Design Collective

05/29/2026

Design Collective is known for our preservation efforts in and around Baltimore, including Tide Point, American Can Company, The Stewart’s Building, and the Power Plant. In honor of historic preservation month, we wanted to shine the light on a project where our team is working hard to preserve sites and structures of historical and cultural significance, currently under construction.

The redevelopment of the B&O Railroad Museum’s 40-acre historic site, a National Historic Landmark, and the original site where the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad founded America’s first commercial railroad in 1827. The site’s buildings and structures hold a unique and significant place in American history. The site saw the first passenger and freight station in the United States and is also the first railroad manufacturing complex in the country. The 50,000 square foot renovation envisions new food service, gift shop, classrooms, and meeting space as well as a new exhibit hall highlighting the past, present and future of American railroading. The project features a new amphitheater plaza generously supported by CSX with a $5 million donation to create the CSX bicentennial Plaza.

05/28/2026

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.

05/21/2026

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.

05/20/2026

Last Thursday, May 14th, the Landscape Architecture team accepted a Merit Award at the Maryland Chapter-American Society of Landscape Architects ASLA Awards for Unity Square in Salisbury, Maryland. The awards jury commentary noted "great use of a underutilized space, clear engagement with community, application of principles and incorporation to create an amazing space that is clearly loved and well used."

In 2019, Salisbury applied for and received certification from the World Kindness Movement, becoming the first officially recognized Kindness City in the United States. As part of this initiative, the City of Salisbury committed to creating a central community space that would foster connection, shared experiences, and above all, kindness.

Located in the heart of downtown Salisbury, UNITY Square was envisioned as more than a public plaza. It was designed to be the city’s living room—a civic heart where everyday life and community intersect. UNITY Square re-centers Salisbury around its people and values, transforming a prominent but underused site into a welcoming place to gather, connect, and belong.

The design balances openness with intimacy and flexibility with a strong sense of place. Generous seating invites conversation and lingering, while a central gathering area supports performances, markets, and spontaneous community moments. Water features and planting soften the urban environment, adding texture, sensory richness, and seasonal change. Every element is scaled to human experience, reinforcing that the space is designed for people first.

UNITY Square functions as both stage and sanctuary. It hosts civic celebrations and events while remaining comfortable on an ordinary weekday afternoon. Families meet for lunch. Students gather after school. Neighbors stop to talk. Strangers share space. Its flexibility allows the plaza to evolve with the community, ensuring it remains vibrant and relevant.

At its core, the project is about belonging. The name “UNITY” reflects a deliberate effort to bring generations, cultures, and perspectives together. Pathways converge, seating encourages face-to-face interaction, and public art celebrates local identity and shared values. The space invites people to come together in kindness—a simple but powerful civic act.

UNITY Square demonstrates how thoughtful public space can strengthen community bonds and revitalize downtown. By giving Salisbury a true center—a place to gather, reflect, celebrate, and connect—the project embodies the spirit of a Kindness City in tangible form. In creating UNITY Square, Salisbury did more than build a plaza. It created a heart.

Congrats to all involved!

05/18/2026

This past Saturday (5/16), a few members of DCI's Sustainability Committee (+friends and family!) attended Neighborhood Design Center’s Trash Dash, an NDC fundraiser/community clean up event. The Trash Dash was held at Middle Branch Park, and we spent the morning racing other teams to clean up the most trash.

Our team, “Tidy Mighties”, collected 10 big bags of trash and won the “Best Team Spirit” award! It was a great event, raising money for a beloved Baltimore nonprofit and cleaning up our waterfront. We hope to participate again next year and take home the “Most Trash Collected” trophy!

04/16/2026

One of the most rewarding moments in our work is witnessing a long-held vision take shape—when ideas once sketched in plan rise into form, and the firm’s collective planning, urban design, architecture, interiors, and landscape architecture teams converge to bring Prince George’s County’s vision to life.

In 2014, Design Collective began imagining a new future for Hampton Park—a once underutilized, 24-acre auto-centric shopping center in Capitol Heights, Maryland. The firm’s master plan re-envisioned the site as a vibrant, walkable district defined by connected blocks, welcoming public spaces, and a network of tree-lined streets. At its heart, a central park envisioned by our landscape team anchors a mix of retail, restaurants, office space, a 250-unit residential community, and a 125-key hotel—woven together to create a place designed for daily life, connection, and discovery.

By April 2025, that vision reached a meaningful milestone with the completion of a 115,000-square-foot headquarters office building for Prince George’s County’s Health & Human Services division, alongside 85,000 square feet of retail and a much-needed grocery store that helps address the area’s long-standing food desert status—led by our architecture team. Within the building, our interiors team partnered closely with HHS to shape a program that supports care, community, and accessibility—bringing together the Department of Family Services, the Health Department, a 26,000-square-foot Senior Center, a 15,000-square-foot conference and community center, and the Department of Social Services. Together, these spaces are designed to support a shared mission: providing residents with access to quality, reliable, and affordable health and human services in an environment that reflects dignity and care.

As a defining anchor within the evolving Central Avenue and Blue Line corridor, this milestone represents more than the completion of a building—it signals momentum. We are proud to see this important piece of Hampton Park realized and inspired by the possibilities that lie ahead as the district and corridor continue to grow and unfold.

04/02/2026

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.

04/01/2026

We are very honored to be recognized with two 2026 Innovator Awards for Best Architecture/Design and Best New Development for Meritus Commons at Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine at last night’s Interface Student Housing Business awards. A huge thank you to our partners and friends at Radnor Property Group!

03/12/2026

Design Collective Inc. is pleased to announce the promotion of a new Senior Associate and three new Associates.

Paul Bilger, AIA
An Architect with over 14 years of experience, Paul has been a vital team member on many mixed-use residential projects. He is currently working on the modernization and expansion of student housing at the University of Idaho as well as the redevelopment of 1999 Eye Street NW in Washington, DC for Stonebridge, and Bernstein. Previously, Paul played an integral role in the award-winning design of 1213 Walnut, a new mixed-use, multi-family high-rise in Philadelphia.

Jennifer Heinz-Zahner
Jennifer is a landscape architect with more than 25 years of experience. She works on multi-family developments, civic parks, and nature-based play environments, along with leading planting design for Design Collective. Jennifer guided the planting design for College Park City Hall, which earned both the Maryland ASLA’s Traveling Award of Excellence and a Honor Award. Currently, she is leading design efforts for multi-family developments in Elkridge, Glen Burnie, and White Marsh.

Roxana Miu, LEED NC
A highly talented interior designer with over 23 years of experience, Roxana has been a vital team member on many workplace and higher education projects. Among her recently completed projects is the design for the relocation of Johns Hopkins Health’s IT department in Baltimore, MD. Currently in construction, Roxana is working on the design for the relocation of Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering to the Marbury campus.

Troy Barney, NOMA
Troy has been an integral team member on several of the firm’s projects with over 12 years of experience as an architectural designer to his credit. Among his recently completed projects is Brentford at the Mile, a new mixed-use multifamily building for Kettler in Tysons, VA. Troy is currently working on the 450,000 SF fit out for the Maryland Department of Health in Baltimore, MD, and the new headquarters for the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County in downtown Silver Spring, MD

02/26/2026

Currently wrapping up design development, this 6-story boutique office building along the Trinity River in Fort Worth is envisioned as a workplace deeply connected to its waterfront setting. Offering a total of 88,000 GSF, the project features a 10,000 SF ground-floor restaurant activating the river’s edge and public realm, outdoor terraces on every level to promotes tenant wellness, plus a 5,000 SF rooftop amenity overlooking the water.

Designed by Design Collective for developer 2SP Partners, the building’s splayed twin-wing form frames long views downriver while creating welcoming public spaces from shaded dining beneath an existing oak grove to an expansive lawn for events and gatherings.

Grounded with a textured stone base below refined metal panels, the design draws from the site’s adjacent industrial railroad heritage and the natural character of the riverfront. Integrated sunshades on west and south facades respond to solar exposure for tenant comfort.

As the first phase of a larger mixed-use riverfront vision, the project sets the tone for a vibrant destination where architecture, landscape, and community meet the water.

02/24/2026

Cost estimating and value engineering are inevitable steps in any project. But when does value engineering start to skew toward value loss? In our new white paper, “Thinking Outside the (Jewel) Box: Affording Mass Timber in Campus Housing,” the team behind Meritus Health’s central amenity building, The Commons, shares how we protected the outcomes that matter most to owners and residents—relating the building to its setting, strengthening indoor–outdoor connection, and creating a calm, biophilic environment—while still navigating real budget constraints.

Along the way, we highlight the often-overlooked part of the story: the delivery and coordination choices (especially at system interfaces) that determine whether these strategies hold up through construction.

The project’s emphasis on nature and wellness as an amenity has resonated strongly with busy medical students who call it home. Phase I was completed in the summer of 2025 and is fully leased; Phase 2 is targeted for completion in summer 2026
Read the full article (and explore more of our student life work) via the link.

Cost estimating through design development and value engineering are inevitable steps in any project. When the numbers exceed the target, specialty systems…