Visbeen and GMBae Join Forces

We are joining forces with GMB Architecture + Engineering Inc (GMBae)!  

GMBae is a full-service, architecture and engineering firm of more than 80 employees with offices in Holland and Grand Rapids, Michigan that specializes in facilities that serve higher education, health care, corporate/industrial and K-12 education sectors.  GMBae has a more than 40-year history of designing and engineering facilities and is among the top architecture and engineering firms in the Midwest.  And you know, we are a Grand Rapids-based boutique architecture firm specializing in full-service architectural and interior design services for the residential and retail markets.

GMBae and Visbeen Associates will maintain separate identities, with our firm now operating under the new name, Visbeen Architects.  The acquisition will allow both of our firms to enhance our presence in our respective markets by complementing the services we now provide to existing clients and enabling the combined entities to expand client base and address new markets.  Each firm will retain our current offices and staff and will continue to serve new and existing clients.  We will still be doing what we do best - designing award-winning residential and retail projects.  

"This is a major milestone in our growth strategy," said David Bolt, AIA, Vice President for GMBae.  "We have shared an excellent working relationship with Visbeen and have partnered with them on projects throughout the years.  Our firms have similar corporate cultures and share the same values.  It was a natural partnership and we're extremely please to have Visbeen Architects as part of our team.  At the same time, Wayne's firm is one of the best known in the nation in the residential sector; it's a great opportunity for us to capitalize on the brand he has created."

"By formalizing the relationship, we can draw on each other's expertise," added Wayne Visbeen.  "GMB is hungry to grow and has an incredible reputation for getting things done.  It's exciting to become a part of a growing and dynamic organization and to offer our clients access to a broader array of services.  We like the idea of becoming part of an established and commercially successful brand."

About GMB Architecture + Engineering, Inc.

Based in Holland, Mich., GMBae is a full-service design and engineering form serving the higher education, healthcare, corporate/industrial and K-12 education sectors.  GMBae employs more than 80 professionals and staff and ranks among the top architecture and engineering firms in the Midwest.  Celebrating its 44th year in business, GMBae prides itself on its creativity and service, helping each client improve and strengthen its business (or their businesses).  Every major discipline in the architecture and engineering fields is represented and thoroughly integrated among the GMBae project teams.  GMBae has been a sustainable design advocate for years.  LEED® accredited professionals are in all disciplines and positions of leadership throughout the firm.  The firm's resume of work includes projects such as the CityFlats Hotels in Holland and Grand Rapids, the Calvin College Covenant Fine Arts Center and the Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex, Cornerstone University Baseball Stadium (a joint GMB/Visbeen Project, the VanAndel Soccer Stadium at Hope College, Gentex Corporation, Hudsonville Public Schools and Spectrum Health.

The media is already buzzing about this exciting new venture.....

MLive.com Article - After teaming up on project, Holland architectural firm extends 'natural partnership' by buying Grand Rapids company

Holland Sentinel article - GMB, Visbeen architecture firms join forces

Woodworking Network article - Architecture Firm GMB Acquires Visbeen

WHTC article - Holland's GMB Announces Merger with Grand Rapids Firm

A home for the golden years

Did you know that our firm does retirement facility design in addition to our other residential specialties?  Here is a great example of one of our retirement community designs for Allen Springs in Jenison, MI.  Our master planning for this development includes a large independent living center called the Lodge as well as detached condominium villas.  Here is a pictorial tour of this great place to spend the golden years, as well as a fly-through video tour of the interiors of two villas.

The Lodge

The Villas

Talland

Winchell

A little inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frank_Lloyd_Wright_portrait.jpg

Believed to be one of the greatest American architects of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright was a pioneer in our profession on many levels.  He designed more than 1,000 structures and 500 projects over his career, which included original and innovative offices, churches, schools, museums and, what has inspired our firm in particular, residences.  He was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, a distinctly national style of homes meant to be affordable and practical for middle-class clients.  Wright even designed many of the interior elements of his projects, including furniture and stained glass.

After growing up in a farming town in Wisconsin and receiving a partial education from both Madison High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wright worked in Chicago for the architectural firms of Joseph Lyman Silsbee, Beers, Clay & Dutton and finally Adler & Sullivan under the direction of Louis Sullivan, before opening up his own firm in 1893.  Some of the major influences of his designs included...

• Louis Sullivan: Wright considered him to be his "Lieber Meister" (dear master), although they parted ways on sour terms after Sullivan discovered that Wright had been designing homes on the side during his apprenticeship at Adler & Sullivan, a breach of his employment contract
• Nature: relating to the shapes, forms, colors and patterns of plant life with a desire for his structures to be in harmony with their environment
• Music: Wright's father was a music teacher and shared his love of music with his children, especially that of his favorite composer, Johann Sebastian Bach.
• Japanese art, prints and buildings

Here are a few of Wrights innovative works:

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_-_Guggenheim_Museum.jpg

The design of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City took Wright 16 years

Image source: http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/il/il0300/il0317/photos/061747pv.jpg

Wright's home and studio in Oak Park, IL which showcased his developing aesthetics

Image source: (top) http://www.thefranklloydwrighttour.com/wrightoakparktour.htm, (bottom) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Unity_Temple_Interior.jpg

Designed when Wright was 38 years old, Unity Temple was his first major public building and is considered one of the most significant projects of his career.  Wright himself said, "that was my first expression of this eternal idea which is at the center and core of all true modern architecture.  A sense of space, a new sense of space."

Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robie_House.jpg

The Frederick C. Robie House in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, IL - considered to be the greatest example of the Prairie style, of which Wright was one of the leaders of the movement.  The Prairie style was the first distinctly American architectural style.  Wright designed all aspects of this home, including the interiors, windows, lighting, rugs and furniture.

Fallingwater was one of the most famous homes designed by Wright for the Kaufmann family. In 1991, members of the AIA named it the best all-time work of American architecture. The house stretches out over a 30' waterfall and captured everyone's imagination immediately.  Fallingwater appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in January of '38.

Here are a few Visbeen Associates' projects inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright...

 A design concept for Kentwood Public Library

Mason

Spyglass

Sources: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright

http://architecture.about.com/od/franklloydwright/g/usonian.htm

http://www.unitytemple-utrf.org/building.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robie_House

Blue Magazine: Beaches

Blue Magazine's special bonus issue is out!  Our Lakestyle Cottage Copper Harbor is featured in this delightful summer "Beaches" issue, giving you a glimpse of what life is like along the Great Lakes.  Check it out!

Architectural Tutorial: The American Farmhouse

When you think of the word "farmhouse," does your mind immediately go to a picturesque rural landscape with the sun setting behind a field of shoulder-height corn, bare-footed children running around and John Deere tractors parked nearby?  Not all farmhouses are straight out of The Little House on the Prairie.  They have classic design elements from a variety of architectural styles, including Cape Cod, Georgian and Victorian, that can fit in just about any American neighborhood.

Some of the core elements of the American Farmhouse style include dormers, covered porches, and white paint with floor plans that are both practical and pleasant for a growing family.  Originally, more formal spaces were placed near the front of the home, but in modern day, formal spaces are being left by the wayside to gathering spaces with an overall feeling of welcome and comfort.  One thing that can be said about this style is that it gives an general feeling of nostalgia of a simpler time, with a sentimental connection to the land surrounding it and our country's rich architectural history.  Come to think of it, maybe a home design straight out of The Little House on the Prairie wouldn't be all bad!

Here are a few of Visbeen's farmhouse designs....

Packed with plenty of farmhouse flavor, the design of the Madison was inspired by the past but features the best of the present.

Farmhouse meets Four Square in Valley Ridge's classic four bedroom, 4 1/2 –bath American design.

Classic yet comfortable, the Hillsborough draws upon a long tradition of American farmhouses and captures the ease and elegance of a simpler time. Like the farmhouses it emulates, the house looks as if it has been added on to through the years, giving it a variety of interesting angles and additions perfect for a long, narrow lot.

Mulford

Another classic American farmhouse design with all of the amenities and floor plan flow of modern day.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmhouse

http://www.trustile.com/findyourstyle/farmhouse.asp?cid=389

Cornerstone Rounding Third with the New Baseball Stadium

Cornerstone University is rounding third with the new baseball stadium we designed, according to a recent article published on MLive.com.  Construction is progressing nicely and the stadium should be completed in August.  Here are a few aerial photos taken last week of the construction, as well as MLive's article from last month that includes our watercolor rendering of the project.

Design Architect: Visbeen Associates, Inc.
Architect & Engineer of Record: GMB Architects+Engineers

Local university rounding third with new baseball program and stadium

Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 11:43 AM     Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 12:00 PM

 By Peter J. Wallner | pwallner@mlive.com 
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EnlargeEmily Zoladz | ezoladz@mlive.comCornerstone University baseball coach Dave Mitroff stands in the area that will eventually be home plate at the construction site for Cornerstone's new baseball facility on Monday. The new stadium will be attached to new dorms. Crews are aiming to complete the field by the end of the summer. (Emily Zoladz | Mlive.com)Cornerstone Universtiy breaks ground on new baseball field gallery (8 photos)

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI. – Cornerstone’s Dave Mitroff longs to see his baseball team swing a bat, but until then, he’ll watch construction workers wield shovels instead.

Cornerstone has a baseball program but doesn’t have a team – just yet. Mitroff has players recruited, but he doesn’t have a stadium or a season – just yet.

But the Golden Eagles are rounding third and headed for home.

“This has been an incredible time,” Mitroff said.

Cornerstone announced in September it would revive the sport, last played in 1996, thanks to a $1.5 million donation from Jack and Mary DeWitt of Request Foods in Holland. A groundbreaking ceremony on a new stadium was held Nov. 2. It’s expected to be completed in August. The first game is tentatively set for Oct. 13, a Saturday, against Judson University in a fall game before the season starts in February.

Mitroff, who has more than 800 games of coaching experience, was hired last October. Since, he has been busy throughout the season, even without playing a game.

“Probably about 90 percent of our time has been spent on recruiting,” said Mitroff, 52, who, with assistants Ron Engels and Chuck Lowitzki, has signed 30 players with verbal commitments from five others. The goal is to have 40 players with 15 on a junior varsity team, he said.

Photo courtesy of CornerstoneAn artist rendering of Cornerstone University's future baseball stadium.

“We started behind the eight ball because we got a late start after a lot of early guys had committed before October,” said Mitroff, who had been the assistant varsity baseball coach at Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake, Ill. “So we’ve literally been all over the country, networking and trying to establish a connection with a lot of Christian schools, a lot of scouts and college coaches and let them know what Cornerstone is all about.”

The team will be diverse, Mitroff said. The Golden Eagles have recruits from New Jersey, Florida and British Columbia, along with five from Cornerstone who survived a tryout. Mitroff will also have his son, also named Dave, who will transfer from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill. and play his last season with Cornerstone.

“It’s just a unique opportunity to play for my dad,” said the young Mitroff, a 22-year-old catcher who will convert to pitcher. “I can save money at the same time, so it just made sense.”

As the first season nears, Mitroff hopes to avoid the pitfalls of other first-year programs, such as Lourdes University, from Sylvania, Ohio. The fellow WHAC member won just one conference game and went 8-45 overall this season.

“Pitching and defense wins championships, so you have to be strong up the middle,” Mitroff said. “And I’m pretty certain we have some guys who can swing it. But like any coach, I’m concerned about pitching.”

When Mitroff isn’t on the recruiting trail, he is on campus where construction began earlier this month on the new stadium.

“I’ll be out there every day giving them doughnuts and coffee,” he said.

The stadium, located in the middle of the campus and adjacent to the soccer field, will have seating for about 500, with an outfield berm where another 1,000 can watch.

The dimensions are 325 feet along the left and right field lines and 400 feet to center.
It will also have lights, a clubhouse, batting cages and be covered by a Field Turf synthetic surface.

But most interesting, the stadium will be connected to two dormitories, to be built next year. Rooms will overlook the stadium – with shatterproof windows and strategic netting.

“I’ve been around and talked to lot of people, and no one has seen anything like it,” said Dave Grube, Cornerstone’s athletic director. “It will be unique to Cornerstone and certainly very beneficial to us as well as summer camps.”

Mitroff has kept tabs on the competition in the WHAC this season, and watched a number of games while waiting for next season to begin.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve been following,” he said. “Not having a team, I’ve been around the country but I’ve also had a chance to watch, and I was at the conference tournament.”

The Golden Eagles’ first official game is Feb. 15 in Memphis, Tenn. against Victory University. The first home game will be March 15 against Taylor University.

“I really feel honored to be in this position we’re in,” Mitroff said. “We have great support. We’re going to get there. But it’s been killing me to just watch all this baseball.”