The Garden by Building Momentum
By Emma Quinn
Building Momentum’s Manager of Marketing and Programming
There is Building Momentum—you are on our website so you know about us, at least a little— but, what is The Garden? Are they two different companies? Two locations? When you come to our offices are you in Building Momentum? At The Garden? Who is who!? What is the difference? And what is really going on here!?
Well, it’s simple. It’s ALL Building Momentum—the company, the people, and our passion for problem solving. We are movers and creative thinkers who travel the world to find areas in need and figure out the best way to educate and help. At the heart of it, we are educators, and we happen to use technology as the tools to empower and educate. We are not trying to create more engineers; we are trying to grow problem solvers who are not afraid to jump out of their comfort zone.
Building Momentum was founded to teach creative problem solving to service members in the US Marine Corps. Now on any given week, our training team can be training separate groups simultaneously, running multiple Innovation Boot Camps in multiple locations across the county or the world. Our trainers have run Innovation Boot Camps for every branch of the military (yes, even Space Force), minus the Coast Guard. We hate to leave anyone out, so Coast Guard friends, please call us, we’d love to work with you!
In 2016, the Building Momentum operation was growing and we needed a bigger place to call home, we found an old furniture display showroom in West End Alexandria, VA and put down our roots. After plenty of demolition—often by our own hands—some new paint and some lucky timing, we had the workshop, offices and patio that are here today. This place, our home, is called “The Garden”. We needed space to grow and there is no better place for growth than a garden!
Almost immediately after settling in our new space we realized the part of The Garden that had formally been the furniture display showroom, was quite chic—industrial chic, even. Soon thereafter, we established The Garden as a rentable events venue and had our first event there, a company holiday party. Since then, we’ve seen events from baby showers to funerals, and bat mitzvahs to quinceañeras, and of course weddings, birthdays, meetings, galas, you name it! We even hosted live go-go nights and our very own Pride event, Growing Pride at The Garden—the 2nd Annual is coming, 6/26/22!
We celebrate diversity in the use of our space and love that you can visit for a night of Wine & Welding, a Saturday afternoon of woodshop classes, or to drop your child off for their after-school Laser Cutting Club (all run by the Build Mo team at The Garden). ALL of this could be happening while there is a wedding just a few feet away, a ThinkWrong training session, or while Local Motion and Yellow Door are putting on a jazz concert with interpretive dance.
Okay, so we get why it could have been confusing but now you have the full rundown. At Build Mo, we solve for impact and The Garden has given us the opportunity to solve for impact in Alexandria. The options are limitless. We can do anything and will do anything if you ask. We are doers, movers, solution finders, and out-of-the-box thinkers working in a place we built for growth. We are Building Momentum, and we would love to meet you at The Garden.
Read more information on Innovation Boot Camp, Innovation Elevated or our facilitated meetings, and Innovation Academy or our STEAM field trips. More about The Garden events and happenings can be found on the events page!
