There’s a certain sense of comfort created in a home natural wood finishes and accents can invoke. As an architectural material, the rich color and materiality of natural wood causes an instant change in structural style, aesthetic, and feeling when it is applied to the exterior or interior of a home. More so, its malleable qualities allow it to take…
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The crafted climb
With a well-tuned eye for detail developed by an early introduction to the art of carpentry and further honed by a 15-year specialization in stair systems, Matthew Conrad, design and installation specialist at Stair System Specialists in Saginaw, Michigan is no stranger to the craft. From compelling works of art designed to last and engaging stair systems unified with—and enhance—the…
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Rhythm and scale
Built at the intersection of W. Fulton Street and N. Halsted Street, 800 Fulton Market is an intentional composition of materiality, form, and function, where architectural expression is informed by the grit, the resilience, and the innovation of an industrial past and vibrant future. Its three-story podium, from which the 19-story, mixed-use office building rises, is inspired by the rhythm…
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Design for Sale: Leeward Shores Drive
Set on a ridge overlooking West Grand Traverse Bay, this four-bedroom, five-and-a-half-plus-bathroom modern residence on 1.22 acres offers a sleek silhouette and series of clean forms set amid timbers and freshwater. Its exterior composition of concrete, steel, composite siding, and glass openings complement an interior materiality and spatial ambiance inspired by the four elements of earth, water, wind, and air…
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En Masse
Set amid a row of iconic Greystone buildings along California Ave. in Chicago, Illinois, the grid-like façade of concrete and glass on the En Masse Architecture and Design Ltd. studio presents a bold juxtaposition with its environment at first glance. Its poured-in place, brise-soleil creates a patterned effect where vertical fins of concrete lend an added layer of complexity to…
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Designed for flight
In 1986, WACO Aircraft Corporation’s first WACO YMF Classic biplane rolled off the assembly line complete with two open cockpits, stacked wings, radial engine, and handcrafted design in faithful homage to a golden age of flight. Based on the design of the popular 1930s biplane and crafted using techniques from the 1920s and 1930s, WACO Aircraft Corporation’s WACO YMF Classic…
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The Dayton’s Project
Buildings patinaed by time often resonate with a collective memory embedded deep within the bones of its architectural structure. Iconic places and landmark destinations have a way of allowing moments of the past to collide with the present and potentially into the future in the minds of those who have traversed its spaces. It can serve as a tool or…
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The Georgian coastal
Built high into the white sand, wind-blown bluff on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan, this coastal Neo-Georgian retreat is an inspired dialect of classic vernacular language often found in Georgian—and its American iterative, Colonial Revival—and Atlantic, Nantucket style. Defined by its proportion, symmetry, and restrained classical ornamentation, this residence reinterprets the traditional with East Coast inspired shingle siding, large…
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Catalyst for innovation
In 1956, Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist, realized a pursuit in biochemistry that forever changed the landscape and nature of biology. Kornberg’s discovery of DNA polymerase I not only led to the 1959 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine—shared with Severo Ochoa for his discovery of RNA polymerase—but also served as a catalyst for a biotechnology revolution. Kornberg’s exploration in enzymes…
