In 2023, Optima, Inc., a family-owned, vertically integrated and design-driven real estate development firm based in Glencoe, Illinois and Scottsdale, Arizona, realized a multi-family, 100-unit apartment building in downtown Wilmette, Illinois, delivering rental residences and an amenity-rich development to the North Shore market. For the privately-held firm, the residential and commercial project is more than its visual composition of glass…
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Mike Shively, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP
Founding Partner, Architect En Masse | Chicago, Illinois To Mike Shively, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, whose mission in life is to make life better through architecture, design is a personal exploration. But it is less about putting his own stamp or personal architectural mark on the work he co-creates with his studio team and clients, and more about the…
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Todd Palmer, AIA, NCARB
Senior Architect, Commercial Studio Leader AMDG Architects | Grand Rapids, Michigan Todd Palmer, AIA, NCARB, Senior Architect and Commercial Studio Leader at AMDG Architects of Grand Rapids, Michigan, finds delight in working with clients in the earliest design phases and in the ability to carry their vision through completion. It is in the continuity of the process, the relationships…
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Richly textured
When Mary Tolan, founder and managing partner of Chicago Pacific Founders of Chicago, Illinois, looked to expand the firm’s existing square footage at their headquarters along Michigan Avenue, the investment leader tapped the creative expertise of long-time design partner Yvette Cusack of BJC Designs LLC to bring the dynamic, full floor workplace to life. Located at 980 North Michigan Avenue,…
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Zachary Verhulst, AIA, NCARB, NOMA
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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Into the Woods
Designing modern architecture wasn’t always on the agenda for Celeste Robbins, principal architect of the award-winning, Winnetka, Illinois architecture firm of Robbins Architecture Inc. There could be a historical misconception about modern architecture—that it is cold or even clinical. Its resurgence in the early 2000s was partially motivated by a society appreciative of decluttered, clean forms and minimalism. Robbins was…
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Visual-tactile design
In 2010, Hansel Bauman, award-winning architect, and pioneer in multi-sensory design methodologies, shared a vision for a building informed by visual-tactile design principles with Jeff Luker, AIA, LEED AP, principal at Quinn Evans in Washington, D.C. It was a vision that challenged standard architectural practices at the time, and arguably to this day, addressing major points of intersection between the…
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Lakota Made
For Megan L. Schnitker, owner and founder of Lakota Made LLC in Mankato, Minnesota, plants have a purpose. It is a purpose that can take on many forms, serving as food and medicine, teacher and healer, and to her, it is one that has also evolved organically over the years through Lakota Made to serve as a powerful vehicle in…
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Dan Iacovoni, RA
Associate Partner, Project Architect Cornerstone Architects Inc. | Grand Rapids, Michigan | Traverse City, Michigan Dan Iacovoni, RA, has an affinity for the technical side of architecture, where cantilevered steel designed in a specific manner can redefine what is possible and individual foundations integrated into floors and walls can mitigate sound vibration for performance spaces. It is in the…
