Ponte Mellor Architects is an award-winning Architecture, Interiors, and Planning Firm located in Bethesda, Maryland. Since 1989, the firm has provided design and construction management services for retail, base building, and corporate interiors, multifamily and single family projects in the Mid-Atlantic States. Our name reflects the successful association between Rui A. Ponte, AIA and R. Bradley Mellor, AIA.

Ponte Mellor Architects seeks commissions, which require innovative and challenging solutions. With a staff of architects, interior designers and construction professionals with diverse backgrounds and skills, the firm is able to provide each project with the design, management and technical expertise to achieve product excellence and client satisfaction. Ponte Mellor Architects is a knowledge driven organization specializing in cost-effective project delivery where budget and time constraints are of paramount value to the client. Our built range of work encompasses a wide diversity of projects types and construction systems as evidenced by our portfolio.

Firm Leadership
Design direction is the responsibility of Rui A. Ponte, AIA. Rui Ponte earned a Master of Architecture degree with honors from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He also holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Catholic University's School of Engineering in Washington, D.C. Mr. Ponte has received numerous awards for his design work. Mr. Ponte directs overall design, design-build implementation and strategic planning for the firm. R. Bradley Mellor, AIA serves as Director of Operations responsible for managing the architectural and staffing resources of the firm. Mr. Mellor holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Rice University in Texas and a Bachelor’s degree in economics and psychology from Kenyon College in Ohio. Prior to assuming a Principal position with Ponte Mellor Architects, Mr. Mellor served as a Studio Manager for one of the nation’s largest architectural design firms where he directed work at a national level for fortune 500 clients with project values in excess of $20 million dollars.

Many of the key professionals on the staff of Ponte Mellor Architects have post-graduate degrees in architecture, engineering, construction management and related fields and contribute to our team approach for design and project management. Additionally, Ponte Mellor has on-going relationships with top performing structural, MEP, and civil consulting engineers in order to provide the best possible services to our clients. The respect and confidence expressed by our clients has led to a steady growth and expansion of the level of services provided by Ponte Mellor Architects to private, corporate and institutional.

Firm Organization and Design Approach
The firm is organized into three distinct practice areas:
• Base Building
• Corporate Interiors
• Single Family Residential

Each of these areas has a leader who is an expert in his/her specialty and manages the firm’s business in that area.  Practice area leaders help the principals of the firm oversee projects within their practice area and are responsible for:
• Successful design
• Efficient work process
• Quality of product
• Client satisfaction

Management of each practice area encompasses making staff assignments, preparing task projections, development of a work plan for each project and monitoring of work plan progress for each project. Practice area leaders meet with the firm Principals on a regular basis to review and update each project’s work plan with the goal of delivering the best possible professional service to our clients.

Design Philosophy
Design is the process of generating solutions to specific problems. Our Practice Area Leaders are committed to the underlying principals of our design philosophy:

• We are participatory designers. We form team relationships with our clients and fellow design professionals. We seek the best from each other in order to address the unique characteristics of each project.
• We design for change. We recognize the requirement for flexibility and the need for business to evolve and progress to meet new challenges.
• We are a knowledge driven organization. We base our design solutions on an understanding of the requirements and our client’s businesses. We do the research in seeking the right solutions.
• We value our client’s time and our own. We manage our work and our interaction with our clients with a respect for the cost of time.
• We add value beyond the cost of our services. The added value comes from careful planning, including potential future use of space, selection of appropriate materials and systems to achieve project goals for the lowest costs and most importantly by enhancing our clients’ business performance.
• As individuals, we take personal responsibility for the quality of our work. We don’t delegate the quest for quality. We build on and try to exceed the work quality that we have delivered before.

Ponte Mellor Architects’ organizational structure also allows the principals of the firm to deliver a highly personalized approach to design. Often, the best results are achieved when there is a one to one relationship between the principals of the design firm and the client business it serves. Our size allows our principals the time to personally get to know each of their clients and to really understand their client’s businesses. At the same time, we have the support of a highly talented staff of diverse design professionals who can address virtually any technical matter that arises in-house. Our principals work closely with their clients to learn about their business in order to support their strategic plans, improve their productivity and help them achieve their goals and dreams.

In describing our client relationships, the most important element is trust. Clients rely on
us to create and implement design solutions that are responsive to their needs and that
are completed on time and within budget.

Project Budgets and Schedules
We would like to highlight our capability to maintain project budgets and schedules. Ponte Mellor’s unique capacity to budget and schedule accurately comes from our inhouse capabilities in construction management. We employ or construction managers expertise for all projects which require an accurate level of cost estimating at an early stage in the design process and for consultation with regard to best value construction
options. Our “in-the-field” experience allows us to budget projects with a much greater accuracy than most of our design peer competitors. Our sophisticated construction scheduling capabilities allow us to project time frames accurately for specific phases of a project and to develop our design solutions in a way that allows efficient construction processes.

Quality Control
Each principal is involved in project delivery from inception to occupancy through a series of design, documentation and construction phase reviews.  These reviews include “in-process” involvement with design of the projects as well as the more traditional “check-set” review approach to architectural documentation.

Early in the project, program requirements and design goals are identified prior to formalizing the design concept.  Ponte Mellor sub-consultants are also interviewed to obtain input on any design and budget issues.  Each aspect of the project is analyzed with the client’s program and budget in mind in order to minimize later re-design or budget adjustments. As the project progresses, regular reviews identify “value engineering” opportunities to make certain the client is receiving the best value for the dollar on the particular project type.   

Ponte Mellor Architects develops specific quality assurance plans for the design development and construction documentation phases of our projects.  This ensures that firm resources are deployed appropriately to complete the work properly within the project schedule.  We monitor performance against industry benchmarks for project constructability, energy conservation, green building principles, scheduling requirements and quality assurance.   

Furniture Selection and Specification
Ponte Mellor Architects selects and specifies furniture from the broad market, based upon the specific needs of our clients. Our selections are based upon the budget we have established with our client for furniture and furnishings during the design phase of the project. We have ongoing relationships with furniture dealers from whom we often receive substantial discounts. These discounts are passed through to our clients. For most corporate interiors projects, we prepare specifications and issue these for competitive pricing to furniture dealers. We then review the quotes received and make recommendations to our clients as to how we believe they should proceed with their furniture purchase. Our clients typically sign a contract with a contract furniture dealer and Ponte Mellor Architects stays involved by tracking the order with the dealer, reviewing and recommending action on dealer invoices, monitoring the furniture installation and preparing a punch list of corrective actions required by the dealer upon completion of the installation. Our specifications require the furniture dealers to maintain the approved project schedule and provide schedule updates on a regular basis.