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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Welcome our newest team member – Meg Carpenter

By harrisonburgarchitect | August 5, 2014 | architecture

For Immediate Release: The Gaines Group, PLC adds depth and experience with Meg Carpenter Press Inquiries: ...

Green Term Defined: Embodied Energy

By cbhendricks | August 4, 2014 | Building Science, Harrisonburg Architect

What is embodied energy and why should you care? Embodied energy is the total amount of energy required to produce ...

Living a life on purpose as an architect #VBKeynote recap

By harrisonburgarchitect | August 3, 2014 | Harrisonburg Architect, Leadership, Local Leaders

Valley Business Keynote (#VBKeynote) was an incredible event this year with a focus on living your life on ...

Help us determine the best of the best – architectural details – Week 1

By harrisonburgarchitect | August 1, 2014 | Harrisonburg Architect

Over the last 26 years we have done some really fun design projects at our firm. While every project has some very ...

Custom Home – How to Get Started (Part 2)

By harrisonburgarchitect | July 30, 2014 | architecture, Harrisonburg Architect

Catch up on this series “Custom Home – How to Get Started” with the following links: Part one - Part two - Part ...

Green term defined: solar reflectance index

By harrisonburgarchitect | July 28, 2014 | architecture, Harrisonburg Architect

When looking at cities on Google earth, we see a lot of dark surfaces. Most roofing is a dark color. Pavement is ...

Architect on Vacation

By harrisonburgarchitect | July 26, 2014 | Harrisonburg Architect

I rarely take a vacation, but when I do, I find cool buildings! Here are some pictures from our trip a couple of ...

Old Town Harrisonburg custom home

By harrisonburgarchitect | July 25, 2014 | architecture, Harrisonburg Architect

Beck builders is making great progress on the construction of the custom home we designed in Old Town ...

Custom Home – How to Get Started

By harrisonburgarchitect | July 23, 2014 | architecture, Harrisonburg Architect

Catch up on this series “Custom Home – How to Get Started” with the following links: Part one - Part two - Part ...

Green Term Defined: Construction Waste

By harrisonburgarchitect | July 21, 2014 | architecture, Harrisonburg Architect

Construction waste is not talked about much (or at all) in the general public. That dumpster on site gets filled ...

Solarize Harrisonburg is launching!

By harrisonburgarchitect | July 11, 2014 | Harrisonburg Architect

Solarize Harrisonburg program is launching! This program is part of a grass roots effort in the U S to increase ...

Want to advance your green building knowledge, attend this conference

By harrisonburgarchitect | July 11, 2014 | Building Science, Harrisonburg Architect

This event has been postponed. Registration is now open for the Mid-Atlantic Sustainability Conference. A special ...