VMDO Architects

Maria Garlock has been an active volunteer throughout her academic and professional career. Volunteering in English-language learning programs and food preparation services allowed Maria to gain a passion for helping communities who need it the most, while noting how to better interior experience to cater their needs. While in high school, she took courses on graphic design, mentorship, and psychology, which opened her eyes to the potential combination of design and helping her community.

At Virginia Tech, she pursued an Interior Design degree with a double minor in Landscape Architecture and Spanish. She also took additional courses on sustainability, digital technology, and urban planning + community. In studio, Maria resonated most with civic and communal architecture. She further focused on this in her thesis – a childcare educational center. Civic and communal architecture collects the threads of her many inspirations from her volunteering experiences and her desire to design spaces that positively impact communities in a multitude of perspectives. She has explored how interior architecture can incorporate solutions that reflect new learning styles in and outside of the classroom. While in studio she also co-created the first free design mentorship program at VT for underserved high school juniors and seniors.

At VMDO, Maria hopes to continue to integrate experiences of community work and design, while helping improve community needs in a healthy, accessible, sustainable approach through her work. She will continue to learn about the variety of communities and strive to make a difference through design and interior experiences, one space at a time.

When not at work you can find Maria in nature studying the stars that live in the vastness of space (she will tell you the best space facts)!