Whitsitt Interiors + Architecture

“The future of workspace,” is rapidly taking shape at Venture X Fairfax - Mosaic District. With framing up and trades on site, Patner Construction is making quick progress on this 28,000 SF build.

Last week, Steven Whitsitt and Elaine DaSilva spent their Wednesday morning participating in Loudoun County Public Schools' Career Day. Hosting local high school students at Whitsitt IA’s offices in One Loudoun, Steven and Elaine each took the time to share their experience, answer questions, and present on the everyday realities of life in the architecture and interior design profession. As professionals who are always eager to educate and foster the success of future professionals in the industry, it’s no surprise that one student even reported that it was her favorite day of school in over 12 years. Thank you Grant Schafer and LCPS for this wonderful opportunity, we can’t wait to participate again soon.

To all who have served and those who are serving, thank you for your courage, sacrifice, and service.

As we close out National Hispanic Heritage Month tomorrow, we’d like to highlight the Smithonian’s National Museum of the American Latino which, although not yet built, opened its first exhibit this past June.

Since 2004, a campaign to create a Smithsonian museum celebrating the American Latino experience in Washington, DC, has been active. On December 27th, 2020, Congress enacted legislation to establish this museum. With the planning process well underway, “The National Museum of the American Latino will showcase Latino history, art, culture, and scientific achievements to tell a deeper, more nuanced, and complete story about who we are as a nation,” says Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

As a precursor, this past June the Smithsonian opened the National Museum of the American Latino’s first exhibit, the Smithsonian’s first museum space dedicated to the Latino experience on the National Mall, The Molina Family Latino Gallery at the National Musuem of American History.

To learn more about the future National Museum of the American Latino and plan your visit to its first exhibit, visit:
https://latino.si.edu/about/national-museum-american-latino
https://latino.si.edu/gallery/plan-your-visit.

Latinas in Architecture: Stories of Raising the 1% One Latina at a Time, by Alicia Ponce, shares the life stories of Latina women in architecture and the challenges they face as women of Hispanic heritage making up only 1% of licensed architects. Alicia Ponce, a licensed Latina architect, founder and principal of APMonarch Architectural Firm, founded Arquitina in 2020, a national non-profit organization, and published this book in 2021 to raise the number of licensed Latina architects in the US beyond 1%. As a professional leadership and licensure initiative for Latinas in architecture, Arquitina creates equitable and inclusive opportunities for Latinas in the profession by providing mentorship, resources, and connection to allies who collectively advocate for equity and inclusivity in the architectural profession.

Please join us in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and take the time to read this wonderful book, share it, and support Arquitina and their mission.
https://www.arquitina.org/home

On Indigenous People's Day, we join our nation in honoring the sovereignty, resilience, and immense contributions that Native Americans have made to the world.

Modern Architecture in Latin America: Art, Technology, and Utopia, by Luis E. Carranza and Fernando Luiz Lara, captures the modernization of Latin American architecture that took place over the course of the twentieth century. Organized chronologically from 1903 to 2003, the book presents a survey of works both in art, technology, and architecture alongside the variety of cultural, political, and architectural movements that occurred throughout this timeline. Developed as a historical narrative, Modern Architecture in Latin America brings together a once scattered wealth of historical information, work, and context that allows each reader to celebrate and comprehend in full the modernization of architecture in Latin America.

Please join us in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and take the time to read this wonderful book and share it.

Latin America in Construction: Architecture 1955–1980, by Barry Bergdoll, Carlos Eduardo Comas, Jorge Francisco Liernur, and Patricio del Real, explores postwar Latin American architecture from 1955-1980, a time marked by political strife, urbanization, and the rise of Latin America as landscape for development. Published in conjunction with the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) exhibition on the subject, the book includes essays by experts in the field with over 500 reproductions, providing a visual collection of resources on Latin American architecture with archival photographs, drawings, and models included.

Featuring the work of well-known architects, such as Lina Bo Bardi, Luis Barragan, Félix Candela, Oscar Niemeyer, and Carlos Raul Villanueva, alongside the work of lesser-known architects of the region, Latin America in Construction celebrates the contributions, innovation, creativity, and groundbreaking work of Latin American architects and invites us all to do the same.

Please join us in celebrating and educating in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month and take the time to explore this wonderful book and share it.

September 15th through October 15th is National Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrating the culture, history, and contributions of those whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Several Latin American countries celebrate their independence days on September 15th, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, Mexico on September 16th, and Chile on September 18th.

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we’ll be sharing information, resources, and organizations that celebrate and honor the contributions of Hispanic architects and interior designers. To learn more about the history of this month, visit https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/about and join us in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month:

LinkedIn.com/company/WhitsittIA
Instagram.com/WhitsittIA
Facebook.com/WhitsittIA

We hope you all are enjoying a safe and happy holiday weekend. Happy Labor Day!

It's been just over a week since Steven Whitsitt and Elaine DaSilva had the privilege to present the design for Venture X Fairfax - Mosaic District during the groundbreaking ceremony held last Thursday. We hope you all had as much fun as we did celebrating Richie and Charissa Parsons' next Venture X location! We can't wait to bring, “the future of workspace,” to Mosaic and truly see these renderings come to life soon.

We’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with Richie & Charissa Parsons of Venture X to develop their newest coworking location in the Mosaic District of Fairfax, Virginia. With over 50 locations worldwide, Venture X provides a variety of solutions to meet both the physical and virtual demands of work on an international scale. As, “the future of workspace,” the design for Venture X Mosaic includes both nods to the brand and location while providing innovative amenities, private offices, and open workspaces that celebrate the community of businesses within.

We invite you all to join us on August 25th to celebrate Venture X Mosaic’s pre-construction Launch Party, hosted at the future Mosaic location’s existing shell space, where we’ll be sharing more about the design on site. We can’t wait to give you each a tour of “the future of workspace.”

Please RSVP at https://info.venturex.com/fairfax-pre-construction-party and, to learn more about Venture X, check out Richie and Charissa’s latest testimonial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TImXN5DSnDs. We hope to see you there!

It’s all in the details... Check out the beginnings of our latest project’s gorgeous finish palette below. Tailored to this client’s brand, values, and future tenants, this full-floor space is destined to shape the future of workspace. With a green wall and vibrant materials, we’re excited to bring this project to life and share more details with you soon.

Happy Independence Day! Today, we proudly celebrate the 4th of July and wish you all a safe and happy holiday.

In addition to Father’s Day, this Sunday is Juneteenth, a federal holiday honoring the end of slavery in the United States. Although the Emancipation Proclamation established in 1863 that all enslaved people be freed, this was not enforced in the southern states until the end of the Civil War in 1865. On June 19th, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas with the news that the more than 250,000 enslaved people in the state were free.

Join us in celebrating this Juneteenth and check out all the ways you can celebrate and honor this historic day in the Washington Metropolitan Area at:
nbcwashington.com/entertainment/the-scene/celebrating-juneteeth-in-the-dc-area-2022-events-and-observances

We provide a variety of design services to help our clients achieve their design goals. If you do not see a specific service you are seeking listed below or on whitsittia.com, please do not hesitate to reach out and ask how we can help at whitsittia.com/contact.

Additional Services:
• Design Consultation
• Test Fit
• Budget Pricing Notes
• BOMA Calculations
• Survey & Existing Conditions Documentation
• ADA Compliance Assessment
• Code Compliance Assessment
• Rendering & Visualization
• Furniture Design & Specification
• Branding & Graphics
• Secure Design
• Consulting & Advisory Services

To learn more about our services, visit whitsittia.com/about and join us at:
LinkedIn.com/company/WhitsittIA
Instagram.com/WhitsittIA
Facebook.com/WhitsittIA

At Whitsitt IA, we design for a more equitable future. That’s why, in honor of Pride Month, we’ve pulled together a list of organizations that provide a variety of ways to support the LGBTQI+ architecture and design community. Please join us in celebrating Pride Month by supporting these wonderful organizations and fostering a more equitable future for all.

Build Out Alliance
buildoutalliance.org
Build Out Alliance promotes and advocates for the le***an, gay, bisexual, transgender, and q***r community within the building design and construction industry. "Our members build an environment where people serve openly and with pride across all roles and sectors of the industry. We lead by example in our own work environments and through partnerships with community organizations."

Architecture LGBT+
architecturelgbt.com/about-us
Architecture LGBT+ fosters a more inclusive architecture and design community for LGBT+ architects and designers. Providing a variety of resources to support LGBT+ designers, they host events to network, support one another, and advocate for LGBT+ rights and inclusion.

Building Equality
buildingequalityuk.com
Building Equality advances LGBTQ+ inclusion in the construction, engineering, and built environment industry. By hosting events, advocating for change, and providing resources, their vision is to have a construction industry that is wholly welcoming, inclusive, and supportive of le***an, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other related communities.

QSPACE
qspacearch.com
QSPACE is an architectural research platform for projects by students and professionals that support q***rness inclusion through the built environment. “As architects, we believe that design can and should play an active role in responding to social change and as QSPACE, we hope to offer the tools with which to create it.”

When you at Whitsitt IA, after deciding upon all the key design elements and features your space will include, the next step in our process is to finalize your selections and document your space’s design for construction.

During construction documentation, we document, dimension, detail, and annotate your plans, locating each key design element and instructing the contractor how to bring your vision to reality. We define how mechanical, electrical, and plumbing ties into your space, what structural impacts or changes may need to be made, and how these elements allow your design to function.

To learn more about our process visit whitsittia.com/about and join us at:
LinkedIn.com/company/WhitsittIA
Instagram.com/WhitsittIA
Facebook.com/WhitsittIA

After formalizing your layout, when you the next step in our process is to add key design elements and features to enhance the form and function of your spaces.

With the layout defined, during design development we explore what key design elements your various spaces will include. We demonstrate how millwork and appliances fall into place, how your finishes transition from floor to wall to ceiling, how lighting impacts your space, and how power and data connections allow you to use your space. We develop your finish palette and design details to enhance your design, collecting your feedback and input to finalize these key design elements.

To learn more about our process visit whitsittia.com/about and join us at:
LinkedIn.com/company/WhitsittIA
Instagram.com/WhitsittIA
Facebook.com/WhitsittIA