Richmond shares conceptual renderings from 4 finalists for City Center development project

Marvel and the Richmond Community Development Partners are one of four finalists selected for the Richmond City Center project. Their proposal provides downtown Richmond with new mixed-use, mixed-income city square - a focal point for residents and visitors to experience together.

Responding to the rhythm and texture of the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood, Marvel’s design of the Convention Center Hotel and street level podium break from the fabric of urban renewal that it seeks to replace. The result of this collaborative and locally designed proposal is one that weaves sustainability throughout, prioritizing walkability as well as incorporating sustainable design and building practices from the onset. As a cornerstone for Downtown Richmond, Marvel hopes to complement the history of the district, enabling opportunities for hospitality, commercial and residential assets.

Learn more about the project here!

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Before & After: This Reinvented Monterey Bungalow Shows That Sometimes, Smaller Is Better

Check out the complete feature here!

“In its seventh iteration, the National Building Museum’s Summer Block Party welcomes its newest installation, LOOK HERE by artist and architect Suchi Reddy, founder and principal architect of the New York–based firm Reddymade Architecture and Design.”

Read the complete Architect’s Newspaper article here.

In an interview with Jason Hartman, Esther Sperber of Studio ST Architects shares five things you need to create a highly successful career in architecture and so much more.

To highlight from the article, here are Esther’s Five Things:

1. Love architecture — You need to love buildings and get excited about the beauty of stone or the smell of wet poured concrete.

2. Love people — In my opinion, you cannot create good architecture if you do not enjoy people. Buildings are designed to be inhabited and I love imagining how people would use the spaces we create. It used to be common to photograph buildings without any people in them. In recent years we have started photographing our work, especially public buildings, with people in them. I feel that this gives a better sense of what we are trying to accomplish.

3. Love your staff — Like other service professions, we are only as good as our team. Architecture cannot be created alone, and I am fortunate to have a great team at my office. We share ideas, suggestions and bring our own strength to the team.

4. Love running a business — When I started my firm, I did not know much about running a business, tracking costs and projecting profits. Over the past two decades I have learned from friends, colleagues, YouTube and coaches. I enjoy the task of running my business and making sure we are financially stable alongside the creativity of the design process. My work week is incredibly varied. I spend a few hours sketching a new design on trace paper, putting together a fee proposal and spreadsheet schedule for our team, learning about a new product, putting on my work boots to visit the concrete foundation work on a multifamily building, selecting stone for a countertop and giving a lecture to students about the architecture of synagogues. What could be more exciting?

5. Love a new challenge — When you are an architect there is always more to learn than one person can handle. We need to be able to learn from others, ask the right questions and have good intuition about mechanical systems, structure, sustainability and city codes. But there will always be something new that we have not encountered, and a good architect needs to not be intimidated by this, but rather find these new challenges exciting.

Right on, Esther! These are a great five.

Don’t miss out on the other gems Esther shares in the complete interview published here.

As 2022 comes to a close, what better time to celebrate what we’ve accomplished and consider what we will build in 2023?

In 2022, with your engagement, mentorship, and allyship, we wrapped our third season of programming, kicked off our fourth season, we mentored and #brokethebias with AIANY WIA, we taught, we started business ventures, and we changed career paths.

Here is a snapshot of what the MWA community has been up to this year.

Looking forward to what we will do together in 2023.