WE WERE.   WE ARE.   WE WILL BE.

Having celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2009 gave us reason to reflect back on how far we had come these past 10 years and what the next 10 years would look like for our dynamic growing practice of professionals. ImageWorks began as the GMU Design Group in 1985, an architectural practice headed by Gary Underhill, AIA. The practice grew in complexity of projects as well as in number of staff. The practice expanded into serving small commercial and education clients through the 90s building a significant project portfolio.

It was in the 80s that we saw steady growth contending with an occasional economic recession. We expanded our practice to numerous education clients and many church congregation clients designing school campus modernizations, new facilities, and creating new church campuses and expanding facilities to meet the ever changing needs of our clients.

It was in late 1998 when old friends, Erik Zavas and Gary Underhill realized the time was right to partner together to lead the GMU Design Group into a new century, rebranding and reinventing the old soul of GMU into a California corporation, Synthesis Partners. This was an exciting time in our history which set a foundation for our very successful future into the new millennium.

Expansion, stability, survival, and now thriving describe the decade plus since we became ImageWorks. The projects have been exciting, the clients have been great to work with, and our team has continued to grow and mature as professionals. Survival described our years in practice 2009 through 2011, when the economy came to a stop and the construction industry collapsed.

Having survived those tough years in California architecture and now thriving once again gives us cause to focus and strive toward the bright future ahead of us at ImageWorks.