The luxurious Gateway Grand condo complex in Ocean City; the inimitable, 46-foot-tall Monster Monument at Dover International Speedway; and the hi-tech, patient-friendly Peninsula Regional Medical Center site in Salisbury, Md. — just three of many disparate, leading-edge projects designed by a diverse architectural/engineering team, that for over 25 years, has always placed their clients’ desires and needs first as they design their dreams.
Housed in the historic Port Exchange, a heavy timber and brick building on West Main Street in Downtown Salisbury, the Becker Morgan Group is a multi-layered architecture and engineering firm that offers its menu of expertise to a broad range of commercial, residential, educational, hospitality and health care clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic area.
Founded 25 years ago by two architects who were working side by side at a Salisbury firm, the Becker Morgan Group has expanded its operations to include satellite offices in Dover and Wilmington, Del., as well as a coastal-focused operation in Wilmington, N.C..
“Ron (Morgan) and I decided back in the early ’80s that we wanted to start our own firm and try some things,” explained co-founder, Tom Becker, AIA. “Our wives were for it, but it was risky at the time, especially for my wife and I, who were expecting our first child.”
“The genesis of the firm was to provide client services — meeting their needs and goals responsibly, while responding to the urgency of our customers’ desires,” stated Becker.
It didn’t take long for potential clients to see the talent, vision and client-centric focus that this newly formed team brought to the table.
One of Becker Morgan’s first large-scale projects was a 30-acre master plan community of 557 units, Hidden Harbor in Ocean City, Md. “That project was built incrementally, over time, as the marketplace justified,” explained founding partner, Ron Morgan, AIA.
Today, a similar large-scale community is being designed by Becker Morgan in Cape Charles, Va., except this time, the new ideas are coming from a talented staff that the firm’s principals have amassed through the years.
“Our firm is recruiting talent all of the time,” stated Morgan. “We are always looking for the best and the brightest. With new people come new ideas — they are the future.”
One of the newer ideas was to create an extensive, attractive Web site — www.beckermorgan.com. It contains lists of national, regional and local clients, awards, honors, in-house services and scores of gorgeous digital photos and drawings of their past, present and future projects.
That fresh, youthful, energetic attitude is also visible in the many educational projects that bear the Becker Morgan Group signature. The Salisbury School’s Middle School, for instance, was created as a fun place to learn and grow. “The structure itself brings an element of interest and was designed to be a pleasing environment for the kids,” explained Morgan.
“We strive to provide educational environments that are colorful and bright, with a lot of natural light. They’re very functional, yet inspire and lend themselves to a creative atmosphere,” added Brad Hastings, AIA, a Becker Morgan Group principal specializing in educational projects. The firm brings this philosophy to all of its many school projects, working with boards of education, parent-teacher groups and students in designing their dreams while providing the proper functionality.
The principals of Becker Morgan Group see themselves as agents of change, but realize that as architects, the role is sometimes to prevent something from being built and to use what already exists — adding to or making what’s there more efficient.
Inside the Port Exchange building, which they rescued from the wrecking ball, is a large map of Ocean City dotted with red push pins — each designating a property they have designed, or in some cases redesigned.
In the recent boom years of the late-’90s and early 2000s, the company redesigned many of the uninteresting box-shaped condos in Ocean City into attractive buildings with modern architectural nuances and eye-appealing Caribbean pastels.
“People continue to flock to the coast,” explained principal Ernest Olds, AIA, “and that’s part of why we have stayed a coastal company. Today, people want a nicer place to live in retirement. They bring different backgrounds and ideas and want to try different things.”
“We feel that our work has added to the quality of life in each community and has helped the area attract many new residents,” added Morgan.
As the Becker Morgan Group embarks upon its next 25 years of service to the Mid-Atlantic region, its mission of designing dreams and planning its clients’ success will continue — benefiting coastal communities, both large and small.
Becker Morgan Group, Inc., Port Exchange Ste. 300, 312 W. Main Street, Salisbury, Md., 410-546-9100, www.beckermorgan.com
