NEWS

1
Mar 2018

Airport Viewing Pavilion: Design Insights

The airport viewing park and pavilion project was a passion project for our team at MMA, along with the Cascade Community Foundation and Gerald R. Ford International Airport. It’s a community project with the goal of enhancing the community experience for everyone. The concept of this design was inspired by the existing landscape, the powerful view corridor to the runway and the power of flight. At its core, this project is comprised of two floating roof planes and a landscape. Functionally, it doubles parking capacity, adds bus parking, provides shelter and restrooms, and new, custom-designed barrier-free picnic tables and benches. […]
2
Jan 2018

Tom Mathison Named Michigan Architectural Foundation President

After a combined eight years of serving as a board member for the Michigan Architectural Foundation, starting January 2, 2018, Tom Mathison has become the foundation’s president for a term that will last two years. The Michigan Architectural Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness and educating people about architecture and its relevance to daily life. It offers scholarships to architecture students and grants for community projects, as well as education programs to teach children K-12 about architecture. Funding for these efforts comes primarily from donors in the community. To that end, Tom Mathison is planning MAF’s first donor […]
9
Dec 2017

Dwell Names Deer Haven Residence “Best Modern Home”

Dwell editors chose MMA’s Deer Haven Residence as a “Best Modern Home”. Deer Haven Residence is located in Grand Rapids, MI and was build for a busy, growing family of five. It is a 3,000sf home conceived as a narrow bars of space that follow and step down with the subtle contours of the site and unfold to the South to take advantage of the daily path of the sun and natural site air movements. Nestled into its wooded 1-acre setting, the building carefully occupies the space between the ground and the tree canopy with an unfolding spatial sequence that […]
14
Nov 2017

Houzz Tour: A Fresh Look for a Modern Gem in Michigan

MMA was recently featured on Houzz for their midcentury modern renovation in Kalamazoo, Michigan. See before and after project photos and more information HERE. ## Houzz Tour: A Fresh Look for a Modern Gem in Michigan A new black exterior, a streamlined kitchen and white oak floors bring this 1970s home up to speed When a young professional couple returned to their hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan, to be closer to their parents as they started their own family, they found a 1971 architect-designed home for sale by the original owner. While the home had been well-cared-for, the gray, cedar-clad exterior […]
7
Oct 2017

MLive Article: This super-efficient house cost less than $200 to operate all summer long

Thanks to MLive and Jim Harger for writing and sharing this story about one of our residential projects: Deer Haven Residence. See images and project information HERE. CASCADE TOWNSHIP, MI – Architect Evan Mathison can go on for hours about all of the features he has packed into the sustainable house he designed for his family. Some are esoteric details that only architects will comprehend. Here’s one that everyone who pays the bills can understand: Mathison’s utility bills totaled only $193 in the four months between May and September this year. That includes air conditioning, cooking, laundry and hot water […]
16
Aug 2017

Houzz Feature: Berkshire Residence Pool

MMA was recently featured on Houzz for the pool in a new construction home in the Berkshire Mountains. See project photos and more information HERE. ## 100 Sparkling Pools With Postcard Views Take in these photos of pristine pools around the world set in gorgeous landscapes What’s better than a sparkling pool with a postcard view? How about 100 sparkling pools with postcard views? Take a tour around the world with some of the most stunning poolside settings on Houzz. Click the first image to enlarge the photo, then use the right arrow to see the photos in slide-show format. Once you […]
14
Jul 2017

Michigan Architectural Foundation: Build Imagination

This article was sent in the June 2017 Michigan Architectural Foundation (MAF) newsletter. We share it here to celebrate MAF and their Build Imagination book collection for children. “You could say the roots of the Michigan Architectural Foundation go back as far as the fur trade. The Michigan Society of Architects formed the MAF in 1957 to save the Biddle House, a Mackinac Island fur trader’s home dating back to the 18th century. “The organization saw an important artifact that was in dire need of repair,” explains MAF Vice President Tom Mathison. Saving the house became the catalyst, he notes, […]
31
May 2017

The Airport Viewing Park & Pavilion is Now Open!

We celebrated a beautiful day at the grand opening of the new Gerald R. Ford International Airport Viewing Park and Pavilion. With our friends at the airport, the Cascade Community Foundation and Owen-Ames-Kimball we re-opened the viewing park to the public introducing additional parking, the new pavilion for shade, new restroom facilities, new picnic tables and benches and new trash receptacles (which are large enough to slide a pizza box in after lunch!). We were honored to to provide the design of the pavilion which was inspired by flight with the roof lines reflecting airplane wings and following the lines […]
25
May 2017

Ground Breaking at Kellogg Community College Miller Gym!

MMA was proud to participate in the ground breaking ceremony at the new Kellogg Community College Miller Physical Education Building! After many many hours, multiple options, multiple cost estimates over a number of years, this project is finally underway!  A proud moment for KCC and its student athletes, as well as the entire design and construction team led by MMA on the design side, and construction managers Walbridge / Schweitzer for implementation. It had been pouring rain for twenty minutes before the ceremony, and it stopped just in time for a few photos.  This ceremony was followed by a dinner […]