April 24, 2025

What it means to be a community architecture firm in Bellingham

Cornwell

Williard

The first thing visitors to the RMC Architects (RMC) website see on our home page is our mission: We believe architecture should be a celebration of its unique setting — reflecting the values, culture, history, geography, and diversity of people and place. In this way, architecture strengthens community. Since we opened our doors in Bellingham in 1986, our focus has been to provide work that is integrated into our community.

This gives our designs a strong context. We understand more than sun angles and the direction of the wind on a site. We know our community and therefore bring a different sensibility to the work than a firm outside our city would.

As a 20-person firm led by four principals and two associates, we appreciate the diversity of working in multiple markets so that we can maintain stability for our staff in Bellingham. That also has the benefit of touching many different people in our community. In a city of this size, people live, work and play in our buildings.

STAYING FLEXIBLE WITH A VARIETY OF PROJECT TYPES

Our market sectors include single-family and multifamily housing, healthcare, civic and cultural, commercial, sacred spaces and master planning. We also consider mass timber part of our primary market and have a number of projects that use cross-laminated timber (CLT). Within these markets we've designed municipal buildings like the new Public Works Operations Center for the city of Bellingham, institutional buildings like the new administrative offices for Bellingham Public Schools, and healthcare buildings like The Way Station for Whatcom County Public Works. We've worked with ports locally and regionally on projects that include waterfront master plans and feasibility studies for adaptive reuse of historic buildings such as the former Northern State Hospital campus.

Photo by Benjamin Benschneider [enlarge]

Bellingham Public Schools Administrative Offices were designed to promote a collaborative, mobile work environment and include community spaces and an early learning center.

We've been fortunate that our expertise in the much-needed multifamily housing market has been a focus in and around Bellingham. Our range includes market rate, workforce, senior and houseless projects and allows us to work with clients like the Bellingham Housing Authority (BHA), Mercy Housing, Catholic Housing Services (CHS) and the Opportunity Council. Samish Commons, our recent project with BHA, combines affordable housing with the agency's new offices and revitalized a condemned motel site on the fringe of downtown. We currently have affordable housing projects underway in downtown Bellingham, at the Bellingham waterfront, and in the nearby city of Lynden.

STAYING AGILE THROUGH SMALLER PROJECTS

There are times when being a community architect means taking on projects that are smaller or perhaps not as high profile as some of our work. That kind of flexibility can keep our firm afloat in a wavering economy and we also enjoy those projects. We appreciate being associated with some of our city's parks like the master plan for Cordata Park where we ultimately designed their new pavilion. Or the design of one of our favorite older projects, Taylor Dock, where locals and tourists stroll over Bellingham Bay. Or our current work on the master plan for the Civic Athletic Complex, that will include the Arne Hanna Aquatic Center.

For projects outside of our expertise, we will strategically partner with other architects. Our size allows us to compete with larger firms for interesting projects, while still taking on smaller-scale work and providing a high level of sophistication to those projects. This strategy has helped us attract staff from the UK, Canada, California, Massachusetts and New York.

ONE OFFICE, ONE COMMUNITY

The ability to provide staff with interesting and fulfilling work combined with Bellingham's superior quality of life equates to low turnover. As a firm, we value working together in one space to reinforce the community architect ethos. We have a five-minute commute (if you can call having views of Mount Baker and the Salish Sea on your way to work a commute), and by extension, we prioritize the studio culture.

Photo by Benjamin Benschneider [enlarge]

The Pacific Street Operations Center for the city of Bellingham houses both the Public Works Operation’s Natural Resources division and the Parks Department’s Operations division.?

Being community architects means our work is both relationship and reputation based. That influences the way we practice. Partners are involved in projects from beginning to end. Most of our work continues to come from word of mouth or repeat clients. We also prioritize serving on boards and volunteering. This trickles down to our staff and empowers them to take an active role in our community. When we interview people and ask why they want to work here, the community theme always comes up. They appreciate how embedded we are in Bellingham's culture.

There's an accountability factor to any profession but in a community of our size the degree of separation from your clients can be zero. They may go to the same coffee shop, hike on the same trails, have kids who play with your kids, shop at the same grocery stores…consequently we feel an acute level of responsibility when working on their projects.

Occasionally, we find ourselves battling the presumption that working in a small city equates to less quality and sophistication. Regardless of being in a smaller market, RMC has adopted the same trends and technologies that larger market firms implement. In fact, we've been at the forefront of some building industry trends because of Bellingham's size. Our strong relationship with the local contracting community allows for meaningful collaboration on GC/CM and design-build delivery methods.

As Bellingham locals, we're inclined to contribute a portion of our work when we can for projects that uplift our community. Lydia Place, which provides services to end the cycle of homelessness; a boathouse for the Whatcom Rowing Association, a nonprofit, community-based rowing club; and work on the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center are some examples of our pro bono work. We believe these projects benefit everyone by making our city more livable for all.

The ability to provide staff with this kind of interesting and fulfilling work, combined with Bellingham's superior quality of life equates to low turnover at RMC. Our third employee has been with us for 36 years and we have several others who've been around since the 1990s. We've also consciously avoided staffing up and down based on economic conditions. That sometimes means we all pitch in and work more during deadlines, but we balance that with breaks when things calm down. And if you ask us, here in Bellingham, those breaks can be taken in some of the most beautiful places on earth.

RMC principal Brad Cornwell's designs focus on placemaking and context for many of the firm's public, library and higher education projects. RMC principal Jason Williard focuses on the firm's institutional and commercial projects.

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