“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 us for that reason. While we deal with sticks and bricks and we build beautiful things, there is a level of service and design that is truly custom to each of our clients and to be chosen for that is really important,” said Lisa Pickell, president of Orren Pickell Building…
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Great Lakes By Design: Architectonics
CONTENTS DESIGN CORNER 17 Atlas | the sleek and simple lighting solution designed by Most Modern 18 Kissen, Vuelo | the sculptural cushioned chair and aviation-inspired lounge furniture designed by Johnson Chou Inc. of Toronto 19 Olive Hill | the most recent ceramic tile design inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright added to Motawi Tileworks’ collection DESIGN SPOTLIGHT 27 Rainbow Center | the UH Rainbow Ahuja Center for Women & Children in Cleveland, Ohio, designed by Moody Nolan, is a hub of coordinated, family-focused care in its community 33 Freedom House | the award-winning project for nonprofit organization Freedom House Ministries Inc. in Green Bay, Wisconsin offering transitional housing and programming for families 68 Celebrated art story | the continued renovation at…
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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 spaces, generous windows, and layering of natural materials in understated elegance. While distinctive in its neighborhood, it is contextual in its siting and scale while embracing its lakefront environment through award-winning landscape and design of lush greens, textural plants, and a mixture of white and subtle hues in its foliage.…
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In the grain
“I have always had a love affair with architecture and woodworking,” said Jason Sharp, founder and craftsman of Terroir Wood Studio in Boyne City, Michigan. Named after the French term ‘terroir,’ which loosely translates to “a sense of place” and often referenced in relation to the natural environment from which a wine is produced, Terroir Wood Studio is an independent artisan woodworking shop based in northern Michigan. Specializing in crafting custom heirloom furniture, much of the studio’s work is based on the sum of the effects that the environment has on the end product, mimicking the beauty of the natural world. “My grandfather was my biggest inspiration in my woodworking…
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Made to measure
Theodore Alexander Furniture has become synonymous with widely available, luxury home furnishings for the modern residence, with stockists and showrooms around the world. One of these showrooms is housed in the Michigan Design Center in Troy, Michigan, and together with its series of Ralph Lauren Furniture offerings provides visitors from around the Midwest with the best of the global design brand, including its Made-to-Measure furniture capabilities. “Theodore Alexander is a company with one of the largest in-stock stocking programs. They have a lot of furniture that will ship immediately and then a lot of custom furniture that allows us to make something, especially upholstery, exactly what you want it. We’re…
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Crafted legacy
Despite the rise of industrialization in the 19th century and the technological revolution of the late 20th century, craftsmanship has endured. It is an art and craft of making; bridging the gap of alienation between maker and material left in the wake of growing assembly lines, mass-scale production, consumer culture, and an age of digital landscapes. Even as machines replaced hands, craft and craftsmanship has been celebrated—quietly, deliberately—alongside increasingly automated processes and systems. For craftsmanship and the custom-made object—whether functional or purely artistic—taps into a history and shared human narrative that has been told throughout time. Each piece of metal, wood, textile, and fabric touched by the hands of those…
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The lakefront perspective
For the clients of this modern home on the shores of Lake Angelus in Oakland County, Michigan, the artful design began more than a decade ago when they fell in love with the property. With a desire to maximize the panoramic lakefront views, the homeowners looked to DesRosiers Architects, an award-winning architectural firm in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and a collaborative team of builders, designers, and craftspeople to bring the waterfront home to envisioned life. Its striking contemporary lines and rich materiality create a bold architectural statement, while offering a warm, inviting environment for family and friends. Intentional in its design, the home rests on a gently sloping bluff atop a…
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Exploration in organic
Elegantly minimal and a composition of precise and savory intersection of wood and metal, the growing, ready-made collection within the Edgework Creative furniture portfolio are versatile and accessible in nature. The creative fabrication studio based in Columbus, Ohio, embraces a mission to make quality, handcrafted furniture a part of everyday life, bringing functional and beautiful furnishings to modern residential and commercial modalities. Using their fabrication abilities in millwork and woodwork, the team has built a portfolio tackling complex custom projects for clients and have since expanded their work into a ready-made collection more than 20-pieces-strong, which ranges from contemporary, but multi-styled, dining tables; to seating, desks, and accent pieces like…
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Flight work
When leveraging design-based research and brand strategy of one of Toronto’s largest, independent multidisciplinary design firms to create a new space for a global travel services company, the result is an award-winning, four-and-a-half floor office environment uniting staff from roughly 300 various locations throughout Toronto into one seven-story building. Designed by Figure3 to support the ever-evolving needs and culture of the Australian-based Flight Centre, the full-service travel agency’s new Toronto-based office has recently been recognized with a Value of Design Award in the Innovation in Workplace Design category from the Interiors Designers of Canada, or IDC. Departing from existing office layout that closed employees off from one another, Figure3 worked…
