Founder, CEO Pure Architects | Grand Rapids and Detroit, Michigan When Zachary Verhulst, AIA, NCARB, NOMA, founded Pure Architects in 2020, it was with a powerful purpose to create spaces and places that uplift communities, positively impact the environment, and inspire people through inclusive and healthy design. To Verhulst, architecture is a vehicle and a platform in which to…
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Pine Bluff
Built high above the coastal waters of southern Lake Michigan, this Pine Bluff Residence is set deep into its lakefront site in a region known for its rugged coastlines, towering dunes, wooded bluffs, and often-brutal marine climate. Realized by the long-time collaborative team of Lucid Architecture of Zeeland, Michigan and Zahn Builders Inc. of Holland, Michigan, this home is a…
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Spatial harmony
On the coast of Lake Michigan in Illinois, this contemporary, waterfront home is an artful composition of geometric form, glass, and stone designed to intentionally dissolve traditional boundaries to its shoreline landscape. There is a curated depth to its experience, from entry sequence to lakefront facades providing unobstructed, albeit layered, views outward to the lake. Colors take on a thematic…
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Scarcliffe Cottage
Built on granite-clad, terraced foundations on the northern edge of Lake Muskoka in Ontario, Canada, this modern cottage is a dynamic, volumetric response to its site as it quietly settles into its natural landscape. From the water’s edge, it gives a linear impression as its deep rooflines provide horizontality to the series of forms as they cascade down the steeply…
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Serene retreat
When it came to this Arts and Crafts-inspired home set on the rolling terrain of Cantigny Golf Club’s 300-acre property in Wheaton, Illinois, the clients looked to bring Joan Kaufman, FASID, LEED AP, founder and president of Interior Planning and Design Inc. of Naperville, Illinois, on board with their existing design and build team. Recognizing its potential for their dream…
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Building delight
The team at Giraffe Design Build LLC believe that a finely designed and expertly crafted home encourages inspired living and generates delight for both people and the environment. Their goal is simply to bring joy to people’s lives. The Ann Arbor, Michigan–based company affirms the principles of effective design, careful craftsmanship, open communication, and responsible stewardship of their clients’ homes,…
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Building better lives
“Our mission statement is to build better lives for our clients and our employees. I think the construction industry as a whole is uniquely positioned and I think our segment of the market is different in that we don’t build speculatively, we don’t go buy land and make you build with us, we are very much custom and clients choose…
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Building Someday
Built high into the steep, dune bluffs in Leelanau County, this contemporary lakefront home transcends traditional vernacular as it stands witness to the drama of a dynamic Lake Michigan theater. Magnetic and mercurial, the lake is one of expressive hue, shifting sands, and powerful currents set amid ancient forests, towering headlands, and islands of tilted limestone layers buried beneath glacial…
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The Caterpillar
In Core City, Detroit, urbanism is defined in unconventional terms. For the creative and technical minds behind the neighborhood development at the intersection of Grand River Ave. and Warren Ave., it is about investing in intentional and thoughtful ideas grounded in reality to create a place rather than a market or projects motivated by demand. It is about renovating and…
