people willing to take advantage of others. There are empathetic, compassionate, good people in this community. We need to celebrate them, celebrate joy, hope, and love a little louder and not let the evil get the amplification.
We need to celebrate joy, hope, and love; and what better time to do it than today, tomorrow, and this coming week? I am going to do my best to be optimistic about our future and to focus on the good, please join me.
#libraryshelfieday happens on the fourth Wednesday in January and offers a unique opportunity for book lovers to show off their collections. Our bookshelves are a reflection of who we are as designers and our personalities. Our bookshelves change over time as our season in life changes and we find new interests. Whether the books are organized by author, color, size, or topic, each bookshelf featured below will give you some insight into the person that put it together. Which is your favorite #libraryshelfieday photo? Post a photo of your #libraryshelfieday in the comments!
In honor of the Seinfeld-inspired holiday Festivus, our team is celebrating by airing our grievances in preparation for a fresh start this new year. Festivus is a playful holiday that turns away from the consumerism of Christmas and instead celebrates letting go of negative feelings and moving on before 2022.
Charles: Air-permeable insulation – you would never use a blanket that has holes in it, engineers – they are all math and gravity and no whimsy, gravity – it is always limiting our cool ideas, people that sing loudly to spread Christmas cheer, just kidding, love those people!
Deborah: Matty leaving us to move halfway across the country, companies that redesigned their pens so the caps don’t stay securely attached to the end of the pen anymore, resulting in several new felt tip pens being thrown around during site measures…looking at you #sharpie ! Harrisonburg smelling like dog food on the most gorgeous days, house hunting right now is a roller coaster of emotions that I don’t want to be a part of anymore, the building code books deciding to switch to the cheaper/thinner kind of paper.
