PRE-FUNDING SERVICES
The success rate of our clients who were assisted by MBAJ in the passage of bond referenda is unprecedented. Many school districts throughout North and South Carolina have employed MBAJ's pre-bond services with great benefits.

Our pre-bond services include development of system-wide facility improvement plans, development of preliminary design concepts through our Interactive Design process that involves the community, preparation of conceptual drawings and brochures, computer animations, and assistance to school board members in community presentations.

FACILITY STUDIES
The MBAJ approach to facility studies is two-pronged and includes both instructional and technical evaluation. Our extensive experience in conducting such studies reveals much success in their capacity to anticipate future facility needs. 

Instructional evaluation includes a complete review of instructional programs at all grade levels, development of model programs of space and determination of building needs to meet optimum instructional needs.

Technical evaluation encompasses a condition survey of each campus, inspections of each building, site evaluation and identification of deferred maintenance issues. 

Outcomes of our facility studies include a baseline long-range facility plan option, consideration of other options, preparation of recommendations for the district and presentation of the full needs assessment to the governing authorities, community groups, faculties, or whomever deemed appropriate by the client. 

MASTERPLANNING
Through a completely interactive process, MBAJ assists clients in planning for best use of existing campus facilities, quantifying needs for future space and linking program/service effectiveness to facilities planning.  Faculty, staff and various education publics are involved in this process for which the primary outcome is a campus masterplan that can guide facilities growth for many years to come.  

Crucial to our process is the standard that all our masterplanning recommendations are enrollment-driven and focus on the provision of programs and services to students. Demographic and enrollment data are paired to quantify each recommendation.

Additional outcomes include a thorough assessment of current space needs, projection of needs for additional space, analysis of efficiency of current space usage and provision of options for meeting space needs. 

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
At MBAJ, we value our clients and their input. ”Interactive Design,” a process designed by MBAJ to identify issues, gather site data and work directly with the client team, has served us and our clients well over the years as we strive for perfection in what is the very foundation of our firm—architecture. 

For MBAJ, design and function are one in the same. Our focus on providing the highest level of service possible to each of our clients takes place within a framework of functional design. Up-front and long-term maintenance costs are considered when materials and systems are selected for our projects. The result: 
a very successful track record in designing attractive and inviting facilities that are constructed on fiscally responsible budgets.

CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION
Perhaps there is no facet of our work where the MBAJ team approach is more critical than in construction administration. Three members of our staff are fully knowledgeable at all times about each of our projects:  the construction administrator, the project architect and the managing principal. We know of no better way to reduce response time and improve the quality of response for owner and contractor inquiries than this team approach. 

Our process includes key steps to assure quality communication and, thus, projects that perform on schedule.  In our pre-construction conferences, which are held for all our projects, we are very specific in describing the roles of the contractors, the architects and the owners to make certain that all are clear in their expectations about performance. 

During construction, we make site visits at least once per week, sometimes more often during critical times in the project. Each such visit is documented by a detailed site report that is prepared by our construction administrator and distributed to all involved.  

Construction progress meetings are held regularly to ensure contractor obligations are being met.  A satisfied client is our first priority.

DIGITAL IMAGING
MBAJ utilizes 3D computer modeling and rendering to explore design ideas and better communicate our work to our clients. Through digital imaging our clients can take a "virtual tour" of their projects during the design phase and can make informed decisions about the design, colors, materials, etc. before they become costly construction changes. 

The "Virtual Tours" are particularly effective in generating excitement amongst user and community groups. They are also extremely useful at explaining complicated project phasing to zoning boards and construction teams. 

Where other firms hire outside renderers, we use in-house staff and equipment to control quality and schedules. We can produce large format full-color plots, interactive CDs, videotapes, or prepare for press packets. 

As you can see the output can be highly photo-realistic or artistic. The final effect is completely dependent on the presentation need.