Our work comes from many voices. Every person who contributes to a design or initiative is responsible for advancing its quality.
We prioritize coherence in our design strategies, ingenuity in seeking the most effective value for a project, and resolution through a firmness of purpose and commitment to craft. We take pleasure in what we produce and in working together to serve our clients and community.
As a firm, we strive to recognize those who help us elevate the quality of our work and evolve our thinking. Below, we have outlined recent promotions, accolades, and scholarship recipients that represent VMDO’s commitment to leadership and design thinking.
Management Committee: VMDO’s management committee features rotating representation from each of VMDO’s three studios and features the following members for 2018-2019:
- K12: Kelly Callahan + Rob Winstead
- Higher Education: Joe Atkins + Michele Westrick
- Athletics + Community: Joe Celentano + Randy Livermon
Associate + Senior Associate Promotions: The following individuals have been newly promoted to Associate and Senior Associate levels:
- Lorenzo Battistelli – Associate
- Maria Bninski – Associate
- Mary Beth Lineberry – Senior Associate
- Bryce Powell – Senior Associate
- John Ottinger – Senior Associate
WELL AP Certification: The WELL Accredited Professional (WELL AP) credential denotes expertise in the WELL Building Standard™ and a commitment to advancing human health and wellness in buildings and communities. Design for health has been and continues to be fundamental to VMDO’s work, from developing healthy eating and physical activity design guidelines to incorporating glare-free daylighting, fresh air, abundant views, and careful material specifications in all of our designs. The following people are leading the charge as our first generation of WELL APs:
- Michelle Amt, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP – Director of Sustainability
- Drew Fleming, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP – Associate
- Lauren Shumate, AIA, WELL AP – Architect
- Lauren Shirley, AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP – Architect
Intentional WELL Building Institute Global Concept Advisory: The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) has formed a network of global concept advisories to explore, better understand, and more accurately quantify the impact of specific health intents captured in the 10 WELL Concepts – Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Materials, Sound, Mind and Community. Each WELL concept advisory includes a collection of professionals, practitioners, and experts, each serving a one-year term. Principal and Athletic + Community Studio Leader Joe Celentano, AIA, LEED AP is an adviser for the WELL Movement Concept Advisory, and Director of Sustainability Michelle Amt, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP is an adviser for the WELL Materials Concept Advisory. Concept advisers number more than 100 individuals, span 20 countries, and represent WELL advocates from not just global market centers but also a number of smaller municipalities in between. For more information about IWBI and WELL, please visit here. A complete list of WELL concept advisories and their members can be found here.
2018 Travel Fellowship Recipient: Noah Bolton is the recipient of VMDO’s second annual travel scholarship – an annual award that gives promising young designers the opportunity to pursue unique investigations into architectural topics that are of particular interest to them.
This fall, Noah will be traveling to Jerusalem to investigate sacred spaces and the paths that connect and transect them. While there, he will trace spatial dynamics that inform the cultural and physical intersections of one of the most contentious and claimed locations in the modern world. His drawings and observations will contribute to design thinking about place and the intersectional components that make up modern life.
VMDO’s travel scholarship is intended to support an autonomous and self-directed course of study that complements and furthers the work being done in the office. As such, Noah will apply his findings abroad to enrich research efforts at home through a publication as well as a firm-wide presentation.
