Fall Parade of Homes

After two and a half weeks of our city being decorated with amazing sculptures, large installations and one-of-a-kind pieces of artwork, ArtPrize is coming to an end.  {{{ sigh }}}.  But it just happens to be a perfect time to explore another form of artistry - homebuilding!  Design and craftsmanship are at their finest as the best-of-the-best West Michigan architects, designers and builders team up to showcase our form of art in this year's Fall Parade of Homes.  We had the pleasure of partnering with two talented builders and interior designers on three amazing projects that will be open for touring during the Fall Parade...

Emmett  [ Parade #31 ]
872 Monroe Blvd • South Haven 
Lakefront living is not often luxurious and conscious of size.  The Emmett design achieves both of these goals in style.  Despite being ideal for a narrow waterfront lot, this home leaves nothing wanting, offering homeowners three full floors of modern living.  Dining, kitchen, and living areas flank the outdoor patio space, while three bedrooms plus a master suite are located on the upper level.  The lower level provides additional gathering space and a bunk room, as well as a "beach bath" with walkout access to the lake. Built by Mike Schaap Builders, Interiors by Benchmark Wood Studio




* Available for Sale * for purchasing information, please contact Josi VanHorn / Real Estate Firm at  269-673-7133 

Sheridan  [ Parade #32 ]
876 Monroe Blvd • South Haven
This beautiful shaker home would sit comfortably on many sites, particularly those with a view.  The main floor offers a wide variety of inviting areas to gather, including a large combined kitchen, dining, and living area, a cozy hearth room, and an expansive deck off the back of the house. Two separate upper levels provide space for sleeping, the quarters above the garage acting as a guest apartment.  Extra bunk beds, billiards, seating areas and access to more outdoor living can be found on the lower level, making entertaining easy.  Built by Mike Schaap Builders, Interiors by Benchmark Wood Studio

* Available for Sale * 
[ for purchasing information, please contact Josi VanHorn / Real Estate Firm at  269-673-7133 ]

Harvey  [ Parade #2 ]
5896 Whitworth Ct • Grand Rapids
This quintessential family home offers owners comfort, functionality, and a beautiful space to gather.  This home encompasses all of these qualities and throws in luxury and style, too.  Exterior details reflect the American Craftsman and Shingle styles of the late 19th century.  On the main level, the formal dining room flows into the living area and kitchen, offering more than enough space and seating for large groups of friends and family to congregate.  The well-appointed master suite is also located on the main floor.  Climb the turreted stairs to the upper level and you will find two bedroom suites, a guest room, laundry facilities, and a home office.  The lower level provides a guest suite, and a comfortable family and hearth area, as well as a refreshment bar and an additional office.  Built by Falcon Custom Homes, Interiors by Gallery Interiors

The parade begins tomorrow, October 4 and goes through Saturday, October 19 with hours as follows:
Wednesdays, Fridays & Saturdays:  1:00pm - 8:00pm

We hope to see you there!

Happenings at the Brooklyn Museum Shop

Since the completion of our design of the Brooklyn Museum Shop in Brooklyn, NY back in 2012, the shop has won awards, has had increased sales and grand exposure with articles in such publications as the New York Times,  Time-Out and New York Magazine, as well as an exciting line of featured exhibits and artists.  Check out what's happening these days at the shop...

Our Museum Shop Welcomes Richard Aste and Hermes Mallea An Old World empire and its caste-like social hierarchy underscores the social inequity endured by Spanish Americans in the New World. Colonial elites of all heritages amassed unprecedented fortunes leading to opulent displays of luxury goods and showcasing their purchasing power Behind Closed Doors.  —Richard Aste, Curator of European Art Behind Closed Doors Event Thursday, September 19, 7 p.m. The Museum Shop, 1st Floor Richard Aste will be on hand for the Members Preview for the exhibition Behind Closed Doors: Art in the Spanish American Home, 1492–1898, signing copies of the accompanying catalog. Read more. Great Houses of Havana Aste will be joined by Hermes Mallea, author of Great Houses of Havana, which traces the evolution of the Cuban home from the classic, Spanish colonial courtyard house to the “Tropical Modernist” villas of the 1950s. Read more.

54 Jeff Competition

Our firm recently participated in 54Jeff, an ideas competition for public use of the former Grand Rapids Public Museum building at 54 Jefferson.  

BACKGROUND

In 1940, after years of storing and exhibiting its collection of borrowed or repurposed spaces, the Grand Rapids Public Museum moved into 54 Jefferson, a 30,000 square foot facility, one of the last projects to be funded under the W.P.A. during the Great Depression.  Over the next fifty years, 54 Jefferson, with a whale skeleton suspended in its great hall, and mammal dioramas and displays of rocks and minerals, taxidermied birds and other natural history specimens in the adjoining galleries, was visited by nearly every schoolchild in Grand Rapids.  In 1994, faced with the deteriorating condition of the building and changing museum standards, the museum relocated to a new facility, leaving dioramas, showcases and exhibits behind.  Since that time, 54 Jefferson has been maintained by the museum and the city of Grand Rapids, but has otherwise been largely closed to the public.

                    

Beginning in 2010, the Grand Rapids Public Museum collaborated with SiTE:LAB, a non-profit that conducts art exhibitions in vacant buildings, on a series of projects in 54 Jefferson.  Allowing the public - and particularly those who still remember the space from grade school field trips - to again enter the space has fostered renewed interest in the future of this iconic building.  SiTE:LAB is hoping to use that attention to initiate a community driven reexamination of the building's potential as a public space, and as a first step in that process, conducted this ideas competition, called 54Jeff.

THE CHALLENGE

Competitors were challenged to create compelling visions for the future of this former museum.  While not every proposal may be feasible in light of the political, legal and financial obstacles facing the development of any new urban public space, each can raise the community's awareness of the unique potential of 54 Jefferson to serve Grand Rapids in new and innovative ways.

OUR ENTRY

Proposal:  In the same manner that the former Public Museum at 54 Jefferson offered an experience of our surrounding world that appealed to the senses through sight, touch, sound, taste and smell, we propose a Grand Rapids cultural institution that provides a dynamic, living & changing record of local ideas in their various stages from emergence through maturity that appeals as much to the senses as to the mind and offers its patrons an experience that has been enhanced beyond the limitations of a virtual realm.

Conception/Formation/Emergence/Development/Realization/Regeneration:  We propose that the 54 Jeff building be used as a venue to introduce to the public new local ideas through launch events, presentations and physical displays.  Ideas remain on display in the many existing vignettes for exposure to ongoing public reaction while providing up to date information on the idea’s progress as it moves toward realization.  At the heart of this design is a map of metropolitan Grand Rapids superimposed on the main level floor.  A “pin” placed at an idea’s geographic location will direct visitors to the corresponding vignette where they can learn more about the idea, experience actual samples, track its progress and find ways they can to get the idea off the ground.  The floor will also serve the purpose of idea mapping; showing how ideas that have reached maturity are leading to new ideas (regeneration), highlighting idea concentrations throughout the city, demonstrating how ideas are related both in and across disciplines and identifying locations in our neighborhoods that may be in need of a good idea. As a starting point, we submit the following disciplines:

• Arts – fine arts, theatre, music, literature, language, design, cuisine
• Urban Renewal & Development – revitalization, preservation, development, beautification, transportation
• Social & Civic – community, justice, heroes, public servants, education, government, religion
• Entertainment – activities, functions, events, retail
• Science & Industry – medicine, materials, economy, environment, manufacturing, research, commerce

In this capacity, the redefined Grand Rapids Public Museum will strengthen our community, foster creativity, encourage cooperation across disciplines and connect ideas with needed support.

END RESULT

34 entries from all over the country and beyond were created with compelling visions for the future of this former museum.  Although our firm's entry did not win, we believe it was a notable idea for this building as public space. 

To see the winners and other entries, please visit 54Jeff's website or facebook page.

Heading Home Celebration at Cornerstone University

This past Saturday, September 21, Cornerstone University held a day-long festival and dedication ceremony to celebrate the official opening of DeWitt Baseball Stadium and Central Hall Dormitory.  The day was filled with family, fun and games with Cornerstone students, alumni and the Grand Rapids community.  To help bring in this monumental occasion, three former big-leaguers joined in the celebration - Brian Doyle, Sid Bream and Lee Guetterman.  Check out MLive's coverage of this event (below) for some great photos and details on the day.

We are proud to have been a part of such a ground-breaking facility.  We hope this stadium serves Cornerstone University well for many baseball seasons and years to come!

Major league trio helps Cornerstone University dedicate new baseball facility

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Cornerstone alumni Larry Rolston, left and John Shick, both former players laugh before the dedication ceremony of the new De Witt Baseball Field at Cornerstone University on Saturday, September 21, 2013. (Andrew Kuhn | MLive.com)

Andrew Kuhn

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By Kelly Hill | For MLive.com 
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on September 21, 2013 at 6:03 PM, updated September 21, 2013 at 6:44 PM

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GRAND RAPIDS – Aaron Taylor stepped into the batting cage Saturday ready to take a few swings.
Aaron, a 7-year old from Caledonia, had Joel Boersen, a Cornerstone University sophomore, pitching to him and Lee Guetterman, a former major league pitcher, filming the action.
Hitting from the right side of the plate, Taylor, a veteran of Little League baseball, grounded a few balls to the left side of the infield then lined a couple toward the shortstop position.
“I'm in machine pitch, but hitting's the best,” Aaron said after exiting the cage.

Former Major League Baseball players, from left, Brian Doyle, Sid Bream and Lee Guetterman sign autographs on Saturday, Sept. 21, during Cornerstone University's grand opening of its new baseball field and dormitory.Lenny Padilla | Mlive.com 

The open batting practice, which Aaron took part Saturday, was one of many activities sports fans, spectators and members of the community enjoyed at Cornerstone as the university dedicated the DeWitt Baseball Field and Central Hall, the unique residence hall and athletic offices behind the plate.Golden Eagles coach David Mitroff invited three of his oldest and closest friends, former major leaguers Sid Bream, Brian Doyle and Guetterman to the celebration that ended with the Golden Eagles playing Spring Arbor.
“This is a unique place,” said Bream, 53, who played his entire 12-year career in the National League and who probably is most famous for scoring the winning run in Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series, thereby sending the Atlanta Braves to the World Series. “It is a pleasure to see how Dave (Mitroff) is working with these young men. He is not just developing players, he is teaching the right things as far as life is concerned. They are going to come out of here as men of honesty and honor.”
Saturday's festivities opened with Cornerstone University's varsity softball team taking on Grand Rapids Community College in an exhibition. After that, the Golden Eagles' men's soccer team took on Concordia.
“This is awesome,” said Doyle, 58, who played three seasons with the New York Yankees and appeared in the 1978 World Series. “I started working with Dave and this team when they were just breaking ground on this so this is a great day of celebration. The main theme here, for every student, is to impact the entire world for the cause of Jesus Christ. It is not just about what they do in baseball but what they do as Godly men.”

Cornerstone University baseball players put up a banner along the fence of the new baseball field on Saturday, Sept. 21. The school held a celebration for the grand opening of its new field and dormitory.Lenny Padilla | Mlive.com 

Doyle visits the Cornerstone campus and works with the baseball players numerous times each year.
“Coach Mitroff is building the program here and and I'm excited to see it growing,” Doyle said. “Whatever Coach Mitroff wants me to do, I will do.”
Tours of the facility also were available during Saturday's “Heading Home” celebration. Cornerstone's baseball program was reborn last spring, when the Golden Eagles went 16-26 overall and 10-6 in the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference.
“Having a facility like this is really important to everyone, not just the students, and not just the school, but all of the community and even the surrounding communities,” Guetterman said. “It is important to support it, so we can ensure its success.”
The new facility already has made Mitroff's job, and that of his staff, easier.
“I have never seen anything like this anywhere in the country,” Mitroff said. “And it is making it easier for us. We have a national focus as well as a local one, but we had a Division I shortstop, Santino “Sonny” Mastrmatteo, who started 41 games last year (at the University of Tennessee-Martin) call us and transfer.”
Saturday's festivities were dampened, but only a bit, when the Golden Eagles lost to Spring Arbor.
“Sid and Lee are men of God who, as friends, told me what I needed to hear, not just what I wanted to hear,” Mitroff said. “Now I hope they can have the same kind of influence on these guys that they had on me."