SWANSON MEADS ARCHITECTS was established in 1999 as a collaboration between Karen Swanson, AIA, formerly a principal of Swanson|Swanson Architects, and Glenda Meads, AIA, formerly the principal of Studio Pellegrina Architects. Both met while teaching at University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture, and developed a relationship based upon personal and professional convergences. The two joined their practices to combine complimentary interests and a shared vision for a woman-owned architectural practice that explored projects of specificity, i.e., having a unique relation to something that exerted a distinctive and usually curative or causative influence on the making of architectural environments.

The practice seeks out projects with inherent individuality that serve as a starting point for design. This catalyst can be of any nature, from the client’s personality to the challenges of a certain site or program. The work ranges from classic or contextual to modern. Clients include multi-media designers, salons, clothing stores, golf course clubhouses, real estate offices, as well as individual homeowners and specialty residential developers.

For Swanson Meads Architects, projects are always collaborations between owner and architect. This joint process of investigation lifts the design from a mere problem solving exercise to the generation of meaningful places.

Addressing different contexts and restraints, the architects seek a unique and special response to each condition. Projects find their identity in a range of issues such as urban scale, siting and massing, and the manifestation of materials and detailing.

 

2215 Cole Street, Birmingham, MI  48009
Phone:  (248) 644-1900   |   Fax:  (248) 644-1911