• Creative Endeavors,  Featured

    Abbreviated design

    In Grand Rapids, Michigan, the full-service architectural, interior, and product design firm Via Design Inc., whose work appears throughout the city’s commercial and residential sectors—and their many sub-categories—has added a new brand to its identity.  Since its establishment in 1989, the firm, which is headquartered downtown, has continually added services to its repertoire, including sustainable design, furniture procurement and design,…

  • Featured,  Print Edition

    Great Lakes By Design: In Scene

    Contents: Design Corner Thea | the artistic and minimalist table designed by Versteel in collaboration with Roberto Lucci Epoxy tables | 
a series of custom coffee tables from repurposed, fallen beech and oak trees Design Spotlight Behind the camera | 
in conversation about craft with some of the photographers in the region Julia Auerbach Photography Ashley Avila Photography M-Buck Studio…

  • Form,  Print Edition

    A royal renovation

    In Evanston, Illinois—a city defined by its tree-lined sidewalks and collection of homes—architecture is a diverse language. Beaux-Arts, Prairie, Italianate, Victorian, Arts and Crafts, and Queen Anne are dialects spoken across intersections and around block corners, passing down their stories through iconic massing, decorative ornamentation, gables, brick and stone, gently sloped rooflines, and the occasional tower or turret. In the…

  • Featured,  Form

    Lakefront serenity

    At the top of a rolling hillside on the Lake Macatawa shoreline in Holland, Michigan, a contemporary, tranquil, and dynamic residence rests within its picturesque backdrop while posing a statement of architecture and craftsmanship. As an eastern-influenced, multi-part residence, the roughly 5,000-square-foot home was designed in 2013 by Sears Architects, a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based architecture and planning firm. The home…

  • Craftsmanship,  Design,  Featured

    Redesigned palette

    Lakeside Surfaces Inc., a Midwest fabricator and installer of countertop materials, has offered quality products and leading industry services equipped with state-of-the-art digital templating technology for roughly 25 years. Recently, Lakeside Surfaces has redeveloped its palette of stone and solid surface lines to offer options for customer at every price point, which becomes even more budget-friendly during its Black Friday…

  • Print Edition

    Great Lakes By Design: Architectonics

    Design Spotlight Inverted bowl the patent-pending concept poised to revolutionize the stadium and arena design industry Thread in transit the award-winning, integrated CTA Washington/Wabash Elevated Train Station serving as a gateway in the heart of downtown Chicago Moment of flight the award-winning pavilion capturing the drama of flight at Gerald R. Ford International Airport Design Corner Garofalo Screen the custom, French-inspired fire…

  • Creative Endeavors

    Mediterranean air

    Text: R. Collins  When designing the interior for a new Byron Center, Michigan home—which would be featured in the Home Builders Association of Greater West Michigan’s annual parade—Julie Wynalda, founder of True Vine Creations in Hudsonville, Michigan, looked no further than the Mediterranean aesthetics of the homeowner’s childhood living spaces in Israel and her design firm’s own principles.  “My style…

  • Design Spotlight

    Iron and ivory

    “There was something consistent no matter where I studied and that was the principles of Vitruvius, who was an architectural philosopher in the Roman Empire. He really stressed good design is focused around three main components, which is feasibility, beauty, and durability; so essentially function, beauty, and strength,” said Kayla Pongrac, principal, designer, and co-founding partner of Iron and Ivory…

  • Design

    The seasonal garden

    By: R.Collins  As autumn continues to envelop Michigan landscapes, the time has come to prepare for the winter months and the blooms to come after the snow thaws.  Sarah Sella, landscape designer at Alfresco Landscapes LLC in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said introducing seasonal plants to the garden in the fall when the rainfall is cool and steady and the hot…