New Women’s Health Center

Byce & Associates provided Architectural, Interior Design and Engineering services for the construction of InterCare Community Health Network’s new 9,155 square foot Women’s Health Center. The new facility creates a campus complex expanding InterCare’s existing Benton Harbor Primary Care Clinic. Pre-natal Health Care will be relocated from the Primary Care Clinic, allowing the expansion in Pre-natal and Primary Care services to the under-served community.

The new Women’s Health Clinic promotes InterCare’s Patient Centered Medical Home model of care in the Exam Suite and Certified Centering Program, which moves prenatal care from the exam room to a comfortable group setting. The exam suite includes six Exam Rooms, one Non-Stress Testing Room, one Dental Hygiene Room, one Triage Exam Room, two Care Management Rooms, Laboratory, and Sterilization Room. The Centering Room is complimented with restroom, wet bar, and direct access from the gallery style waiting area.

Clerestory glazing, exposed timber framing, and acoustical wood ceilings in the entry and exam suite soften the experience for patient and provider by creating less “sterile” environments, and the gallery style waiting area promotes communication and community between soon to be moms.

The facility is constructed using 8″ Structural Insulation Panel roof and wall framing which provided a compressed winter construction schedule and enhanced energy efficiency.

Byce & Associates, Inc. provided Architectural, Interior Design, and Engineering Services for the Restrooms and Lower Lobby Historic Renovations at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre, located in Downtown Kalamazoo. The project started with an assessment of the building to determine improvements to be made. From the suggested improvements in the assessment, The Civic Theatre chose to renovate the lower lobby, two existing restrooms and add two new restrooms, which would help to ease congestion during the various shows that take place at the theatre. The restrooms renovations and additions included new historically appropriate fixtures, new wallpaper and tile flooring. The existing restrooms were updated to enhance the experience, while new restrooms were added to be ADA complaint. The lower lobby renovations included new wallpaper, re-upholstered furniture, and new carpeting in the elevator lobby and on the main staircase all the way up to the second floor atrium.

Cole Nissan Used Car Sales & Service Building Addition

The addition to the Cole Nissan Used Car Sales and Service Building has been completed! Byce & Associates, Inc. provided Architectural and Engineering services for the 2,840 square foot addition which is located on the east side toward the north end of the existing building. A storefront exterior wall system was used to provide ample day light for the new offices, and spandrel panels were used to hide new mechanical systems that were placed above the ceiling. Also included was the re-design of the executive offices, located in the upper level, which provided additional space for executives and a new, larger conference room. The interior finishes, colors, fixtures and furniture systems were to match with the adjacent existing materials to provide a recognizable, consistently branded customer entry experience. The construction was completed in June of 2017.

St. Augustine Cathedral School Front Office Renovations

Byce & Associates is honored to have assisted St. Augustine Cathedral School by donating our time and talent to design the remodel and renovations to the Front Offices of St. Augustine Cathedral School.

The remodel and renovations to the Front Office include expanding and updating the office and reception area to accommodate the myriad of functional requirements in the office area and to provide a new, barrier-free Restroom. The newly renovated offices provide a very functional space while aesthetically giving respectful attention back to the school’s history with a classic School House look, including new retro period furniture and fixtures.

Working collaboratively with school leadership and administration staff we developed a welcoming, vibrant space for all in the St. Augustine family. Thanks to the donors, appreciation to the volunteers and hats off to the contractors and vendors that all helped to make this great little project a big success.

The Afro-Academic Cultural Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) is a program designed to recruit, stimulate and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African-American high school students. The NAACP ACT-SO Competition, hosted by Mt. Zion Baptist Church, took place over the weekend which included 29 competitions in science, technology, engineering, math, humanities, business, and performing, visual and culinary arts. Two Byce & Associates, Inc. employees, Michael Flynn, AIA, and Hayward Babineaux, Assoc. AIA, participated as judges for two architectural projects submitted by Jomaun Willhite of Kalamazoo Central High School and Krianna Perry of Portage Central High School. The two students, both under the tutelage of Mr. Marvin Gage at Kalamazoo Central’s Education for Employment (EFE) Program presented their respective projects which included floor plans, elevations, building sections, and precedent studies. The projects were judged with an opportunity to compete within the national competition to receive scholarships and prizes for college.

MRCC Union Hall and Apprentice Training Center

Byce & Associates, Inc. is honored to provide Architectural and Engineering services for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters (MRCC) Union Hall and Apprentice Training Center in Wayland, Michigan. The new facility will help to provide extensive training in state-of-the-art techniques, processes, education and equipment, and certifications necessary to help build high quality, diverse projects, large and small. The MRCC and Millwrights represents 14,000 carpenters and millwrights across the state of Michigan.

The new facility will be constructed on an undeveloped 19 acres, with 7 acres poised for future development. The facility will consist of two wings flanking a central circulation gallery, one, as the Training Center and the other as the Union Hall and Support Services. The building is designed with two “fronts,” one, as the main entry and one looking west out to US 131.

The 40,000 square foot Training Center will include five teaching classrooms for instructor led and web based instruction, and six vocational learning labs for hands-on learning. The vocational instruction includes a Welding Lab with twenty-four welding booths, a Flooring Lab with eight installation mock-up bays, a Millwright Alignment Lab, a Concrete Forming Sand Pit, and two carpentry labs for multiple trade specific mock-up areas. The Training Center anticipates to serve an average of 125 apprentices per year upon completion in the fall of 2018, with room for future growth.

The Union Hall will be the West Michigan base of operation for the MRCC. The facility will provide general office and records storage for the day-to-day operations of the organization and feature a dedicated Strategy Team Room for short and long-term organizational planning.

The highlight of the facility will be the central Gallery. The Gallery will be the “front door” to the facility and act as a “connector” in many ways. Apprentices will be able to connect with seasoned members on a social level through various events planned for the facility’s Large Meeting Hall, the Union will be able to connect to the general public and prospective members in the Marketing Board Room, and young people will be able to connect to industry leaders through the Recruitment Room and Career Day Events to be set up in the general gallery hall. The Large Meeting Room is equipped to be rented out to union members as a first rate banquet facility.

Extending through the facility and stretching toward US Highway 131, the Gallery will become the visual signature of the organization to the passer by, and will feature exposed timber framed structural systems, wood trim and cladding, and high end drywall finishes to highlight the skills of the union carpenter