A Year at VMDO: Reflections from Our Young Professionals
VMDO's young leaders reflect on 2020 and how they've grown as professionals while navigating this year's unique learning curve. Hayley Owens shares: "The challenges of this year have revealed to me more clearly the values of this place and its people. There is a fundamental feeling of care for each other."
Public Library Design - A Home for Civic Engagement + Learning
As stalwart public institutions primed for reinvention, libraries can play a crucial role in the building and re-building of communities. By expanding the notion of what a library can be, we can design buildings and spaces that help shape the ways we come together.
Engaging Communities in Public Library Design
Our recent work with the Shenandoah County Library showed the power of investing time and resources in shaping a meaningful community engagement process. With a clear directive and shared commitment from our client, we allocated two months at the outset of the project to intensive engagement work.
Emerging Leaders in Architecture Investigate a Resilient Future for Portsmouth
How do you create a thriving downtown that will be best suited for people today and in the future? This prompt informed a year-long investigation by AIA Virginia's 2020 class of Emerging Leaders in Architecture (ELA) to study, assess, and propose resilient design measures for the city of Portsmouth, Virginia.
Kindness Café: Pro Bono Design for a Kinder Community
Kindness Café provides meaningful employment to people with cognitive disabilities in Charlottesville. Working in collaboration with the Building Goodness Foundation and local craftspeople, VMDO Design Corps converted the lobby of the Brooks Family YMCA (also designed by VMDO) into a community coffee.
Advancing America's Libraries Podcast: Academic Libraries and COVID-19
College and university libraries are devising strategies to re-open this fall. In this episode of Advancing America's Libraries Podcast, VMDO's Jim Kovach and Julie Kane, Associate Professor and Head of Collection Services at Washington & Lee University, discuss how university libraries are preparing for fall re-entry.
Strategies for Reducing Risk of COVID-19 in Schools
K12 Schools||Evidence-Based Design 
Checking in with Higher Education Leaders
In this "Checking in" episode, VMDO's Higher Education studio leader, Joe Atkins, is joined by an esteemed panel of higher education campus leaders. Together, they discuss the importance of building community and creating accessible and equitable learning experiences as higher education campuses re-open in the fall.
Checking in with Keith Reeves, Education Technology Specialist
Grappling with COVID-19 has inspired us to reach out to our collaborators to shed light on this moment. We check in with Keith Reeves, Senior Instructional Technology Coordinator at Discovery Elementary School, who shares insightful, passionate feedback on the state of online learning and the future of K12 schools.
Checking in with Dr. Matthew Trowbridge, Physician and Public Health Researcher
As restrictions on social distancing begin to lift, we check in with Dr. Matthew Trowbridge, a physician, public health researcher, and associate professor at UVA's School of Medicine. Dr. Trowbridge outlines the importance of transparent systems and policies as people start to re-enter the public realm.
Parent Resources for Net Zero Energy Schools
Net Zero Energy (NZE) schools are high-performance learning environments that produce as much renewable energy as they use. Interested in transitioning your child’s school system to NZE, but don’t know where to start? Here are five steps you can take as a parent.
Checking in with Dr. Josh Yates, Thriving Cities Group
“What does it mean and take to thrive during this crisis?” This is a key question for cultural sociologist Dr. Josh Yates, the CEO and Founder of Thriving Cities Group. Dr. Yates, a nationally recognized researcher and urbanist, checks in with VMDO to offer insight on ways to design and build for a thriving future while recognizing the fault lines of social inequity exacerbated by the pandemic.
Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Design Guidelines
Health + Wellness||Evidence-Based Design 
Evolving a JUST Perspective
The JUST Label offers a framework for building firm-wide accountability and engaging staff in an ongoing dialogue about what it means to be a socially just and equitable organization. VMDO is the first architecture firm in Virginia and the third firm in the Mid-Atlantic to achieve the label.
Moving the Dial from Negative to Carbon Positive
The building sector alone makes up more than 60% of global CO2 emissions. Being the biggest industry offender in carbon emissions means it is up to us to change the dial from negative, to carbon positive. This report from CarbonPositive'20 shares strategies for how firms are tackling this challenge.
Campus Transformation at Virginia Wesleyan University
High Peformance Building||Higher Education||Environtmental Stewardship 
Three VMDO Leaders Take the Helm of AIA Central Virginia in 2020
Three leaders from VMDO – Rob Winstead, Kelly Callahan, and Shawn Mulligan – were selected to take on new leadership roles in 2020 for the AIA Central Virginia chapter to support the local architecture community and advocate for the profession.
The Importance of Strong Communities
Community 
A Peak Behind the Curtain: The Winning Ready.Set Competition Design
Victory Hall Opera and Yimeng Teng are working to re-envision what a set can be in terms of affordability, mobility, and creativity – to empower the next generation of performing arts companies, theater venues, and schools across the nation.
Designing Early Learning Environments with Evidence-Based Research
An increasing number of economic, scientific, and sociological research supports what we’ve believed for decades – that early childhood development, including well designed facilities, classrooms, and learning environments are crucial investments that can pay big dividends beyond just the school system.
Safer Schools: Designing for Both Physical and Psychological Security
K12 Studio Leader Rob Winstead shares evidence-based research and design strategies that are informing current policies on school security – building on recent testimony he delivered to the Virginia House Select Committee on School Safety.
Taking Responsibility for Climate Change
What role does architecture, and do architects, play in shaping our future climate? The new IPCC special report, Global Warming of 1.5d, provides a clear picture of the rapid rate at which our global climate is changing and the ecological, human, and societal costs of these coming changes.
VMDO Travel Fellowship: London Log and Lexicon Published by Maria Bninski
Maria Bninski, AIA is the inaugural recipient of VMDO’s Travel Fellowship. Her fellowship provides an account of her findings and research exploring the evolution of ceiling architecture in London from the 1500s to present day.
Emerging Leaders in Architecture Investigate Legacy of Charlottesville Neighborhoods
VMDO employees Noah Bolton and Tyler Jenkins participated in the 2018 AIA Virginia Emerging Leaders in Architecture program. Their culminating design project investigated ways to strengthen the physical and social identity of Charlottesville's 10th and Page neighborhood.
Focusing on Impact and Transparency as Tools for Change
Culture||Evidence-Based Design 
Designing the Future of Libraries: Library Journal Institute Austin
VMDO's Jim Kovach participated in a forum on the future of libraries at Library Journal's 2019 Design Institute in Austin, TX. Working with the Riverdale Branch Library in Lee County, FL, Jim led a design exercise with Librarian Jill Horrom that resulted in various solutions to improve the library's design and layout.
Community, Design, and Memory: Re-Designing A Childhood Library for Future Generations
VMDO'S Jim Kovach is working with his hometown community in Rockland County, NY to craft a shared vision for what a modern library experience can be for a diverse and expanding user group. The improvements to New City Library aspire to transform this community asset into an inspired home for the old and young alike.
W&L Leyburn Library: Archives and Special Collections Design Collaboration
Washington & Lee is home to a robust archive of historical artifacts and one of the strongest Special Collections departments in the region. Building on a campus-wide master plan, VMDO proposed showcasing the University’s prolific collection of historical acquisitions in a space commensurate with its holdings.
The Flexible Classroom – One Size Does Not Fit All
Today’s college classroom is changing. Technology is forcing administrators to either adapt obsolete facilities to the demands of the digital age or to build new classrooms that incorporate today's digital infrastructure. Jim Kovach offers thoughts on this dilemma based on student feedback.
Designing for Active Learning
The human body is designed for movement. The connections between activity and brain development are well-documented by experts like Dr. Dieter Breithecker, yet this research is often overlooked in traditional furniture design. Learning spaces with a variety of seating options allow children to move while they learn!
Sketchup 3D Basecamp Lessons Learned
Community||Craft||Culture||Process 
Designing the Future of Libraries: Library Journal Institute Charleston
VMDO's Jim Kovach participated in a forum on the future of libraries at Library Journal's 2016 Design Institute in Charleston. Collaborating with librarians from the Thomas Cooper Library at the University of South Carolina, Jim and team proposed improvements based on how the library is being used by today’s students.