Introducing...Paul Fikse

Paul Fikse is a licensed residential builder and the Vice President of Visbeen Associates. Raised in Illinois, Fikse studied architecture at Iowa State before attaining a degree in Business from Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He made West Michigan his permanent home after college, and has been an integral part of VAI’s development since 1993. As Vice President, Fikse’s responsibilities are widespread, but he spends the majority of his time focused on Design Development and Project Management. He and the staff complete precise drawings for each design job, and Fikse personally reviews all construction documents before they are submitted to the builder. His architectural training and practical building experience, combined with exceptional drafting skills, ensure that every Visbeen design is beautiful and functional.

Paul, age 47, and his wife Karla have three children, Emma, Sara and Ethan. The Fikse family loves horseback riding, and spends a lot of time at the barn grooming and riding their five trail horses.

Introducing...Wayne Visbeen

Tuesday's post this week was all about our Visbeen Associates Staff Christmas party, but have you met all of our stellar staff? If not, stay tuned to this blog! Over the next month or so I will introduce you to each of our talented staff members. Although most of you may know him, our introductions will start with our fearless leader - Wayne Visbeen:

Architect Wayne Visbeen attributes his passion for design to a childhood spent on construction sites. Visbeen’s father owned a construction company in his hometown of Wyckoff, New Jersey, and his grandfather was a self-taught architect and builder. It’s no surprise that Visbeen loves to design. His natural abilities to understand space and structure have taken him on quite a journey since receiving his graduate degree from Lawrence Technological University in 1986. After working in retail design for companies like Taubman Centers and The Gantos Group, Visbeen decided to start his own firm in the early 1990’s.

Since the creation of VAI, he has independently designed commercial and residential projects all over the world, and garnered many awards. As a licensed architect and registered interior designer, Visbeen has the ability to fit plans together inside and out. One of his strengths is a “live design” approach. Visbeen is an artist, and can sketch floor plans from scratch. The client expresses a vision, and he puts it on paper. Due to his unique ability to “design on-the-go,” Visbeen is able to travel, work and draw anywhere.

Wayne has been married to his wife Marcia for 29 years. Their three daughters, Jaclyn, Julia and Elise, are out of the house, so the Visbeens spend much of their free time traveling as a couple. Wayne also enjoys playing golf, riding his bike and spending time with friends.

Christmas, the VAI Staff Style

Over the weekend, Visbeen Associates staff had our annual Christmas party. We enjoyed a very relaxing weekend up at a lodge in Bitely, Michigan. It was a time full of great food made by Chef Oliver Hale, great fun playing games and great fellowship with our staff members and their spouses!

The Visbeen Associates family

(front row, left to right) LeeAnn Lorenz, Jonathan and little Emmaus Lorenz, Marcia Visbeen, Angela Mulder, Marcy Stellin, Lori Potter, Megan TerVeen & Chris TerVeen

(back row, left to right) Emily Lorenz, David Lorenz, Wayne Visbeen, Jon Mulder, Dave Stellin & Jay Potter

Our accommodations for the weekend - what can we say, we roughed it!

David Lorenz, Emily Lorenz & Angela Mulder involved in one of the main two activities of the weekend - relaxing and talking!

We had beautifully snowy, winter weather

Chef O made us a fabulous dinner on Friday night!

Jon & Angela Mulder, Emily Lorenz, Marcia Visbeen, Dave Stellin & Chris TerVeen enjoying some appetizers

Me and Chris dishing up some delicious food

As you can see, we pretty much became eating pros

We have some serious Euchre players in our group - Wayne Visbeen, Angela Mulder, Dave Stellin & Jon Mulder

Emily & David Lorenz taking advantage of the air hockey table

Chris TerVeen & Dave Stellin rockin' the arcade games

Chef O prepared made-to-order omlettes for us on Saturday morning. Yum!

Jay & Lori Potter enjoying their breakfast

What can we say, we like to groom them for the business early around here! Emmaus Lorenz was a good little guy and hung out with the adults for the weekend.

To see more fun photos from our Christmas party, visit our facebook fan page.

In case you missed it on our facebook fan page, check out this special holiday challenge...

It is the middle of December already and a blanket of crisp, white snow has transformed the landscape of Grand Rapids into a winter wonderland. It is putting all of us here at Visbeen Associates into the Christmas spirit and we want to see how you are spreading cheer around your home for the holidays! Send us your photos! Whether it is a photo of the lights on the exterior of your home, the glow of your Christmas tree, the creative way you hang your family's stockings, or any other ways you decorate for the holidays, we want to see it! There are two ways to submit your photos to us: Click here to post your photos on our Facebook fan page Click here to email your photos directly to us Anyone who submits a photo will be sent a special gift from Visbeen Associates, so submit them today to claim your prize! Forward this challenge to your friends! If you get your friends to send us photos of their homes, there is a larger prize for the person who gets the highest number of people to respond. Just post on our Facebook fan page wall how many photos were posted because of your referral, or if your friends are submitting the photos via email, make sure they include your name in their email so we know to give credit where credit is due! Happy Holidays, from our homes to yours! Not our fan on Facebook yet? Click here to 'like' our Facebook fan page!

Where in the World is Wayne Visbeen?

Wayne Visbeen often travels for work and pleasure to areas around the world that have an abundance of interesting, innovative and eye-catching architecture. Can you guess where he is in these photos? Please post your guesses on our facebook fan page wall or email them directly to our office (megan@visbeen.biz).

Hint #1 - It is a retail store.

Hint #2 - It is located in a city with a population of over 8 million people where President Theodore Roosevelt was born.

Hint #3 - The store has an edible name.

Architectural Tutorial: Ceilings

“Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor.”

- Billy Shankly (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/ceiling.html)

Maybe it isn't all that bad to stay on the floor if your ceiling is at least something interesting to look at. Visbeen Associates designs include many ceilings that make for grand statements in the home, so today, our architectural tutorial will focus on several types:

1. Barrel vault: A simple continuous vault, typically semicircular in cross section. (http://www.yourdictionary.com/barrel-vault)

2. Coffered: A grid-work of beams with crown moulding. They can be any size and design, limited only by your imagination.

(www.custominteriorworks.com/glossary.html)

3. Dome: A vaulted roof having a circular, polygonal, or elliptical base and a generally hemispherical or semispherical shape.

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/domed)

The ceiling shown below is a bell-shaped dome ceiling

4. Tray: A recessed ceiling resembling an upside-down tray

(www.mascord.com/glossary.asp)

5. Cathedral: A high, open, usually slanting or pointed ceiling.

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cathedral+ceiling)

Visbeen Associates often designs cathedral ceilings with decorative trusses, as seen below.

So aim for the ceiling in your home designs and the sky will be the limit!

ABC Construction Award Winners

We are pleased to announce that Visbeen Associates and Elzinga & Volkers Construction Professionals won an Award of Excellence in Commercial Construction in the 2010 ABC Western Michigan Chapter Construction Awards Program for StoneWater Country Club in Caledonia, MI!

This project was designed by Visbeen Associates, built by Elzinga & Volkers Construction Professionals with interiors by Lorene Roskamp from Lauren James Studio.

To view more photos of this project, visit our website: www.visbeen.biz > gallery > master planning > country clubs > StoneWater CC.

eightWest Condo Design Challenge: Finale

On eightWest's show this morning, the winner for the Condo Design Challenge at River House Condominiums was announced by the judges, Wayne Visbeen, Peter Baldwin and Mary Witte. This challenge gave teams of interior design students from area schools the chance to design the interiors of a condo at The River House in downtown Grand Rapids. Congratulations to Julie Christopherson & Cat O'Brien from Michigan State University for a fabulous winning design!

If you missed this morning's show, you can view the segment below to see the presentations of the participants as well as the final winning design plan. A special thanks to the crew at eightWest, Terri DeBoer, Rachel Ruiz, the judges - Wayne Visbeen from Visbeen Associates, Peter Baldwin from AMDG Architects and Mary Witte from ROI Design, Bob Grooters and River House Condominiums and all of the participants of the challenge for a great competition!

HGTV House Wars: Let the Battle Begin!

As a part of their TV show, House Hunters, HGTV has created a game on their website called "House Wars," where homes of all types go head-to-head for America's votes. Four of our homes have been included in this competition - the Ingleside, Ellsworth, Winhurst and Rylestone. The Ingleside has become one of the top fourteen most popular homes with over 5,000 votes so far!

To play the game, click here to visit HGTV's website. You will be shown a photo of two homes that are battling it out. Just click on the photo of the one you like best to cast your vote. When you see our homes come up, please vote for them!

Great Lake Story: Final Chapter

Here is the final chapter of Michigan Blue Magazine's Great Lake Story in their winter issue, on newsstands now. Blue Magazine is chronicling Jim & Susan Buda's experience with Visbeen Associates and Bos Homes and their journey designing and building in South Haven's Boardwalk. In order to easily read the article, click here.