Government and public sector
Design, documentation and visualization for public projects.
One studio for the whole package — concept design, construction documents, engineering and the renderings that carry a project through public review — for federal, state and local agencies, and for the firms that hold their contracts.
What we deliver
Concept and schematic design
Site layouts, massing studies and design options, tested in 3D from the first meeting so the agency sees each choice as it will look, not as a plan it has to imagine.
Construction and permit documents
Complete drawing sets for bidding, permitting and construction, coordinated with the 3D model so the renderings and the documents describe the same building.
Engineering
Engineering delivered in-house and coordinated with the design, so the package goes out as one set rather than a stack of consultants’ drawings that disagree with each other.
Visualization for public review
Renderings, architectural film and interactive tours for public meetings, design review boards, funding applications and community engagement.
Hearing and presentation packages
Before-and-after views from fixed cameras, eye-level images from the public way, and boards sized for the hearing room as well as the screen.
Start a public project
Send the brief, the site and the procurement timeline. We come back with a fixed scope and fee.
The full solution
From the first concept to the permit set
One team carries the project through every phase, and one 3D model runs underneath all of it — so the images shown at the public meeting, the drawings that get permitted and the building that gets built are the same building.
- 01
Programming and concept
The brief, the site and the budget turned into options the agency can compare, each shown in 3D.
- 02
Schematic design
The chosen option developed into plans, sections and massing, with the first images for stakeholders and review boards.
- 03
Design development
Systems, materials and details resolved and coordinated with engineering, so the documents start from a settled design.
- 04
Construction documents
Complete drawing sets and specifications for permitting, bidding and construction.
- 05
Bid and permit support
Clarifications and addenda while contractors price the work, and responses to plan-review comments.
For agencies
Directly, as the design team
For agencies procuring design and documentation. We work with licensed professionals across the US: the architect and engineer of record are licensed for the project’s state. Tell us where the project is and we will confirm the team before you commit — licensure in the United States is granted state by state, and we will not blur it.
For prime firms
As your design and visualization partner
For architecture and engineering firms holding a public contract. We take on design development, documentation production or the complete visualization package under your direction, on a fixed scope and price, in your standards and file formats — and to your schedule of reviews.
Public review
Imagery that survives a public hearing
In Washington, D.C., designs for federal and District government buildings, parks and memorials go before the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, created by Congress in 1910, and many federal projects in the region are also reviewed by the National Capital Planning Commission, the federal government’s planning agency for the National Capital Region. Both want to see a proposal in its real setting, from the places where the public will see it.
GSA’s Design Excellence Program, begun in 1994, brings private-sector peer reviewers into the selection of designers and the review of design concepts for federal buildings — which raises the bar for how clearly a concept has to be shown.
At state and local level, design review boards, landmarks commissions and public hearings ask the same question: what will this look like from the street? We answer it with views at a person’s eye height, beside the real neighbors, built from survey and photography — and with the same care in the documents behind them.
How we respond to a solicitation
Requests for qualifications
For architect-engineer selections we prepare SF330 qualification packages — the federal standard form for A-E qualifications — and state and local equivalents.
Requests for proposals and quotes
Firm-fixed-price proposals with a written scope, deliverables and schedule, so the price an agency evaluates is the price it pays.
Teaming and subcontracting
As a subconsultant to the prime architecture or engineering firm, or leading a team with architects and engineers licensed for the project’s state.
- $0
- Deposit for registered businesses
- Next morning
- A fixed, scoped quote by the next business morning
Procurement details
- Services
- Programming and concept · schematic design · design development · construction and permit documents · engineering · bid and permit support · renderings, film and interactive tours · hearing packages
- NAICS codes
- 541310 Architectural Services · 541330 Engineering Services · 541340 Drafting Services · 541430 Graphic Design Services · 512110 Motion Picture and Video Production
- Deliverables
- Drawing sets in CAD or Revit, PDF document sets, 3D models, renderings at 4K and 8K, print boards, film and interactive tours
- Contract types
- Firm-fixed-price proposals; prime design team with architects and engineers licensed for the project’s state; subconsultant or teaming partner to a prime A-E firm
- Clients
- Federal, state, county and city agencies, and the architecture and engineering firms that hold their contracts
- Pricing
- Fixed scope and fee before work starts. Visualization at our published prices; design, documentation and engineering quoted per project.
FAQ
Public projects — questions
Do you respond to SF330 requests for qualifications?
Yes. For architect-engineer selections we prepare SF330 qualification packages, and for price-based procurements we submit firm-fixed-price proposals with a written scope, deliverables and schedule.
Can you act as the lead designer on a public contract?
We lead the design, documentation and visualization, and the architect and engineer of record are licensed professionals for the project’s state. We work on projects in every state; tell us where yours is and we will confirm the team before you commit.
Can you prepare imagery for a Commission of Fine Arts or NCPC submission?
Yes. Both commissions judge how a proposal sits in its setting, so we build the surrounding context from survey and photography and render the views they will ask about: from the public way at eye height, with before-and-after pairs from the same camera wherever an existing building or landscape changes.
Do the renderings and the drawings come from the same model?
Yes. Design, documentation and visualization share one 3D model, so the building in the hearing presentation is the building in the construction documents. Nothing is redrawn for the images, and the images cannot drift from the design.
How do you price public work?
Visualization follows our published prices — stills from $1,200 per image. Design, documentation and engineering are quoted per project as a fixed fee with a written scope, agreed before any work starts.
Can you work as a subconsultant to the firm that holds the contract?
Yes. Many public projects are held by a prime architecture or engineering firm; we take on design development, documentation production or the full visualization package under its direction, on a fixed scope and price, and deliver in its standards and formats.