Design Collective

Last Tuesday, May 19th, our Landscape and Architecture team presented concept designs at a well-attended community meeting in Downtown Frederick for the Carroll Creek Refresh project. Throughout the field assessments, online survey, and design processes, our team has been engaging with the Downtown Frederick Partnership, The City of Frederick, the Ausherman Family Foundation, community organizations, stakeholders, and local residents, to help shape a vision that reflects the character, priorities, and long-term maintenance goals of the Frederick community.

THIS is what phased occupied construction looks like in reality! Added to the traditional challenges of construction, the New Cultural Center and affordable housing in downtown Columbia is being built around the existing dinner theater while it remains fully operational.

With construction abutting the building fully on 2 sides, the project required careful collaboration between The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, their subcontractors, 's dinner theatre and to maintain theatre operations and maintain the construction schedule.

Tactics involved for a successful project, identifying key adjacencies in phase 1 and the existing building and designing sound buffers that work in both phases to isolate the existing theater from construction and likewise protect the new theater form phase 2 construction. In addition to layout contributing to acoustic protection, the materials and actual construction of the walls were designed to bolster acoustics. The use of masonry walls to increase mass and added corridors for sound isolation were integrated to the design to enhance the performance.

Design Collective is honored to celebrate the remarkable career and retirement of Luis Bernardo, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal and Director of Design, whose 40 years of continuous service have left an indelible mark on the firm, the profession, cities and campuses across the country.

Since joining Design Collective immediately after completing his master’s degree at the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Luis profoundly shaped the firm’s design culture and national reputation. His leadership and unwavering commitment to excellence elevated Design Collective to the forefront of student housing, mixed-use residential design, and urban placemaking.

Luis leaves a legacy that extends far beyond his impressive portfolio and professional accolades. He will be remembered for his design leadership that has helped define Design Collective — shaping our values, our design philosophy, and our presence on the national stage.