Farewell Mills Gatsch architects: Staging the collaborative work environment

Mercer Business, Aug 01, 2005 by Hill, Maggi S

A common perception of an architect is that they work alone, whether on an old fashioned drafting table, or, more likely nowadays on a computer with a Computer Aided Design (CAD) program. We imagine them poring over a complicated design whilst hunched over their desk, endlessly working and reworking a plan day and night until they are satisfied that they have created a master work. Not so, says Meredith Bzdak, a project manager and architectural historian with the Princeton-based firm of Farewell Mills Gatsch (FMG).

"Architecture is a very collaborative effort," she noted in a recent interview, "It requires the creativity and vision of an entire teamwhich includes at its core the client, to craft a successful project."

From the very earliest stages of studying a project's space limitations and requirements, through the design and construction stage and ultimately, the project's completion, the entire process is defined by the constant communication and cooperation between all of its particpants; from the owner, to the various officials who may be involved, particularly in a governmental/civic building construction or restoration; to the architects, who often work with other architects on a project; to the engineers, the builders, the interior designers, and even the architectural plan itself, which requires an integral relationship to its immediate environs.

Farewell Mills Gatsch grew out of a firm founded in 1974 by William Short and Jeremiah Ford, III. Now comprised of a total of 33 employees, including five partners, five senior associates, and five associates, the firm's projects have often involved major cultural and civic institutions, including the New Jersey State House Complex in Trenton, Princeton University, the New Jersey Historical Society, and the Trenton War Memorial. In addition to architecture, the company's disciplines also include interior design, architectural history and conservation.

Their dual reputation for innovative new design as well as for highlevel preservation work has led to numerous awards, including, in 1999, the prestigious Business Week/Architectural Record Award for their refurbishment of the old Roebling Wire Rope Factory in Trenton into the New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency's offices. The awards are given to the teams of clients and architects whom together work out solutions to business problems, and are judged on the basis of both the architectural renderings and business plans.

Duality is a recurring theme in many of the firm's works as well. As partner and lead designer Michael Farewell noted in his foreword to a book about the firm's work and published in 2001 entitled, Ford Farewell Mills and Gatsch: Stagings, "Because [this] is work that addresses both cultural resources and the immediacy of the contemporary, historic preservation and new architecture move through these pages like two dancers. At times, in specific projects, the two figures move in close proximity and reciprocal movement. At other times, one or the other discipline acts solely, although its partner is never further than the wings of the stage."

In undertaking the New Jersey State House restoration, a project which began in the mid- 1970's with the restoration of the Assembly Chamber and then the Senate Chambers in 1980, the firm, in a joint venture with Johnson Jones, another Princeton architectural firm, faced considerable challenges in juxtaposing modernday governing against an historic background. Done in a 'Multi-phased fashion over a 17-year time period due to the complexity and historic significance of the restoration, the main objective was to create a workspace that could support both the General Assembly and Senate staffs and their daily lawmaking activity. In addition, the plan had to address contemporary practical needs, such as barrier-free access, and an updated mechanical and electrical infrastructure.

"One of the main challenges in preservation work," says partner in charge of historic preservation, Michael Mills, "is to improve the code conformance of historic buildings while retaining the significant architectural features, which may be the very features that do not conform. Much of what we do as architects is to make safer, more comfortable buildings that are functional and energy efficient. The recently adopted New Jersey Rehabilitation Code has proved very helpful to the goal of improving life safety while protecting irreplaceable spaces and details."

The State House renovation has led the firm to other civic building projects in and around Mercer County; including the new Family Courts Building for Middlesex County, Somerset County Courthouse, and several schools, including the Chapin School, The Pennington School, The Lawrenceville School, and the Princeton Theological Seminary, as well as a number of projects on the Princeton University campus.

Citing the importance of both the practical and visual when designing a civic building, Michael Farewell said of the design for the Middlesex Family Courthouse, "It's the face of the town. We started from the question of 'How can we foster collegiality and collaboration in the workspace?' The solution was to carefully balance monumental scale with human-scaled environments."