DESIGN/STRATEGY CONSULTING

For Buildings

For Projects

For People

Lets Work Together >>>

Interested in leveling up the design and aesthetics of your project, while still being smart about costs and logistics? Looking for some help with your floorplans? New to the game and need general guidance on architecture, construction, code, design, and how buildings happen?

Work with Marilyn one-on-one for a quick session or a longer engagement, to bring out the best in your project!

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Need someone to strategize with you about improvements you’d like to make? What your options are in terms of your space? How the design and construction process works? Let’s chat!

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We love to work with homeowners!

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If you're ready to roll, book a session!

We'd love to help you and your project!
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Consulting for Developers

We love finding the value hidden in plain sight.

Still in the design phases?

Imagine if you could make half of your 1 bedroom apartments into 1 beds + den? Or if you could find space for a half bath in your 2 bed/2 bath units? And what if it could be done with no additional square footage added, with clever, practical, and actionable moves that consider structure, MEP, existing layout, accessibility requirements, and code? We can help you unlock potential in your square footage and your units, especially those awkward units that don’t quite work yet.

Even if you have an Architect, sometimes you just need a second opinion!

Is your project in construction or already complete?

We can still help! There are always ways to improve layouts – even small moves can have big impact!

We participated in a 90-minute consultation with Marilyn and highly recommend Runcible Studios to any multi-family developer looking to optimize their floor plans. We have a small, complex site that led to a unique massing and awkward unit layouts for an infill townhouse development. Marilyn’s hands-on approach helped us to substantially improve various units in an effort to make them more efficient and unlock hidden value. We look forward to working with Marilyn and her team again in the future.

– Developer, Toronto, ON

One-time Consultation

90 minute Zoom call, which involves live sketching, looking at as many units as we can, and you asking Marilyn whatever questions you’d like. We can workshop a single unit, or look at several; we can address a specific question you have or discuss general things related to floorplans and how to balance the conversations you’re having with your architect, engineers, and other consultants.

This is often enough to get you moving in a good direction, using the principles we discussed to go back to your team with clear ideas and a list of changes and strategies you’d like to deploy through the building.

Don’t have a specific floorplan or project to discuss? That’s ok, we can talk generally, or about whatever you’d like to bring to our session!

  • What’s included:
    • 90 minute Zoom call, with live sketching onscreen with Marilyn
    • screenshots of sketches sent via email after our session
    • priority booking for future sessions and follow ups
    • actionable and realistic ideas to take back to your design team
Book 90 Minute Session Here

Consulting Package

We can start with this right away, or move to this after our initial call. This can be tailored to your needs, but if it’s related to design, it generally includes a longer collaborative sketching session or two via Zoom, some sketches from Marilyn, and the opportunity to follow up throughout the design phases of the project.

These packages are based on number of units and of course, the scope of our work.

  • What’s included:
    • Tailored services to your project and goals, calibrated to the phase of work your project is in
  • Examples of services we’ve provided for other developers [as appropriate to the project and to local practice laws]:
    • markups/sketches of all unit types, with multiple iterations/working sessions with developer and/or developer’s team
    • working sessions with developer’s Architect and/or Interior Designer
    • markups/sketches on egress, parking, or tenant amenity spaces
    • creativity within affordable housing and FHA requirements
    • spreadsheets organizing unit types, potential/proposed changes to units
    • help with ADA and accessibility requirements
    • aesthetics, branding, interior design, finishes, fixtures
    • discussion and coaching on zoning and building code
    • discussion and coaching on construction types, strategies, construction process, consultant roles
    • review of developer’s markups and sketches
    • prototypical unit design
    • unit “regularization” – finding ways to cut down on number of unit types to simplify design and construction
    • analysis of entire floorplate, including unit distribution
    • “on call” consulting
Contact us to discuss options!

As a boutique developer, I’ve learned to value time and efficacy. To be honest, Marilyn’s services seemed highly priced at first. After seeing her other work, however, I was intrigued, and booked our first session. In our first session of design and layout consultation of an old New England multifamily, her value-add became extremely clear. Her experience and thoughtfulness meant that she helped us achieve in 2 hours, what would have otherwise taken dozens of hours and agita. Working with her will result in higher tenant satisfaction + renewal and stronger building financials.

– Developer, New Haven, CT

A sample of our work: how we found $500k+ in additional value without adding to hard costs

NOTE: These consulting services are NOT architectural services. We do that too, but only in the states we’re licensed to practice in [currently MA, PA, and ME]. Architecture practice law is pretty strict, so we need to be clear on that. What we offer here is consulting, suggestions, and sketches for our clients. Should a consulting relationship develop into working more formally together and/or our providing architectural services, we’ll make sure all the proper paperwork is in order! We are also not here to steal work from other Architects. We’re here as a sounding board and a fresh and experienced second set of eyes.

Want to learn more? Contact us or book a session:

90 Minute Working Session

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Have something else in mind?

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Consulting for Business + Property Owners

We help you bring the technical and the aesthetic together to support your business operations and your brand.

Business owners can’t avoid dealing with real estate – whether you rent or own your space, you’re going to run into questions around the best use of your space.

You want to make sure your space reflects your brand, while also supporting the efficiency of your processes, operation, and employees – and of course, is a memorable and positive experience for customers and clients!

We’ve helped folks a variety of sectors – what connects these disparate clients is their need for highly specific, careful, multi-level thinking that balances front-of-house branding with back-of-house efficiency, complicated regulatory needs with tight budgets and timelines, and deeply passionate independent owners.

Your property should support you and your business – let us help you do that!

We’ve worked on…

  • Independent retail
  • Breweries
  • Non-profits
  • Event Spaces
  • Boatyards
  • Salons and spas
  • Dog Kennels
  • Distilleries
  • Offices
  • Multifamily Apartments
  • Gyms
  • Cannabis Dispensaries

We often engage with owners before there is even a design team onboard – diving into code questions, initial cost conversations, and helping owners balance their daily needs with long term project and capital planning. We can help with visioning, phasing, research into costs for certain upgrades, or even just how processes and flows could be redesigned to make things more efficient and easier.

Interested in learning more?
Get in touch

What our Clients Say

“Marilyn’s design chops are easy to see just by looking at her work. But if I had to highlight what makes working with Marilyn as a developer such a pleasure, I’d point to two things: First, Marilyn knows construction. When..."

“Marilyn’s design chops are easy to see just by looking at her work. But if I had to highlight what makes working with Marilyn as a developer such a pleasure, I’d point to two things:

First, Marilyn knows construction. When making constructability decisions or comparing building systems, you can rely on Marilyn to provide both a designer’s and builder’s perspective on the challenge at hand. I could always count on her for a creative solution or (even better) a couple of options.

Second, Marilyn’s ability to push the team is rare. I’ve worked with many architects, and Marilyn is second to none in her proactiveness and control of the huge variety of parallel deliverables a complex project demands.”

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Jason Cincotta Owner, Cincotta Co.
As a boutique developer, I’ve learned to value time and efficacy. To be honest, Marilyn’s services seemed highly priced at first. After seeing her other work, however, I was intrigued, and booked our first session. In our first session of..."

As a boutique developer, I’ve learned to value time and efficacy. To be honest, Marilyn’s services seemed highly priced at first. After seeing her other work, however, I was intrigued, and booked our first session. In our first session of design and layout consultation of an old New England multifamily, her value-add became extremely clear. Her experience and thoughtfulness meant that she helped us achieve in 2 hours, what would have otherwise taken dozens of hours and agita. Working with her will result in higher tenant satisfaction + renewal and stronger building financials.

Read More
Developer New Haven. CT,
Working with Marilyn is a dream. Her visit to our home was one of the most illuminating conversations my wife and I have ever had when it comes to how we think about our home and our strategy for investing..."

Working with Marilyn is a dream. Her visit to our home was one of the most illuminating conversations my wife and I have ever had when it comes to how we think about our home and our strategy for investing in improvements over time and within our budget. Marilyn is patient and wise and brings an extremely high level of construction, real estate, and architectural knowledge. She's able to envision design opportunities that we, after living in our space for years, could not. She asks questions we wouldn't know to ask ourselves and she truly listens. She's a fantastic design partner and on top of all this, is one of the kindest people I know.

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Caleb Dean Medford, MA
As a construction company, we’ve worked with many architects over the years and Marilyn and her firm, Runcible Studios is second to none. Her depth of knowledge, eye for design and knack for problem solving are outstanding. Runcible Studios is..."

As a construction company, we’ve worked with many architects over the years and Marilyn and her firm, Runcible Studios is second to none. Her depth of knowledge, eye for design and knack for problem solving are outstanding. Runcible Studios is always responsive and a pleasure to work with. Marilyn achieves giving clients what they want - even if they are not entirely sure in the beginning - look effortless. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Marilyn and her firm for many years to come.

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Ralph Khirallah Owner, RK Construction
“Runcible Studios led the design and construction management effort for a structurally challenging gut renovation in Bay Village. Marilyn’s strengths lie in her ability to foresee problem areas and provide strategic guidance that helped me make informed decisions and communicate..."

“Runcible Studios led the design and construction management effort for a structurally challenging gut renovation in Bay Village.

Marilyn’s strengths lie in her ability to foresee problem areas and provide strategic guidance that helped me make informed decisions and communicate effectively with the contractors and engineers. She is timely when responding to questions and pragmatic when issues arose.”

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Michael Winston Partner, FWD Partners
We had a great experience working with Marilyn. We started with some pretty vague requirements and a very broad sense of what types of design we liked. Marilyn did an amazing job of going from this to a really exciting..."

We had a great experience working with Marilyn. We started with some pretty vague requirements and a very broad sense of what types of design we liked. Marilyn did an amazing job of going from this to a really exciting proposal that was beyond what we thought was possible and yet fit our budget and needs as a growing family. From that initial meeting to the completion of the project there wasn’t a detail that she wasn’t willing to jump in and figure out from helping figure out fixtures to dealing with the city for permits, working with the contractors, troubleshooting the inevitable curveballs that come up when construction starts, to thinking about how to arrange the rooms once the place was finished. Any big project will require hundreds of small but important decisions from paint color to light fixtures to bathroom mirrors. Marilyn took the time to understand our design preferences and presented us with a few options, saving us an inordinate amount of time and stress (and helped us avoid making some bad design decisions). We’re still overjoyed by how transformational the project was and feel so happy to get to live in such a functional and beautiful space.

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Private Client Cambridge, MA

FAQs

Most basically, it’s bringing Marilyn’s 20 years of experience in construction, contracting, architecture, project management, investment property ownership [and a bunch of other esoteric pursuits and wide knowledge] to help you with your project.

It can be a straightforward as helping your team layout units, or it can be helping you figure out the feasibility of a certain project on a certain site. It can be helping you navigate the pre-design, design, and construction phases of a project, it can be around general decision making, prioritization, project conceptualization, and/or general strategy. It can be around design, aesthetics, look, and feel.

It is design thinking and problem solving at its finest – with wide creativity and deep industry knowledge, with a roll-up-the-sleeves attitude, sense of fun, and high degree of professionalism.

You will work directly with Marilyn! We do have relationships with other specialized architectural consultants that we can bring in as needed for specific projects.

No.

These consulting services are NOT architectural services. We do that too, but only in the states Marilyn is licensed to practice architecture in [currently MA, PA, and ME]. Architecture practice law is pretty strict, so we need to be clear on that. What we offer here is consulting, suggestions, and sketches for our clients. Should a consulting relationship develop into working more formally together and/or our providing architectural services, we’ll make sure all the proper paperwork is in order! We are also not here to steal work from other Architects. We’re here as a sounding board and a fresh and experienced second set of eyes.

That said, should our work together lead to engagement for architectural services, that would be great! We take on those projects on a limited basis, and of course only in places where we’re licensed. If we’re not licensed in your state, we likely can get licensed through Marilyn’s NCARB certification.

All kinds of people and projects! From single family homeowners to developers to business owners, many different folks find a lot of value in these services. Even a single session can be enough to get you going in a new, better, and productive direction with your project and team.

An initial 90 minute session is $1500.

Packages beyond that depend on the scope of work and the nature of the project, but generally we either work on a set monthly retainer, or on a fixed lump-sum fee attached to a defined scope of work.

Retainers work for situations where the scope is unclear, or variable, or where the services needed are more of an on-call basis.

Fixed lump-sum works well on projects where the scope is clear, or repetitious – on a multifamily project where we’re marking up 10 unit types, for example, or where we’re needed for a set number of working sessions or site visits with your team.

We’ve been told anecdotally that our fees pay for themselves many times over, especially when we’re brought in early!

Marilyn is the founding principal of Runcible Studios, a full service architecture firm. Check out Runcible’s website!

Marilyn publishes a Substack, and also has an active presence on Twitter.

Her bio is below.

About Marilyn

Marilyn W. Moedinger, AIA is an Architect, and the founding principal of Runcible Studios.

Entrepreneurial, inquisitive, creative, and practical, Marilyn picked up her first plan book when she was 7 years old [along with a pot of white-out so she could cover up all the walls and redraw them herself]. She moved on to platting neighborhoods on giant pieces of posterboard, and building houses and forts for bugs, Barbies, her friends, and for her dad’s model train layout. She was born to make buildings!

On her eternal quest to learn as much as possible [about everything], she’s worked construction, at a coffee shop, on commission as a newspaper “boy” on a steam railroad, as a general contractor, as a college administrator, as an adjunct professor and academic, a real estate investor/owner/operator, and of course, as an Architect. Like the runcible spoon, she is happiest operating at the seams between practicality and whimsy, utility and beauty, the esoteric and the mundane.

Deeply passionate about the capacity for design to affect positive change in the world, Marilyn’s interest in all aspects of housing, the connections between urban and rural life, the construction process, justice in the built environment, and the overlaps among disciplines, methodologies, and practices fuels Runcible Studios’ mission to be nimble, rigorous, curious, fun, and meaningful.

Her degree in History, her travel to 30 countries on 6 continents, and her voracious reading habit mean she’s widely conversant on anything from Renaissance Italian art to the 1960s space race to vernacular housing typologies to 18th century fashion to organic farming to traditional Irish music to military history to housing policy to theology to pre 1750s European music to real estate to the Battle of Gettysburg to cocktail mixology.

An adjunct professor for over 10 years, she has taught design studios, construction detailing, building science, theory, and design-build/community engagement courses at Boston Architectural College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Northeastern University. She has lectured on her research and/or been a guest critic at University of Virginia, UC Berkeley, Harvard GSD, Elon University, Savannah College of Art and Design, Rhode Island School of Design, and University of Cincinnati, as well as various architecture and design firms in Boston and nationally. She previously practiced architecture at Utile, Inc. in Boston, and worked as a construction project manager, contractor, and estimator in Charlottesville, VA. She was the Director of Practice Instruction and Community Engagement Projects at the BAC, where she directed nearly 80 student-led community and design/build projects for Boston area non-profits.

She is currently serving on the Advisory Board for Northeastern University’s NuLawLab, [having served as board chair for 7 years] and as a facilitator for the Entrepreneur Architect Academy. Previously, she has been a weekly volunteer at MSPCA Boston Adoption Center, a founding member of the Productive Collective, and an inaugural member of the UVA Young Alumni Council.

She earned a BS in Architecture, BA in History, and an M.Arch from University of Virginia, where she won several awards for her teaching and academic work, including for her thesis, “A Pickup Truck Prototype: Affordable, Panelized Housing in Appalachia.” Marilyn was also the 2010 recipient of the SOM Prize.  [View her book here.]

Marilyn is licensed in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Maine.

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