Michael comes from a family of builders and artists. This greatly influenced his focus on the art and craftsmanship of construction—experimenting with natural light, materiality, and architectural form. Growing up in Middle Tennessee, Michael became captivated at an early age by the relationship of the built environment to its natural surroundings. He developed a sensibility that successful architecture was more than just built form, but a composition that carefully and thoughtfully balances scale and materiality with its surrounding environment. Michael’s design process does not consider interior space separately from exterior enclosure; he works to develop cohesive compositions that consider the building enclosure, interior space, and the site (nature) at once, not separately, throughout his design process. Michael’s aim is to design warm and inviting spaces, balancing episodic experiences within a unifying compositional gesture.

Michael sees design as a process of discovery, where initial ideas evolve through dialogue with the client, careful analysis of the site, and attention to the construction budget. Michael welcomes initial assumptions and “big ideas” from his clients. He facilitates a process that encourages ideation and then works to refine those ideas so that the most useful, impactful and creative outcomes are actualized.

By leveraging his experience in construction administration and project management, Michael works in partnership with contractors and construction managers to ensure projects are on schedule and on budget.