Projects

Kalamazoo Country

A two-thousand square foot house was designed and built on a quiet country road, intended to reflect the surrounding farmhouse architecture, but with a slightly more modern flair.  The interior is open and airy, window arrangements are orderly but not all symmetrical, and bright colors are added both inside and out in non-traditional ways.

Lake Michigan Retreat

A well-used 1950's one-bedroom A-frame house was revived with a new two-story addition placed on the street side, elevated to take advantage of Lake Michigan views over the existing roof line. Garage and a modern master suite fill the addition at the first floor, while two bedrooms, adjoining bath, and a sitting loft finish off the second floor. Cramped kitchen and living areas were expanded toward the lake by removing interior walls and an outdoor porch which jutted into the footprint of the old house. By adding roofed "wings" to either side of the original A-frame, new screened and open porches were created to wrap an elevated ipe wood deck. 

Original exposed pine roof decking and timber beams were saved and augmented by matching ceilings in the added screened and covered porches. An unexpected bonus was discovering that the utilitarian basement could be converted to a walkout level family room and full bath, with access to the lake through new sliding glass doors.  

Lakefront Contemporary

Moorsbridge

I designed this custom house for a steep lot located on a private golf course almost forty years ago. Mild modifications were made to it in 2008, when I purchased it for my own family. The kitchen was opened up to the formal dining room and partially redone, and the living room fireplace surround was updated to accommodate today's technology. 

New Old Bungalow

A retired couple desired to return to a simpler life by converting seven acres of soybeans into a small working hobby farm. This included building a new bungalow style home to overlook their man-made pond. The downsized floor plan was designed with master bedroom suites on both floors, so that the couple could relocate to the first floor, if needed in the future. Traditional living/dining/kitchen areas were combined with a first floor laundry and large three-season porch, which faces the pond. A separate enclosed garage was attached to the house by way of a covered breezeway.

Energy efficiency was an integral part of the building program. Exterior walls and roofs were constructed of prefabricated structural insulated panels (SIPS), which are 8" thick plywood-sheathed solid foam panels, shipped to the site and erected with a crane. Basement walls are prefabricated insulated concrete panels erected at the jobsite. Combined with the energy efficient windows and a geothermal heat pump, the home uses a fraction of normal utility costs year round.

Prairie Style

A Chicago family desired a fresh start with their southwest Michigan lakefront summer home. The original well-used but tired cottage was replaced by a new structure built in the spirit of the Prairie houses of Oak Park, near downtown Chicago. A central living/dining/kitchen space was flanked by family suites on both ends of the house and a partial second floor housing a third family bedroom/sleeping porch area, giving both grandparents and children's families privacy when needed, while sharing core living and entertainment spaces together.  

South Haven Farmhouse

What began as a partial rebuild of a 100-year-old farmhouse became a major reconstruction after extensive dry rot was discovered, requiring the building to be torn down to its foundation. The home was re-built in much the same character of the original, a less adorned Victorian two-story home with wrap-around porch. Located on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, the new owners wished to make the home a summer gathering place for their extended family. Rooms were rebuilt in largely the same locations as in the original layout, although bathrooms and kitchen were upgraded to today's requirements for size and convenience. Cove lighting was added to main rooms, original interior door and trim designs were replicated throughout, and while the home's center stair was recreated near the front door, its spirit was preserved in the details. Current lake shore regulations allowed for removing just enough grade to create a walkout space beneath a new elevated sunroom off the rebuilt kitchen, allowing for extra living space and convenient access to the lake. 

South Haven Remodel

While the best views of this Lake Michigan marina were from an upper balcony, they were mostly hidden from the rest of the house, blocked by existing roof lines. The final design solution revolved around the idea of essentially “tipping up” the main roof that sloped toward the marina. Structurally this meant constructing a new, shallower roof plane, to allow the installation of windows and doors across the entire second floor living room wall, creating an almost 180-degree panoramic view of the marina and town beyond. Unsafe second and third floor stairways were removed and shallower code-compliant ones were stacked along one wall. A five-foot diameter circular stair was installed between rebuilt first and second floor porches, resulting in a unique two-story screened-in area, easily accessible to and from both floors. All interior third floor supports were removed and replaced by a 30-foot-long steel beam, which had to be threaded through existing exterior walls. New framing, left exposed and painted white, creates an airy, light-filled room which now serves as the backdrop for spectacular views outside.   

Mid Century Modern

Man-Made Lakefront

Jackson Farmhouse Remodel and addition

Current projects in planning and construction phases by AB2 Architecture

Current Projects

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