20 September 2019

Kaiser Permanente and Bon Secours Community Works broke ground on a $6.6 million community resource center in West Baltimore this week.

The resource center coming to 31 S. Payson St. will be the centerpiece of a broader "Future Baltimore" revitalization project, spearheaded by Kasier and the social programming arm of Bon Secours Baltimore. The center will offer an array of social, economic and public health resources and services, including mental health and trauma screening, access to healthy food, exercise and fitness programs, arts-based therapies and career and education services for young people and adults. The center is projected to open in spring 2021.

Plans to transform Payson Street's abandoned Enoch Pratt Free Library branchinto a resource center were announced in 2017. Destiny-Simone Ramjohn, director of Community Health for Greater Baltimore with Kaiser Permanente, said the partners have been able to raise about $5.3 million in funds so far to support the build out and programming for the center. Supporters of the fundraiser include Under Armour, Ramjohn said, which donated about $1 million. Bank of America has also donated $500,000 to the cause.

The project is aimed at increasing economic activity and supporting holistic health efforts in the 21223 ZIP code, which spans some of the most neglected neighborhoods in Baltimore. Community leaders from the Boyd-Booth, Fayette Outreach and Franklin Square neighborhoods are active partners in the effort.

"The 'Future Baltimore' initiative is all about how we see the future of health being transformed in a single ZIP code," Ramjohn said. "We want to address some of the most intractable health, economic and social needs in this area...We see this center as an accelerant, to help us disrupt some of the inequities."

Press Release

• Kaiser Permanente commits to long-term investment to promote health, wealth and equity for youth and adults in three of Baltimore City’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.

• Partnership rooted in a vision shared by two anchors with community residents to meet deep socio-economic and health needs.  

•  

BALTIMORE — Kaiser Permanente announced today an additional commitment of $1.7 million to launch a neighborhood revitalization project in partnership with Bon Secours that will advance health equity and economic opportunity in West Baltimore. Building on previous planning grants to Bon Secours Community Works of $140,000, this combined investment of more than $1.8 million cements a long-term partnership between Kaiser Permanente, Bon Secours and several communities in ZIP code 21223.

The key component of this project will be the construction of a community resource center that will serve youth and adults with economic, health and social services, supported by an array of local partners. The partnership between Kaiser Permanente and Bon Secours will, within five years, support the establishment of new businesses, a decline in the ZIP code’s unemployment rate, and availability of new mental health services for residents.

“Kaiser Permanente is eager to partner with Bon Secours to work toward making Baltimore City one of the healthiest cities in America. Economic security has a tremendous impact on the health of individuals and communities,” said Kim Horn, president of Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States. “This partnership will create comprehensive support for this community, going far beyond what either of us could do alone.”

The project is the first of its kind in West Baltimore and will serve as a model for community health and development projects across the region and the country and for “anchor institutions” as agents of community revitalization.

“Bon Secours is excited about the partnership with Kaiser Permanente and is truly grateful for the faith and trust they have placed in us,” said Samuel Ross, MD, MS. “We are committed to the long-term partnership that supports revitalization of west Baltimore.”

This partnership aligns two national health care delivery systems to rebuild the social, emotional and economic fabric of the most depressed ZIP code in the state of Maryland. Residents of West Baltimore face significant societal barriers to health and well-being, identified in the recent community health needs assessments of both Kaiser Permanente and Bon Secours. Within the 21223 ZIP code, which includes the neighborhoods of Boyd-Booth, Fayette Outreach and Franklin Square, life expectancy is 68.3 years, a full 11 years lower than the statewide average.

As Kaiser Permanente’s presence in Baltimore grows, a commitment to addressing core drivers of health — comprehensive health care, supports for mental health and economic opportunity — is a top priority. Recently, Kaiser Permanente launched the Institute for Equitable Leadership, which brings together nonprofit and for-profit leaders serving Baltimore City for coaching and training to strengthen their organizations and develop leadership skills grounded in equity, diversity and inclusion.

Kaiser Permanente is also expanding its 2016 pilot program with local barbershops and beauty shops to offer no-cost preventive health screenings. Last fall, a partnership with a West Baltimore neighborhood to renovate a park in Park Heights created a safe place for children to play.

About Bon Secours
Bon Secours Baltimore Health System (BSBHS) serves the west Baltimore Community with a comprehensive array of services including a 72 bed acute care hospital with medical and surgical services, comprehensive behavioral health services, same day surgery, imaging, an outpatient dialysis program, over 25 thousand emergency department visits a year, more than 4,300 discharges annually, over 725 affordable housing units in six Senior and two Family Housing Centers, numerous community outreach programs for  men, women, expectant mothers, children, teenagers and seniors. More than 760 people are employed by Bon Secours Baltimore Health System. The mission of the Health System is to provide compassionate, quality health care and to be “Good Help®” to those in need in west Baltimore.  For more information visit: www.bonsecoursbaltimore.com

About Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States
Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States region, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, provides and coordinates complete health care services for more than 710,000 members through 30 medical centers in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Founded in 1980, Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States is a total health organization comprising Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc., and the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, P.C., an independent medical group that features nearly 1,500 physicians, making it the largest medical group in DC, Maryland and Virginia. Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States is the only Private plan available through employer-sponsored health coverage in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia — and one of only 13 Private health plans available nationwide — to earn a 5 out of 5 rating from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Health Insurance Plan Ratings 2016–2017. In addition, Kaiser Permanente has the No. 1 Medicare plan in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. For more information about Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States, visit kp.org or follow us on Twitter, twitter.com/KPMidAtlantic, or Facebook, www.facebook.com/kpthrive.

By Jessica Iannetta – Associate Editor, Baltimore Business Journal

When Christi Green was named executive director of the St. Francis Neighborhood Center in 2012, the organization was in the red and its building was in disrepair.

And yet demand for the West Baltimore center had never been higher. Founded in 1963 by Jesuit priests, the converted house in Reservoir Hill has become known for its youth program, which has a three-year waiting list for its 60 spots. St. Francis also acts as a community resource center, holding community meetings, running computer and financial literacy classes and distributing groceries and other items to those in need.

But following the death of its founder in 2011, the center was just barely scrapping by. Shortly after taking over in 2012, Green worked with the nonprofit's board to stabilize the 50-plus-year-old organization, conducting a financial audit, launching an aggressive fundraising campaign and beginning a strategic planning process.

More

Stacy M. Brown | 6/22/2018

In Reservoir Hill, West Baltimore, there are open-air drug markets; shootings seem to occur more often than not; and just about every family lives below the federal poverty line. It’s also the neighborhood that was wrecked by demonstrations and riots following the death of Freddie Gray and the ever-rising theft and robbery rates keep Baltimore’s finest busy.

However, something good is happening in Reservoir Hill, something that residents and those who run the more than half-century old St. Francis Neighborhood Center call “The Miracle on Linden Avenue.”

“Our programs have helped young ones improve their grades and build pride in who they are,” said Christi Green, the executive director of the center, which has launched a capital campaign to raise $4 million to update and expand the center.

To date, center officials say they have already surpassed half the goal with $2.1 million raised with support from companies like Under Armour and foundations like the France-Merrick and Knott organizations.

Another 30 percent of the $4 million goal may come from the Weinberg Foundation, which would put the center on track to break ground in September. The center has received grant funding from the nonprofit in the past and recently applied for funds from the foundation that would cover a large portion of the remaining campaign, according to Green.

“The goal is to be debt-free, so we have to raise all the [funds]. Green said. “If Weinberg, who we have a really good relationship with, funds 30 percent, we’d have about $700,000 left [to raise]. It’s pretty exciting and I definitely think we can do it.”

Green says she feels the pressure to succeed because for decades the center's programs have served as a vital resource and catalyst for improving the lives of individuals and families in and around Reservoir Hill.

Among those programs is an eight-week summer youth development program, which engages youth between ages five and 18 in innovative service projects aimed at alleviating issues affecting the community.

The program is free to youth and families; and runs Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with breakfast, lunch and snacks provided. Children receive customized tutoring and participate in various educational projects.

Green says the goal is to improve pre-to-post assessment scores, behavior, attendance, and to prevent summer learning loss.

The center’s summer program costs $75,000 to run while separate youth development programs have budgets of $485,000 and $320,000.

“We have a three-year wait-list for kids to come in because we don’t have enough room,” Green said. “We’ve been through a lot here with Freddie Gray, the violence, the drugs, but one thing that’s been consistent since 1963 is our presence.”

The center’s programs have paid dividends. All students in the program are now earning B averages and above and Green and other center officials say that they are beginning to dream and so are their parents.

“We can see the children and the parents striving. Because the kids are doing so well, the parents are excited, and we have two families who are buying their first home and parents are going back to school and moving out of shelters, so cool things are happening, and we’ve become this model program that’s tucked away in the heart of Reservoir Hill,” Green said.

Plans for the new structure that will result from the capital campaign include adding classrooms, an art studio, a kitchen, greening projects, multi-purpose space, expanded media lab and library.

Once completed, the center will be equipped to serve more than 200 children in its education programs— an over 100 percent increase in enrollment.

“I feel very honored to work for this neighborhood,” Green said. “I feel like it’s exceptionally friendly despite the violent crime; [and] nearly 100 percent of the people in the neighborhood want better for the neighborhood.”

For more information about the St. Frances Center or to make a donation, visit: www.st.franciscenter.org.

16 October 2017

Historic Callow House, once the home of Joseph A. Bank, will be renovated and expanded for the St. Francis Neighborhood Center. The house designed by architect, Charles E. Cassell, and constructed in 1895 for the family of Enoch Callow, has been the home of the St. Francis Neighborhood Center since 1995.

18 October 2017

In 2017, Kaiser Permanente joined forces with Bon Secours to create a flagship partnership in West Baltimore. The partnership intends to address deep social and economic needs to transform an entire zipcode in West Baltimore, specifically 21223. Over 7,000 lives stand to be impacted by this partnership.

The centerpiece of the the community effort is the design of the resource center. The design will have the input of the community through a series of community charrettes.

June 24, 2016

The Waldorf School of Baltimore celebrated it’s 45th anniversary with a long awaited campus expansion! The RM Sovich Architecture designed addition includes a new multi-purpose room, equipment storage, male and female restrooms, expanded entrance vestibule/lobby, office and bleacher area, retractable stage, and covered entrance. The inclusion of a retractable stage creates a compact multi-use space for athletics, performances, and school community events.

The Waldorf School of Baltimore is a co-educational school located in Coldspring New Town in Baltimore, Maryland. The school offers Parent/Child classes for infants and toddlers, a Nursery and Kindergarten program and Grades 1-8. RM Sovich Architecture completed the original Lower School in 1997.

April 26, 2016

We are very excited, and looking forward, to joining our clients for the receipt of two 2016 Historic Preservation Awards from Baltimore Heritage. The projects recognized were The Hotel Indigo and Southeast Community Development Center.  

April 22, 2016

Finally!

We've been (sometimes patiently) waiting for the day we could plant flowers on our office balcony. No better opportunity than Earth Day 2106! Thank you Mother Nature for bringing spring again! 

April 1, 2016

Last week, we at RM Sovich Architecture enjoyed a friendly competition among co-workers.  To celebrate Light City Baltimore 2016, we decided to design our own lights to put on display in our office. The challenge was to use one entire 24x36 sheet of coroplast without any waste.  We could use any other materials to enhance the structure and design. What do you think? Which design is the winner?

February 2016

Our new home away from home is in The Village of Cross Keys. We're in the same building as well known Donna's Cafe. Please drop in to see us! We'd love to show you around. 

Community Redevelopment around Baltimore’s Anchor Institutions.

What’s happening in Baltimore around our anchor institutions?

ULI Baltimore invites you to hear from people in the know and learn what’s next.

Date: Thursday, November 5, 2015

Location: TBD

Time: 3:00pm-7:30pm 

17 July 2015

Total Health Care is adding a longtime substance abuse center in the Sandtown-Winchester community under its umbrella of community health centers.

The Baltimore-based federally-funded entity joined with board members of Tuerk House Friday to announce their plans to merge. By combining resources, the health care organizations hope they will be able to provide more comprehensive substance abuse treatment to addicts.

"It will allow us to provide care in a way that is unprecedented and groundbreaking," said Faye Royale-Larkins, the chief executive officer of Total Health Care. "Our vision is to treat the whole person and not just the addiction."

The deal will allow for better coordination of primary care, addiction counseling and mental health counseling. While Total Health Care already provides substance abuse services it is all outpatient, Tuerk House does not offer general medical care — just drug and alcohol treatment. Under the agreement, a primary care physician, physicians assistant or nurse could be housed at Tuerk House.

Many Total Health Care and Tuerk House patients already overlap and the new agreement would make the process easier, executives with both organizations said.

"It really will make it seamless for the client," Royale-Larkins said.

RM Sovich Architecture: Creating places that enhance lives.

amcdaniels@baltsun.com

Twitter.com/ankwalker

Copyright © 2015, The Baltimore Sun

12 June 2015

The lobby furniture was arriving at the new Hotel Indigo, which is a very old and revered Mount Vernon neighborhood landmark. I stood by as the sofas and wing chairs arrived the day after the initial batch of guests had checked in. Could what I was seeing really be the old downtown YMCA? Could this be busy Franklin Street?

Fresh from a $14 million upgrade, the Indigo bears no resemblance to the old Y lobby, which I recall as having a solid and institutional appearance.

The new hotel indulges in an energetic, theatrical and bright look. The tone is dazzling white, with a bar and restaurant on the Charles Street side of the building. The section of the lobby at the corner of Cathedral Street contains an oversized fireplace and has been called the library.

Each of the bathrooms in its 162 rooms has a picture of the Bromo Seltzer Tower. Photo murals focusing on Baltimore are scattered throughout the building. It's obvious the designers had fun taking Baltimore motifs and incorporating them into the look of the place.

I toured some of the suites on the upper floors. The views from the windows afford a stunning urban panorama — from the old Hutzler's department store to City College in the distant northeast. A few of the rooms along Cathedral Street will have a loft-style arrangement on two levels.

The hotel should take its place nicely among some august neighbors — the Basilica of the Assumption, the central Enoch Pratt Free Libraryand the First Unitarian Church, as well as some of the finest 1840s rowhouses in Baltimore.

Here is a spot that isn't trying to be an Inner Harbor hotel; it's a place for people who want to be someplace else. That spot is the Mount Vernon neighborhood. It's a spot we in Baltimore love but take for granted. This spring, Mount Vernon has had two hotel openings; the Indigo and Calvert Street's The Ivy.

"Visitors who come here can walk to a number of options unique to Baltimore: very special restaurants, art and educational institutions," Shaffin Jetha, an owner and a Canton resident, told me as we walked through the Indigo's halls. "In the harbor, you have all the same restaurants you had in the place you left at your own home."

The YMCA, designed by architect Joseph Evans Sperry, was completed in 1908. It had a swimming pool, four duckpin bowling lanes, rooms for Bible study, an indoor running track and gym, plus hotel rooms. It contained a staggering 2,500 lockers. The place served its purpose — it also once housed the old Baltimore College of Commerce — and closed in 1981. It was then renovated and became a hotel school, with hotel rooms, as a division of Baltimore International College. That too closed.

The 1908 pool and gym apparently disappeared in an earlier renovation.

The hotel's manager is Jason Curtis, who has a second job — president of the Mount Vernon Belvedere Neighborhood Association. So if guests need an ambassador for the neighborhood, they have their concierge.

"For a long time, the Mount Vernon neighborhood deserved better hotel accommodations," Curtis said. "Now this spring, we have them."

The Baltimore-themed hotel offers the city a second Edgar Allan Poe meeting room. It is curiously just across Franklin Street from the grand 1933 Poe salon at the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

Baltimore hotels often reference landmarks in their decor. I think of the Marriott Waterfront's murals, or those in the Belvedere's John Eager Howard Room, or the array of paintings in the Lord Baltimore. But the Indigo offers an immersion in the city unlike an Inner Harbor version. The corner of Cathedral and Franklin offers an authentic Baltimore neighborhood at its door. 

The architects and interior designers for the project were RM Sovich Architecture of Baltimore and Ai3 Interiors of Atlanta.

28 May 2015

Developer Shaffin Jetha wants customers to his new Indigo hotel to feel “like you’re a guest of someone in one of those big Mount Vernon rowhouses.”

Jetha is working to get the Indigo hotel at 24 W. Franklin St. open within the next two weeks. In the year since his group bought the building, it has undergone a head-to-toe renovation that blends the interior of the historic landmark with its surroundings.

“Indigo hotels — they’re built to be an integral part of the community experience,” Jetha said. So the interior of the hotel reflects the history and architecture of Mount Vernon. The lobby is reminiscent of the neighborhood’s social clubs in the 1920s; the bar is meant to resemble a lady’s perfume cabinet; and the library will be stocked with books by Baltimore authors.

Reprint from Sarah Meehan, Baltimore Business Journal

20 January 2015

Part One of a two part inteview of  Randy M. Sovich by Enoch Sears on the podcast, The Business of Architecture.

RM Sovich Architecture: Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives.

4 November 2014

ZOMA Build, of Silver Spring, Maryland and Cameroon, Africa, and RM Sovich Architecture have been selected by the Cameroon government to design and build affordable, sustainable housing.  The model will be completed in the spring of 2015.  The government of Cameroon is contracting for affordable housing to meet it's current need for 100,000 dwellings.

The RMSA design includes various sustainable technologies, such as, rain water harvesting, use of bio fuel, local materials, and ZOMA Brick. The brick utilized are interlocking soil stabilized brick [ISSB] that are sun cured and require no firing nor burning of wood.

The design was recognized with an award in the American Institute of Architects Baltimore Excellence in Desgin Program in October 2014.

RM Sovich Architecture: Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives.

10 October 2014

Friday evening RM Sovich Architecture and ZOMA Build received an Excellence in Design Award from the American Institute of Architects, baltimore Chapter at the chapter's annual awards ceremony.  

"The jury liked the thoughtful and economical solution offered by the architectural forms that draw on local tradition.  There is a pleasantly low tech response to the site and the making of clay masonry units from earth. This project circles back to pure local intuition rather than western imposition, which is very refreshing. Very nicely communicated."

Jacqueline Audige of Zoma Build joined Fitsum Temelisso, AIA and Randy Sovich, AIA, representing RM Sovich Architecture to  receive the Award.

RM Sovich Architecture: Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives.

24 August 2014

Randy Sovich [ RM Sovich Architecture] and Jacqueline Audige of ZomaBuild met with  Joseph Bienvenu Charles FOE-ATANGANA, the Cameroon Ambassador to the United States,  to discuss ZomaBuild's proposed sustainable housing near Bafang, Cameroon. The team of ZomaBuild and RM Sovich Architecture will conduct a site visit in Cameroon later this fall.

RM Sovich Architecture: Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives.

22 August 2014

Nkongsamba is a community of 230,000 people located in the Littoral province of Cameroon, approximately 80 miles from Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon. While Nkongsamba previously served as an economic, financial, and agricultural hub in the country, the area has deteriorated significantly since the late 1980s, as these industries have been moved due to reduction of government resources. The Manengouba Foundation sees accessibility to ICT as key in modernizing the educational curriculum at CSB, by in creating technology and health awareness, computer literacy and utilizing the internet as a new source of information through free online courses offered by many US academic institutions. The Manengouba Foundation has chosen Keepod as its partner in deploying technology in the CSB school.

Project Description:

In conjunction with the Manengouba Foundation in Nkongsamba Cameroon, we will provide Keepod devices to 600 students, 13 staff members and 35 teachers in the CSB school  in order to empower Manengouba Foundation projects in the areas of Education and health. The project aims to invest in the wellbeing of the youth in Cameroon by increasing technology awareness and computer literacy, by implementing academic programs using modern computer technology and becoming a model for the educational system in Cameroon. Pending the success of the initial project, MF and Keepod will proceed to establishing a community technology hub at CSB and serving the larger Nkongsamba community with Keepod devices.

RM Sovich Architecture is providing design services for a major renovation to the 800 student school. RM Sovich Architecture, Baltimore Architects, creating places that enhance lives.

19 June 2014

Category: Adaptive Reuse & Compatible Design

From Brewery to apartments, the reuse of the Gunther brewery complex is remarkable for its scope and quality. The work, which earned state and federal historic tax credits, included restoring the facade of the Romanesque Revival-style brewhouse with its decorative arches, pilasters and an elaborate corbelled cornice. The 1949 Stock House and another smaller brewhouse dating to 1950 were also restored. The complex now encompasses five buildings with 162 apartments and retail space and is at the center of the aptly named Brewer’s Hill neighborhood.

Award for the Adaptive Reuse of the Gunther Brewery:Obrecht Commercial Real Estate, 3D Structural Engineers, Inc., Betty Bird and Associates, LLC, Gordon and Greenberg Architects, Green Street Environmental, Hirsch Electric, LLC, Kinsley Construction, Kinsley Equities, Peskerinnea Wright, RM Sovich Architecture, Roman Co., Inc., SAH Engineering, Structural Restoration Services, Inc., Urban Green Environmental. 

​RM Sovich Architecture: Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.

4 June 2014

Wednesday evening marked the dedication of the new offices for the Southeast Community Development Corporation and Neighborhood Reinvestment Center.  Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake spoke. It also marked  the announcement of the official expansion of the Baltimore Latino Economic Development Corporation small business lending operations. 

BDC Head, Brenda McKenzie also spoke of the Southeast CDC as a "demonstration project for the renewal of cities."  

Large drawings by Baltimore Architect, Randy Sovich and a poem, "Olinda", by Emma Sovich have been installed on the east facade.

​RM Sovich Architecture: Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.

June 6, 2014

Mount Vernon Hotel, a 197-room hotel, originally built in 1907, the hotel is located in the historic district of Mount Vernon at 24 West Franklin St., just opposite the Baltimore Basilica (also known as America’s First Cathedral). It is being redeveloped by MVH Baltimore Hotel LLC, a partnership between Kinsley Equities and Focus Development, LLC.  

The new brand, Indigo Hotel, will have 170 guest rooms, expanded meeting capacity, and redesigned lobby, inspired by the clubs, past and current, of Baltimore's Mt.Vernon historic district.

Baltimore Architects, RM Sovich Architecture are the architects and ai3, inc. located in Atlanta is leading the interior design.

​RM Sovich Architecture: Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.

Monday, May 5, 2014

The Gunther is a new apartment and loft adaptive reuse of the Historic Gunther Brewery, The (LEED Gold) apartment building features new and historic studio, one and two bedroom apartments, along with overflowing, fresh-brewed, amenities.  RM Sovich Architecture provided interior architecture and interior design for the common areas and model apartment.

​RM Sovich Architecture, Baltimore Architects, creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.

February 2014

BALTIMORE, MD--The Southeast CDC and Neighborhood Reinvestment Center recieved one of 14 Awards given by The U.S. Green Building Council Maryland Chapter (USGBC Maryland), as part of its 9th Annual Wintergreen Awards for Excellence in Green Building, this week.

“It’s amazing to see the diversity of people in support of and actively working towards a healthy and sustainable built environment,” commented USGBC Maryland’s Executive Director, Mary Pulcinella. “Wintergreen is a unique opportunity to bring all of these people together to recognize why Maryland is an exemplary state for green building practices.”

Wintergreen celebrates, promotes and recognizes excellence in high performance, healthy design and building; environmental stewardship and community impact; and serves to highlight the green building initiatives and achievements of the USGBC Maryland region projects, businesses, chapter members and other vested individuals. The awards ceremony, held at The Center for the Built Environment and Infrastructure Studies at Morgan State University (a 2012 Wintergreen Award winner), also served as the official launch for USGBC Maryland’s 10 BIG IDEAS campaign.

​RM Sovich Architecture: Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.

August 2013

The Monarch Academy Baltimore City Public Charter School opened in its permanent location at 2525 Kirk Avenue. The school had been operating since August 2011 at 6802 McClean Boulevard between Perring Parkway and Northern Parkway in Northeast Baltimore. 

The $8,000,000 adaptive reuse of an existing, historic, 85,000 square foot Coca Cola Bottling plant was designed and constructed in one half the time of comparable publc and charter schools and for one third of the cost. The project was designed to meet the Baltimore City Green Building Standards Two Star Level, or LEED Silver.

Monarch Academy Public Charter School is a Baltimore City Charter School: a tuition-free, publicly funded charter school open to all students in Baltimore City. Monarch Academy Baltimore campus serves students from grades kindergarten to eighth grade.

​RM Sovich Architecture, Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives.

June 2013

A housing designby RM Sovich Architecture was recognized in an awards ceremony Baltimore, MD. The Engineered Wood Association honored several local architects as winners in the Carbon Challenge Baltimore Design Competition. The contest, based in Baltimore but open to entrants nationwide, challenged residential architects to design an affordable house while considering strategies that reduce fossil fuel use and the structure’s carbon footprint. Competition participants developed an urban row house for the 1500 block of Bethel St. in Baltimore’s Oliver neighborhood. With the help of life-cycle assessment software from the Athena Sustainable Materials Institute, designers determined the impact of the greenhouse gas emissions from the products in their design. Along with each entry’s carbon footprint, the judges considered its use of wood, its cost-effectiveness, and its aesthetic.

 The jury said, ...the  'outstanding architectural design breaks the pattern of the traditional Baltimore row house with an intelligent, elegant, and well proportioned design that challenges the relationship between entry and public right-of-way."

​RM Sovich Architecture, Baltimore Architects, creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.

December 2013

BALTIMORE, MD, December 2013 - Morgan State University and the Baltimore AIA named Jojo Duah the 2013 recipient of the Architecture and Research Travel Scholarship. The committee found Mr. Duah’s proposal to study the education, practice and material technology of Ghanian architecture ...”to be one of the most ambitious and compelling submissions to date. The potential impact of [Mr. Duah’s] research on [his] future practice, the practice of architecture in the developing world and the expression of cultural identity in West Africa is both real and significant.”

Jojo has been a valued employee at RM Sovich Architecture since 2012. A Well Deserved Congratulations, Jojo, from everyone at RM Sovich Architecture!

​RM Sovich Architecture: Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.

December 2013

Congratulations to the Discovery Charter School in Newark, New Jersey, one of just a few schools statewide to be recognized as a Top 10 School by JerseyCAN: The New Jersey Campaign for Achievement Now. 

Discovery Charter School has been recognized as a Top 10 School for elementary school performance gains. To assess how well a school is helping students make performance gains from year to year, JerseyCan averages the one-year change in proficiency in reading and math across all levels at that school from the 2011 cohort of students to the 2012 cohort of students. For schools that serve multiple grade levels (such as a K-12 school), they report achievement results for each level and provide separate report cards for the elementary, middle and high school. Discovery Charter School’s high score in this category is a testament to the amazing achievements of their student body. The school utilizes its own variation of The Harkness Table approach to education, pioneered at Exeter Academy by Edward Harkness in 1931.

RM Sovich Architecture designed the adaptive reuse of a warehouse in Newark, New Jersey for the Discovery Charter School which opened in 1999.

​RM Sovich Architecture: Baltimore Architects creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.

November 2013

The Baltimore Chapter of the American Institure of Architects has bestowed an Excellence in Design Award to the Southeast CDC /Neighborhood Reinvestment Center in the Highlandtown neighborhood of Baltimore.

The jury said the project "strikes a balance of being respectful to the historic building, yet transforms [the building] with contemporary design."

​RM Sovich Architecture, Baltimore Architects, creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.

October 2013

The Southeast CDC and Neighborhood Reinvestmemnt Center, designed by RM Sovich Architecture was one of the four projects recognized by the Baltimore District Council of The Urban Land Institute.

The Baltimore District Council of The Urban Land Institute hosted the fifth annual WaveMaker Awards program on Thursday, October 4h at Pazo’s Restaurant. ULI Baltimore’s WaveMaker award recipients are presented to local real estate developments that are unique, innovative and visionary.

Four prestigious projects were selected for demonstrating respectfulness of their surrounding neighborhood, economic impact, community history, geography and local government expertise, and have provided strong economic returns to stakeholders.

RM Sovich Architecture, Baltimore Architects, creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.

October 2012

RM Sovich Architecture is pleased to anounce the promotion of Fitsum E. Temelisso, AIA, LEED® AP to Associate Principal. 

Mr. Temelisso has a Masters of Architecture and Human Settlement from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and a Bachelor of Architecture and Urban Planning from the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. He holds an NCARB certificate and is licensed in Maryland and the District of Columbia. 

Prior to joining RM Sovich Architecture in 2001, he was a practicing Professional Architect in the Ministry of Works and Urban Development Construction Work Coordinating Bureau, Ethiopia.

​RM Sovich Architecture, Baltimore Architects, creating places that enhance people's lives since 1994.