VMDO Architects
VMDO Architects found that Velocity Micro workstations provided a rendering solution for their entire office.
Located in Charlottesville, VA, VMDO Architects is renound for creating buildings for universities and colleges across the US. Using SketchUp, Lumion, Rhino, and Revit, they create beautiful buildings that house and educate thousands of students.
“Knowing the hardware is there gives us confidence. We can tell an owner, yes—we can deliver this many renderings, in this timeframe, and we can meet the demand.”
-Alex Jack, Architect, VMDO Architects
Scaling Ambition
At VMDO Architects, digital design is not a downstream step, it begins on day one. From early concept through design development and construction documentation, the firm relies heavily on real-time visualization and rendering to communicate ideas, win work, and meet increasingly demanding client expectations.
“We’re making buildings digitally,” explains Alex Jack, Senior Associate at VMDO Architects. “We start using rendering software almost immediately, and that continues all the way through the construction phase.”
As rendering has become central to the firm’s workflow, so has the need for reliable, powerful hardware, especially GPU performance. And that’s exactly where Velocity Micro steps in.
VMDO’s technology requirements have evolved dramatically over the past decade. According to Milo Oakland, Director of Technology Services, the jump in required computing resources has been unmistakable.
“Video cards have become a premium—not just for gaming or crypto, but for design,” Oakland says. “Most of the software we use today is GPU-based.”
With applications like SketchUp, Lumion, Rhino, and Revit forming the backbone of VMDO’s workflow, GPU memory, stability, and thermal performance are critical. Hitting GPU limits on traditional workstations had become a recurring bottleneck. That is, until now.
Proven Longevity and Performance
Velocity Micro workstations have been part of VMDO’s environment for over a decade. In fact, some of the firm’s earliest Velocity systems were still running reliably more than 11 years later—only retired due to operating system requirements, not hardware failure.
“There was really no reason to get rid of them,” Oakland notes. “They were still working great.”
That longevity gave VMDO confidence when the firm recently hit a critical inflection point: multiple projects simultaneously requiring high-end renderings for deadlines, interviews, and client presentations.
“I called up Velocity and had a machine created in the moment,” says Oakland. “We needed more power, immediately.”
Rendering Faster, Producing More
For designers like Alex Jack, the impact was immediate and measurable.
“Every new machine has increased our rendering speed by about four times,” Jack explains. “That means four times the output in the same amount of time.”
On current projects—such as a large housing and dining residence for Florida State University—VMDO has produced hundreds, if not thousands, of renderings throughout the design process. It’s now routine for project meetings and interviews to include 30 to 40 high-quality views, refreshed just days or even hours before a presentation.
“That level of responsiveness just wouldn’t be possible without this hardware,” Jack says.
Built for Reliability, Designed for Flexibility
Beyond raw performance, VMDO values the build quality and customization Velocity Micro provides.
“There’s a noticeable attention to detail,” Jack says. “Cooling, layout, stability—you can see it. These machines are built to last.”
From an IT perspective, the ability to tailor each system—adding RAM, storage, or GPU power where needed—has allowed VMDO to create shared rendering workstations that maximize utilization without overspending.
“My fear would be buying top-tier machines for every user when they only need that power once a month,” Oakland explains. “This approach lets us deploy serious performance when it’s needed, without wasting resources.”
Power Anywhere, Confidence Everywhere
By centralizing high-performance rendering systems, VMDO has enabled architects to remotely access powerful workstations from anywhere—whether they’re in the office, at home, or working from a laptop in the field.
“Knowing the hardware is there gives us confidence,” says Jack. “We can tell an owner, yes—we can deliver this many renderings, in this timeframe, and we can meet the demand.”
For VMDO Architects, Velocity Micro isn’t just a hardware vendor. It’s a critical partner in enabling design excellence, scaling creative ambition, and meeting the realities of modern architectural practice.
All images courtesy of VMDO Architects.
You can visit VMDO Architect's website to see their past and current projects.