Interviews with Alexandra Alexandra

This week, Alexandra spoke with Christina Long, the founder and principal of Vertical Architecture Enterprises LLC. She shared with us what prompted a move into her mother and grandmother’s home during a period of time throughout the pandemic and the joys and challenges of this four-generation living situation.

This week, Alexandra spoke with Dave Risi, the owner and operator of Evermore Senior Living, a residential assisted living space that opened in Lake Ridge, Virginia during 2020. Dave has been working with the JSR team to build this facility and create a space that fulfills the needs of its residents. He and Alexandra spoke about the inspiration behind Evermore, how the person-centered approach benefits both residents and staff members, and the challenges—and surprising benefits—of opening during a pandemic. This conversation was full of laughter and good humor, so be sure to insert some laughs in your head as you are reading through. You can learn more about Evermore here.

This week, Alexandra spoke with Shernise Richardson, the Project Designer at JSR Associates. Shernise explained the meaning of Residential Assisted Living and how it differs from larger scale assisted living facilities. Throughout their talk, she also explained how essential it is to take a person-centered approach to design, what one of her favorite projects has been, and the unexpected challenges that happen throughout the design and building process.

This week, Alexandra spoke with Meg Romero, an artist located in Cumberland, Maryland. Meg’s experience spans from fifteen years of high-end residential design to fifteen years of designing and building full-scale furniture. Her most recent work and what she calls her “next 15” is her work with miniatures. They spoke about the industry of miniatures, her work within it, how she has used miniatures to explore her personal life and witnessed them be an effective community building art project, and how one might try it out for themselves. You can read more about her and her work, as well as purchase a miniature, on her website here.