With its comprehensive redesign and modern, sophisticated material finishes, a commercial architectural project in Grandville, Michigan, by Mathison | Mathison Architects, has helped reorganize and unify a more than 70-year-old technological brand in the area and its triad of business entities within one transformed building. The companies, comprising Van Dyken Mechanical Inc., Grand Valley Automation Inc., and Mechanical Testing Services…
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Timeless estate
Upon approach, the French Chateau-inspired residence in Hinsdale, Illinois captures a certain je ne sais quoi in time. Beyond a set of restored, original 1926 iron gates and stone columns detailed with welcoming, ornamental pineapples, a long drive draws the onlooker down a path lined with statuesque trees to a front courtyard where an approximately 14,500-square-foot estate stands in warm…
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Linking the lakefront
In 2003, the office of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley initiated an international design competition called “Bridging the Drive,” which aimed to draw major architects for a ground-breaking structural project that would improve pedestrian access to Lake Michigan across Chicago’s South Lakeshore Drive and within its South Side neighborhoods. After nearly 16 years, the final product, brought to life…
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Builders resource
In Traverse City, Michigan, a local building materials and solutions showroom is leveraging its national footprint to offer customers a diverse portfolio of products and services. Spanning approximately 17,000 square-feet and set next to its own lumber yard, Builders FirstSource’s local Traverse City showroom offers a diverse selection of pre-built designs that showcase only a sliver of the company’s capabilities.…
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Beach house
Amid Lake Michigan’s steadily swelling tides and changing dune faces, the design-and-build team at Mark Scott Homes—based in Niles, Michigan—has created a quaint reprieve designed to minimize coastline impact, while maximizing the qualities of beachfront living. Mark Scott Homes specializes in high-quality homes in southwest Michigan and northern Indiana, offering custom home building and property management, as well as…
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Idyllic island retreat
Within its approximately eight-mile circumference—contained by the limestone bluffs of Lake Huron—Mackinac Island holds a bounty of original and inspired Victorian-era architecture. The historic state park is as famous for its architectural details as its primary methods of transportation—bike, horse, and buggy—and each building on the island maintains characteristics of the era’s many popular stylistic movements, from the shingle and…
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Embodied carbon
In May 2019, the overall value of construction work done in the United States totaled more than $1.29 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Value of Construction Put in Place Survey. In the same month, Michigan’s second largest city, Grand Rapids, spent $13 million on new construction alone and has undergone some measures to ensure a sustainable future in…
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Modern lodge
Reposed on a cresting dune, this contemporary, coastal lodge is built for the drama of the offshore shoals, turbulent weather, and proud lighthouses that line the Lake Michigan waterscape. It is a home whose beauty is in its implied simplicity, honest materials, and integrated design; where its rich tones are matched only by its memories as a family reprieve in…
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Art work
There is a romantic narrative about grand old estates. The dramatic, the eclectic, and the traditional frequently collide and coalesce into something seamless and comfortable as time passes. It often brings to mind palatial residences of both colonial and continental setting, where distinguished columns and lofted ceilings are tempered by coastal touches or lush greenery. Designed and built by Lowell…
