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Our Office: Where Deadlines and Design Magic Meet

Life is funny. We (us, personally) spend so much time focusing on the smallest details in regard to the homes of our clients, making sure every corner of a room and frame on a window exceeds their expectations. Rarely do we stop and admire our own humble abode. 

For the past 24 years, we have called One Cate Street in Portsmouth our home. In a building full of offices, we try to differentiate ourselves before you walk through our door. Once you make it up the four flights of stairs, your effort is rewarded with vibrant greenery. A traditional chest just outside our entrance often adorns various magazines to glance at or grab as you walk in. 

   

One of our favorite parts about our office happens to be at the very entrance of the space, and that is the curved, Douglas Fir-treaded staircase that extends down into the main foyer. There’s just something about a grand view of a foyer that starts a morning off right. As you walk down the stairs, an intricate copper heron statue greets you. This statue, which also once served as a fountain, was created for us personally by renowned metal sculptor and New Castle native, Walter Liff. 

   

   

The foyer includes a few fun touches, like our digital signage board and a vast display of magazines that we have been a part of throughout the years. Coming through the foyer, you have a few options when it comes to your next stop:

1. The design room. This is the interior design team’s safe haven. A room filled floor to ceiling with all of the textures, colors, and samples you could dream of. The lighting in this room has been specially constructed so that, depending on the mood of the specific design we are showcasing, it will shine in a variety of cool to warm color temperatures. 

2. The conference room. Walk into the conference room, and you will see a grand display of our past projects thanks to the posters that line the walls. These serve as a wonderful source of inspiration and intrigue for anyone at the (rectangular) roundtable. Additionally, our witty tech guy, aka Principal Architect Tim Giguere, has worked hard to give the conference room some top-notch technological capabilities. This “smart” room allows seamless technology sharing throughout meetings, whether it’s through individual laptops, the designated conference room computer, or even a smartphone. Collaboration and communication galore!

3. The center island. To get to the office pods and the offset office rooms of our principals, you’ll pass the center island. This piece of focal point furniture has been the epicenter for many-a holiday party and networking events, and it also holds an eye-catching miniature 3D version of our Drift Line Residence project. If you’re lucky, you may run into our trusty office pooch/fierce guard puppy, Cava (pictured below). 

 

Making it past the alley, the room opens up to walls of brick and vaulted ceilings that serve as our main workspace. Our interior design team, architects, and project managers have made themselves comfortable in these pods, where the layout lends itself easily to interaction. 

We also can’t forget about the kayak. The stunning flotation device was hand-crafted by Lee Harvey, one of our former architects. He meticulously carved the stunning piece and was gracious enough to let us display it front and center in our workspace, which we have done proudly for the last decade. The piece lives on in his memory and reminds us of what it means to be a part of TMS. 

From front to back, our office has become a unique product of the creative minds that have called it home since 2001. Whether it’s a small “Aha” moment on a random morning, or the exciting reveal of an award-winning project magazine feature, this office has seen it all. It has served as a testament of all of the hard work done by our team thus far and the growth that is to come.

Check out our social media if you would like to see some video content of our space and stay tuned for some throwback pics and company updates moving forward!