Dining Rooms that Wine and Dine

If you are a typical American, at some point today, you will most likely partake in a bountiful meal with family and friends as a time to celebrate and give thanks.  Where will your feast take place?  Do you have a formal dining room that will be jammed packed with people and dishes to pass?  Or do you layout a buffet for guests to dish themselves up with the delicious vittles?  Or will your gathering involve a smaller group in an intimate dining space?  No matter which way you slice the turkey, the food has to go somewhere and so do the people consuming it.  Here are a few inspirational dining spaces that fit a variety of Thanksgiving scenarios.

This dining room offers two intimate dining spaces - a round table and a small built-in booth.  Perfect for medium sized groups that want to maintain proximity of guests without sacrificing personal conversations.

This formal dining room is separated from the kitchen by a pass-through that can allow easy access to the service area during dinner preparation, but with the added benefit of cabinet doors that can be closed to keep the kitchen preparatory mess out of view of your guests during the feast.

Legacy Wood's tuscan dining space acts as both open and intimate.  The room is separated from it's surrounding areas by stone pillars and archways that give the feeling of closeness without the complete separation of walls.  The coffered ceiling adds character and charm to the space.

This contemporary kitchen and dining room would be perfect for a Thanksgiving buffet.  A large stone-top table can seat up to twelve with close proximity to the large kitchen island with ample space for food display.

Sunset View has a cozy built-in dining option.  This sweet booth is perfect for a smaller celebration and even has a pass through to the kitchen that makes setting the table easy as apple, pumpkin or pecan pie.

This kitchen and dining room offers not one but three smaller dining spaces - the built-in booth, round dining table and kitchen bar.

This traditional formal dining room is the perfect space for the classic American Thanksgiving.  One turkey away from a Norman Rockwell painting.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  From our dining room tables to yours.

MoDiv wins 2012 Ideation Award from Associated Builders & Contrators

Our downtown 'retail incubator' called MoDiv won the 2012 Ideation Award for Innovation from the Associated Builders and Contractors - West Michigan Chapter as a part of their Excellence in Construction Awards!  Check out this great article on the accolade from MLive.com.

Congratulations to the entire team who made this project award-winning!

Construction group lauds downtown 'retail incubator' for filling empty space with trendy shops

By Jim Harger | jharger@mlive.com 
on November 05, 2012 at 2:00 PM, updated November 05, 2012 at 2:40 PM

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MoDiv offers its tenants flexible space and short-term leasesJim Harger | Mlive Media Group

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – MoDiv, Rockford Construction Co.’s “retail incubator” in downtown Grand Rapids, has won the “2012 Ideation Award” from the Associated Builders and Contractors– West Michigan Chapter.MoDiv, which offers its trendy tenants short-term leases and flexible space at the corner of Monroe Center and Division Avenue, opened in Januaryafter Rockford was left with empty space after a restaurant closed and a clothing shop moved out in the old Peck Building.
The 'retail incubator' was lauded because “it encourages new retailers in the downtown market and fosters a creative and entrepreneurial environment,” according to the ABC, which presented the award at its 27th annual “Excellence in Construction” dinner on Friday, Nov. 1.

To view full article, click on this link: http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2012/11/downtown_retail_incubator_laud.html

Here are a few photos of the award-winning retail incubator.  For more information on this project, please visit some of our previous posts...
•MoDiv is a hit!
•MiBiz Article: MoDiv's Motive to Offer Downtown Retailers Options
•MoDiv's Grand Opening

VA + GAF @ Greenbuild

Wayne Visbeen is representing Visbeen Architects and GAF Materials Corporation at this year's Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in San Francisco.  Greenbuild is the world's largest conference and expo dedicated to green building with educational seminars, renowned speakers, green building tours and networking events.  Wayne is manning GAF's booth as an expert in their green roofing options and will be sketching there LIVE from 10am-3pm PST today!  Check out a few photos of Wayne at the conference (courtesy of GAF's facebook page).   

A Garden Dedicated to Prayer

Prayer.  It's a powerful thing.

Sandy Lowery agrees.  She had a vision for an empty lot at 659 Bridge Street, not for a place of commerce or business, she envisioned a beautiful green space ideal for prayer and gathering.  We were just happy to be a part of bringing that vision to life.  Wayne did initial drawings for the design of the garden as a starting point for the many other volunteers who impacted this project.  Yesterday, the Garden of Life was dedicated as a place of peace, healing and hope.  The garden's centerpiece is a bronze statue of Mary entitled, "Madonna of the Streets," created by local artist Mic Carlson, surrounded by a paved pathway with "beads" marking the prayers of the Rosary.  The location of the garden is no coincidence, next door to HELP Pregnancy Crisis Aid.  And it is Sandy's hope that anyone from any faith will wander, sit, stroll, and contemplate.  In her own words, this place is "a little garden for the whole community.  Something pretty.  A place to pray."

For more information on the Garden of Life, please visit their website - www.gardenoflife-gr.com.

Here is just some of the press covering the unveiling of the garden...

Garden of Life construction in Grand Rapids

Thursday, November 01, 2012 5:02 PM

 By Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com 
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MLive.com.  "Southeast Side Woman's Vision to Share Creates Prayer Garden for All."
http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/11/west_side_womans_vision_to_sha.html

HELP Pregnancy Crisis Aid. "Garden of Life Dedicated as a Place of Peace, Healing and Hope."
http://helppregnancy.org/2012/11/05/garden-of-life-dedicated-as-a-place-of-peace-healing-hope/

Architectural Tutorial: Columns

We're not talking about ancient Greece and Rome, where the latest fashion is togas, laurel leaf crowns, and architecture consists of giant temples with ornate pillars.  We are talking about practical, residential applications of the design element that ancient architects put into place for the generations beyond.  Today, we will focus on three common column types that we use, marking the exterior of the home with a distinctive style.

Tuscan. Because of it's simplicity, the Tuscan order is seen as similar to the Greek Doric order, although its proportions follow the ratio of the Ionic order more closely.  As defined by the Italian architect, Sebastiano Serlio, the Tuscan order was suitable for fortified places like city gates, fortresses, castles or where artillery was held.  In more recent days in a residential application, it became a part of the Georgian style due to the ability of carpenters to easily work up with a few planing tools.

Craftsman. Otherwise known as a square column, the craftsman column is typically tapered and is most often seen as a defining characteristic of Arts and Crafts homes.  They are handsome, historical and simple in style.  Tapered square column can be combined with supporting pedestals constructed of other materials like stone, brick, stucco or even wood siding.

Stone. These columns ad a natural element to the exterior of a home.  Stone can create a more rustic appeal or ad a level of sophistication with an almost castle-like appearance.  Even contemporary styles can incorporate this type of column.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscan_order
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/1834504/list/Renovation-Detail--The-Tapered-Craftsman-Column

Building Hope

You're Invited!  Our design, the Hasserton, will be the setting of a worthy fundraising event called Building Hope, offering an exclusive sneak peek of this beautiful waterfront home.  The event is on Wednesday, October 3 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm and will include a strolling dinner, cocktails and live entertainment as you experience lake living at its' best.  Tickets are $125 per person and all proceeds will support the vital cancer and neurodegenerative disease research that the Van Andel Institute is doing.  We are proud to be a sponsor of this great event and hope you can join us in supporting Van Andel Institute's ongoing commitment to improving the health and enhancing the lives of current and future generations.

For more information on this event, please visit Van Andel Institute's website.

Satisfaction

Our main goal outside of creating beautiful architecture is to have happy clients.  We can tell you all day long about the services we provide, our philosophies and our process, but nothing quite beats the words of someone on the other side of things who has gone through the experience of designing a home with us.  Here are thoughts from one such client....

"We had a great experience working with Wayne and the entire crew at Visbeen Architects. We had a very narrow lot to work with, so when we decided to tear down our small existing cottage and build a new lake home, we knew we needed professional help to make the most of our space. In our initial meeting, Wayne listened carefully to what we were trying to accomplish, and started drawing out ideas even as we spoke. At the end of a very interactive three hour session, we had an initial floor plan concept and renderings of both the front and back elevations. It was really exciting as we literally watched our vision becoming a reality right before our eyes.

With Wayne's original drawings in hand, the team at Visbeen took it to the next level; creating the detailed drawings and engineering specifications needed to actually build our home. Once we had agreement on the floor plans and exterior elevations, we went back to Visbeen Associates with our builder for several sessions where we worked out the particulars of the interior architecture. Those sessions were also very interactive and Wayne's drawings were extremely helpful to us, our builder and our interior designer. They helped us visualize what the interior spaces could end up looking like, and begin to see how we would actually live in the space.

I would highly recommend Visbeen Associates to anyone, and, in fact, I already have. We had an altogether wonderful experience working with Wayne and his team, and we couldn't be happier with the end product. We simply love our new home. It's everything we dared to hope it might be." 

Brooklyn Museum Shop Wins Best Store Design

We are proud to announce that the Brooklyn Museum Shop, designed by Visbeen Architects, just won Best Store Design at the 61st Annual Gift & Decorative Accessories Magazine's Retail Excellence Awards!  Members from across all aspects of the industry assembled to applaud the finalists, winners and other honorees at the Retailer Excellence Awards Gala on Sunday evening.  The Awards program's mission since day one has been "to honor outstanding creative retailers, showcase their achievements and provide inspiration to other retailers just like them," and according to GDA's editor-in-chief, Caroline Kennedy, they have not wavered from that goal in 61 years.  The Brooklyn Museum Shop was one of five winners of the evening, with Mxyplyzyk of New Jersey awarded as the runner up in Gift Store Design/Redesign.

Congratulations to everyone involved in making this shop an award-winner!

Our friend Sallie Stutz, Vice Director for Merchandising, holding the award!

Check out our blog post from April to see more photos of this renovated retail space.

A NEW company retreat

This past Tuesday, the newly joined companies of GMB A+E and Visbeen Architects had a retreat, held at the Frederik Meijer Gardens.  It was a little bit of inspiration, a little bit of introduction, a little bit of rejuvenation, a little bit of team building and a lot of fun!  Here is a recap of our day....

Held at the always beautiful Frederik Meijer Gardens, it was an exceptionally beautiful summer day!

 Harm Perdok, GMB's president, gave a little "state of the union" address.  2012 has been a great year and with all of the new and exciting changes / additions to the company, the year ahead is lookin' good!

 Wayne Visbeen gave an introduction to our little sector of the organization, Visbeen Architects.

GMB has been generous enough to support an organization called VOX United over the last year.  They are a non-profit Christian organization that works to bring accessible clean water sources to remote areas of Southern Africa by repairing existing and installing new water wells.  They also work to train the residents of those areas how to repair the wells so that they can maintain them even after VOX leaves.  VOX's goal is to never touch the wells they install more than once. We received a little demonstration on how the wells work and what goes into the installation.

We had a few team-building exercises throughout the day.  This was exercise #1.  Relating to the presentation we had just seen from VOX, we had to filter some dirty water and try to remove as much of the contaminants from it as possible, using only the supplies given to each of the eight teams.  Supplies included larger stones, smaller stones, two types of sand, three pop bottles, string, cotton balls, a bag of carbon, coffee filters, a razor blade, plastic bags, electrical tape, a straw and a plastic cup.

The final filtered products - some looked a little more filtered than others!

The judging included a taste test?  Yikes, glad I wasn't the judge!

This was my team (team 7) and we just happened to win 2nd place, the silver medal!

Team-building challenge #2: This little lego number sat in the hallway outside of the room where we met and was called "the client."  Each team had to divide into communicators and designers.  The communicators had to go to the client and study it, then go back to the designers of their team and just verbally communicate how to rebuilt it with the legos we were given.  Trust me, it's harder than it looks!

Team-building challenge #3: One communicator of each group had a picture in front of them.  They had to describe only verbally how the designers needed to recreate it on the paper in front of them, only the communicator was not allowed to see what the designers were drawing.

It turned out that each of the images the nine teams drew made up a larger picture....the London Olympics 2012 logo!

A few lessons learned...
1.  Communicating is key to success
2.  A team with a clear vision on how to accomplish their goals is a stronger team
3.  We have to know WHY we are doing what we do
4.  Most importantly, GO TEAM GMB + VISBEEN ARCHITECTS!!