McDonald Architecture

"Can I have an office building to go please?" or "Special Value deal retail complex?" That is what we are hearing these days in the architectural world. Not so much burgers and fries but certainly give a building design and give it to me fast and efficient. Due to the economic environment we have had to do more with less and faster than ever before. The market has started to make its recovery and those that have tried to "get their money" have finally done so after putting their projects on hold for months or even years. The money is more difficult to get, the tenants are harder to sign up and that means they don't need new construction until all of the key ingredients are in place.

So what happens when they are in place? Run! When they ask, "Can you do this for me." Sure, Can I have two weeks for your concept rendering? "No, you can have a week". How quickly can we have the construction documents?.......3 weeks! What are you supposed to say...No thank you, take a number and wait in line? If we want to recover, we need to be responsive to the client in today's climate and right now they are trying to make a move and that means we move with them. We have seen some of the bigger firms baulk at this idea and they still tell their clients, This isn't the way we do things......WHAT? You have to reinvent yourself. If you don't you will be left behind. If you are going to stick around in this business, you have to have the ability to reinvent yourself, either consciously or unconsciously.

McDonald's game plan has pretty much stayed the constant, even through this economy. Now I don't like to even compare our architecture to McDonald's or any fast food for that matter but what I do appreciate is the ability to accomplish a task at a speed that the client is demanding. They are masters of the invention and right now that is what we need to accomplish as well. I would like to think we have a bit of a happy meal inside us as we create our designs and the client finds a surprise in every box. That surprise? Great value, great design, great communication and accomplish all of these things at Great-neck speeds!

Seriously, this is why we have been successful all these years. We understand and listen to our client's needs. As always, the quicker we accomplish the tasks at hand, the quicker the developer begins to make money. That is what we find at the bottom of the golden arch's rainbow. A pot of gold......or at least next week's payroll.

"If you work for money, you will never make it, if you love what you are doing and always put the customer first, success will be yours." Ray Kroc.

Take care my friends and remember to supersize me!

Rollercoaster

It is pretty amazing the way things have gone in the economy over the last two years. I am not that old so there may be many out there that will say this wasn't that bad....or it has been a REALLY bad one. All I can say is that this recession (or whatever name you choose to call it) has taken my family pretty hard. I don't just mean my family as in wife and kids, if you know anything about Ionic you know that my family members are all of our design team. We don't hire employees, we invite additional family members to our team. Their livelihood matters to us. We have let our home mortgage get way behind just to make sure payroll was met. We pass up on having fancy cars and consider that we are successful if all our design team has better vehicles than us.

So when we say this recession hit our family hard we understand all those small business out there who have suffered and who are still hurting. We continue to pray for you and the recovery just as it seems this crazy roller coaster has started to turn around for us. We are seeing the good fortune of all of our hard work and perseverance pay off. Just passing our 11th anniversary, we didn't think we would even have made it to the 10th. God is good.

We have always tried to do right by all of our clients, contractors, vendors and reps that work with us. things have been slow without doubt, but we see the roller coaster rising up the hill and getting us ready for a great ride. We are curious to see if it all comes about but also patient enough to wait and to be prepared to enjoy the journey instead of worrying about getting to the destination.

The roller coaster: a few years ago we dropped from 11 staff to 4. Now we are back up to 9 and hiring. A few years ago we had so many projects in the the cue we were planning on expanding our office size.....then the bottom out.......they were all gone. Today, we don't plan on expanding the office...just packing in tighter, but we have so much on the drawing boards (yes we still have drawing boards) : (2) medical office buildings, (3) retail complexes, (2) churches, some office buildings, several restaurants, apartment renovations, 200 multi-family/mixed use facility......and oh yeah.....a building with a roller coaster on the top of it. Go figure!

Enjoy the ride my friends......Have a great day!

W.O.W. M.O.B.

It all sounds like a secret agent headquarters but really it is a medical office building located on Will O Wisp Ave. The Ionic DeZign team took on the challenge to create a facility that in no uncertain terms was to be WOW! Wonderful....Oh My....and Wild....A creative venture that takes on an existing 20,000 square foot facility needing a face lift while a new Atrium Core provides the circulation and organization for three additional wings. A total development of over 106,000 square feet located near the Sentera Hospital in Virginia Beach. We look forward to moving forward with the Beach Health Pavilion.

Trick or Treat?

I would have to say that October presented us with lots of treats.....no tricks....at least we hope! Several new clients came on the scene and allowed us to move forward with several nice projects. We completed the first phase of documents for the interior renovation of St. Andrews United Methodist Church. We are currently working on the expansion documents.

We also completed several small interiors for McLean Lending and ReMax First as well as code compliance work for a few restaurants that were expanding.


Progress as been steady on Northampton Crossing Development that will support a Krispy Kreme and Jersey Mike's. A fast track project that should be completed by mid November.



However we have ruly been blessed with the opportunity to help develop the design concepts for the Beach Health Pavilion. Documents are out of marketing and we look forward to moving forward with construction documents within the month of November as well. It all looks busy!


Our oldest project on the boards, 1st Bay Development has now been submitted to the city of Norfolk for rezoning approval. That receive it's approval by the first of the year.


All in all......the end of 2010 has thus far been more of a treat than a trick.

Starting off the week right!

The beginning of a new week pretty much sets the tone for the rest to follow. I must say that we started off nicely with our presentation and review for what we call the WOW medical office complex. Our client was very pleased with our direction and excited about what was to come. We have some great ideas as we wrap up the conceptual design.



The one thing great about Architecture is that we get to learn so much along our path of life. We don't just practice Architecture, we get to practice a small part at being a doctor, chef, dentist, fireman, retailer etc. etc etc. Anything we design, as a good architect, we need to understand our client and how they operate. We need to get into their brains and understand what and how their business is to run. That along with our knowledge of planning and organization hopefully comes lasting architecture that is not only appealing but profitable to the client. Let's face it, if it isn't profitable and functional for our client's it doesn't matter how sweet it is.



I really enjoy the work and people we work with at Ionic DeZign Studios. Great people that lets us explore. Thanks again to all our friends, clients, consultants, suppliers, vendors etc. We appreciate you so much for being there with us these last 11 years. Now lets get working on the next 11! Have a great day my friends.

New Week

This week we have a huge amount of deadlines to accomplish. Kickoff of several projects as they push forward and wrapping up some projects that are concluding. Really working on trying to get several marketing things completed and firmly established so I wont need to address any further other than update. One of them being this blog.

New Blog Started

Starting a new blog post as if I dont have enough to do already! Fourth of July weekend and the new Virginia Orginals & Chesapeake Grill has opened up on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Very exciting! We have been getting lots of compliments on our work. We are excited to see as we complete the final touches. Watch for photos!