The M Group Brochure

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M Group Architects

BUILDING WITH HUMILITY AND STYLE The M Group approaches each project with a zero-ego a ttitude and a free-flow of ideas between clients and designers, cultivating the best environment for a building to grow.

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MGroup building with humility & style

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by Rebecca Rodriguez

The M Group has a simple philosophy that has allowed the architectural firm to thrive with both with its clients and its staff for nearly 25 years.

It’s known as the “Zero Ego” approach in which the clients’ wishes are strictly adhered to and the staff has a free and open flow of ideas.

“Designing for the client in a collaborative way is the best fit for them and the organization,” said Barry Harley, a graphic designer with the company and one of three members of the firm’s communications department. It is paramount to give the client the result they are after, said Danielle Covati, an interior designer at the firm and member of the communications team.

Clients are initially interviewed and given detailed questions, which result in a programming spreadsheet.

“That document then becomes a starting point to assist in our understanding of how that organization functions, and helps us identify unique aspects to exploit from a design standpoint,” Harley said.

Rebecca Wilson, Business Manager, said there is a real “family feel” at the firm, which is based in the Washington D.C. suburb of Vienna, Va. “It’s low ego, team-oriented and there’s a constant sharing of ideas,” she said.

The company holds brown bag lunches where collaboration and discussions of projects take place.

“There’s such a strong group of people. We’re continually teaching each other and there’s a lot of learning opportunities,” Harley said.

Staff attends conferences across the country and share what they learned so that everyone benefits.

Wilson said the company is continually in search mode for new staff members. They look for individual talent, skills, and the right attitude.

There’s not a lot of attrition at the company. A third of the staff has been working ten years or more and another third six to ten years. They employ about 20 workers.

The firm primarily focuses on commercial work, which can be broken down into three primary categories: interior architecture, base building, and mission critical facilities.

The company was founded in 1987 by company president Mitchell Freedman, AIA, NCARB. For its first five years, the firm focused on interior architecture, but soon expanded into base building design.

As The M Group became more established with base building work, design opportunities for mission-critical projects incorporating data centers and network operation centers became available. Currently, the company handles an array of projects, designing 1-2 million sq. ft.

LEFT: This office space features bamboo flooring, a walnut and solid surface coffee bar, sculpted and textured gypsum wallboard, an aluminum and artglass conference room fronts, and lacquered panels with custom lighting. Reston, VA. INSET: Crisp, machine like detailing of the solid surface block provides support for, as well as a strong contrast to, the live-edge Walnut slab. Photos

by Mitch Freedman.

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of space annually.

A recently completed project 60 miles from Washington D.C., The NAP of the Capital Region, is one of the most secure and technologically sophisticated data center campuses in the eastern U.S. Mark Bowles, AIA, lead architect on the project, said the 30-acre site will eventually contain five 50,000 sq. ft. data centers.

Additionally, the 72,000 sq. ft. administration building was completed this summer.

Uninterrupted power, air conditioning, connectivity, and the strength of the physical security of the campus were major factors for the customer, Terremark, a leading global provider of utilityenabled managed IT infrastructures. Some of the company’s tenants are federal government agencies or contractors. Security was of the utmost importance to Terremark, and the data centers had to be “concrete boxes with lids and able to resist any type of assault, said Bowles.

Each data center is supported by 11 emergency generators to ensure uninterrupted power in the event of a utility failure.

Bowles said Terremark was specific in what they wanted, and delighted with the outcome.

“They required great design and expected a high-tech look that would be impressive to government and business customers,” he said.

“Terremark wanted to be certain that visitors touring the campus would come away with a clear impression of a first class, professional operation. The feedback is that our design has provided that exact result.”

In 2009, Reston, Virginia based E Group sought out The M Group to design a new office with TOP: The lunch room at KPGM features a view of downtown Baltimore’s Pratt Street. Baltimore, Md. Photos by Judy Davis.

RIGHT: The reception area with seating at the rear of the reception desk and beyond. KPGM, Baltimore, Md.

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descriptions that included unique, crisp, clean and bright. E Group, which designs innovative recognition programs and branded product solutions, was interested in abandoning their private office plan in favor of an open-plan environment. The M Group was able to deliver what their client envisioned. The 7,500 sq. ft. space was long and narrow, featuring windows along one of the sides of the suite.

“The amount of natural light flooding the entry hall and general office workstation areas is considerable,” said Mitchell Freedman, lead architect on the project.

The design included workstations in a customdesigned configuration that added to the bright and open feeling.

“Overall, the E Group’s new offices look and feel like the combination of a high-end, New York City advertising agency and an artist’s loft space – difficult imagery to achieve when building out the interior of the normal suburban Washington D.C. office building,” Freedman said.

During the recent economic downturn, The M Group has weathered the storm and maintained a modest growth curve. They’ve also kept their goal of not contracting work out.

“We are coming out of one of the most challenging economic times,” said Wilson “but as a firm we’re probably better for it. We’ll continue to balance the assignments we take on with our ability to carefully manage the quality of the way we produce the work.” “While still supporting the project load, during the less busy periods

we kept expanding our design, graphic and technical skills.”

Covati stressed how the firm has been consistently strong, helped in part by being located in the D.C. metro area, allowing the company to take advantage of government supported projects.

“We’re doing more government work than ever before” said Covati.

Unusual projects that offer design, schedule, budget and technical challenges crowd the firm’s portfolio.

Recent assignments for KPMG LLP in Baltimore, Md., McLean Va. and Norfolk Va. all offered such challenges. The Baltimore project, for example, involved the complete rebuilding of the sixth floor of what previously had been single-tenant 1970’s era building. Encompassing 30,000 sq. ft., the space overlooks Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

The tenant sought a professional and unique environment, while exploiting views of the harbor as much as possible. The project’s lead designer, Karen G. Lewis, IIDA employed the design of open workstations with three-person “quiet rooms” around the periphery. It was a new workspace concept.

“Everything was kept light and open,” Lewis said.

Views of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor are seen through the glass walls of both the lobby and the main conference room. The open planning meant managers were removed from their offices, but the quiet rooms give them an area for privacy.

“We showed them the mock-ups of various designs of film on glass that allowed them to

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see how much privacy they’d have. They were really pleased,” she said.

Recently, Lewis worked on the Tysons KPMG project in McLean, Va. The job consisted of transforming four floors, each about 35,000 sq. ft. The client wanted an updated look. Additionally, the program required creating common areas to support conference rooms, training rooms, and a lunchroom. Both the new and the updated conference rooms received stateof-the-art audio-visual systems. Furthermore, the project was designed to achieve LEED certification. Attempting LEED certification in an older building and in a renovation project was a challenge. The finishes selected showcased the LEED effort with countertops made of recycled glass in a cement matrix, recycled glass tile on the walls, reclaimed heart pine flooring, energy efficient lighting, and custom photo wall covering showcasing environmental scenes.

“The client was ecstatic with the outcome,” Lewis said. “The space feels and mostly is, brand new.”

With The M Group’s idea that the client’s ego is the only ego that counts, the result is a satisfied customer, pleased with the innovations and designs by a company steeped in success. ALT TOP LEFT: The administration building at Terremark’s NAP of the Capital Region. Culpeper, Va. Photo by Mitch Freedman BOTTOM LEFT & RIGHT: The break room and office space at KPMG, McClean, Va. Photos by Mitch Freeman.

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