Architectural Concepts

6650 Crossings Dr SE # E
Grand Rapids, MI 49508

Architectural Concepts has been a friend of r.o.i. Design since 2000. We have collaborated on many projects where we have brought the conceptual planning and interior design, and they delivered the architecture and managed the construction.

While that relationship was long lasting their original office interior was not. In 2018, Ken Watkins, principle and owner, decided his team deserved to work in the kind of space they create for others.

It was with great satisfaction that r.o.i. Design was hired to assist them to update their space with selections for new flooring, new paint, new details, and providing new window coverings, new furniture and overall support for their continued success.

While it all looks wonderful, the updating of the half wall that surrounds the new meeting space was the greatest improvement. Exposed metal studs were incorporated into the design as a finished element, we saw this as a celebration of architecture as well as the Ken’s honest and “exposed” style.

Ken, while a passionate architect for their commercial and industrial client, is also earnestly involved with a second business alongside his wife, Shelly. They own a non-profit, Genesis Waters, dedicated to bringing clean water to communities around the world. They travel quarterly to locations to work with teams to create clean water systems and related infrastructure. Photos of the people they serve are featured in the office, which is beautiful décor but also an inspirational reminder of the meaning of “work”.

Wolverine Power Cooperative
Cadillac, MI
Wolverine Power Cooperative is a bold company, with big goals and a humble history. While r.o.i. Design enjoyed every aspect of our time with the group, what is lasting for us is their commitment to their customers, their hopes for their employees, and their desire to do the right thing.

Those values translated into a desire to make their new work place a space where collaboration, communication and innovation would thrive. That meant their new offices and employee culture would be making landmark changes in how they work. Their directive was to allow the space to be as transparent and as inclusive as possible, but also provide an inspiring environment for their business.

Rick Skendzel of Architecture Technology in Traverse City, MI, engaged r.o.i. Design to provide interior design services that included interior details, lighting design, light fixture selections, specialty millwork design and finish selections. Our close work with Skendzel, Wolverine’s Dawn Coon, and construction manager, Apex Engineering’s, Steve Steimel, was a dream team. We all were focused on the same goals, compromises were almost effortless. That collaboration achieved many things, some worth noting:

• Bringing a natural rhythm to ceilings in open areas with planes of wood and color, helping to organize a large space without adding walls.
• Highlighting the sense of innovation with a curved entry wall, LED lighting, textural surfaces and recessed niches to display historical elements.
• Using a “birds nest” pattern (symbolic of nature) into details at reception, café and board room.
• Adding dramatic lighting in café and open areas.
• Creating intimate arrangements of furniture to foster collaboration and interdepartmental socializing.

Triangle Associates
Grand Rapids, MI

Triangle Associates has been keeping up operationally with its rapid growth over the last few years. And most recently that meant updating their corporate office interiors.

“Who we are as a company, our values, and our attitudes need to be represented in our workplace. It was time to make our office a more transparent and collaborative space to match our culture,” explains Triangle Associates.

Triangle has long offered design-build services for their customers and have in-house design, led by architect Aaron Jenks, but wanted interiors help. They called longtime friends and collaborators r.o.i. Design to work with them on interior concepts and finishes.

r.o.i. Design also provided recommendations for material selection that delivered design but offered opportunities for budget savings. Triangle Associates also consults with r.o.i. Design on procurement for their customer projects.

Park East Court
Grand Rapids, MI

NAI Wisinski contacted us, asking us to compete to win the opportunity to provide a design for the lobby of Park East Court, off of East Paris in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This “first impressions” area was key in providing future tenants a glimpse into the aesthetics and financial commitment of ownership.

Our design included expanding the lobby into a hallway and a copy/storage room and floating a drywall lid in the center of the space. We replaced a reception desk with seating and added focal points to the space. The popular gray color scheme of today was used, but with an accent of yellow on the ceiling and blue in the furnishings. The dated mahogany trim was painted. Decorative lighting was strategically placed to create a contemporary appeal.

Pinnacle Construction completed the lobby remodel in spring of 2017 and since the remodel, the building has attracted new tenants and the owners attribute their success to the lobby remodel.