22 Years Young and Moving Forward!
With a passion for improving the built environment, Michael Willis established Michael Willis & Associates in May of 1988.
Read about where we've been and what's next.
Aloha `Oe: Neighborhood Revitalization For Honolulu
MWA is the lead architect for the largest affordable housing development in Honolulu, Hawai’i on the island of Oahu. Michaels Development Company of New Jersey was selected as the developer of the $316 million project encompassing over 1,000 houses, both new and in two renovated 16-story towers. The site of the Kuhio Park Terrace and Kuhio Park Homes will include a 1:1 replacement of the public housing as well as mixed income new homes and a mid-rise for seniors. It is scheduled to start in the last quarter of 2009.
Humboldt Gardens Setting the Bar Higher
MWA Architects received the Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow (BEST) Award for Green Building from City of Portland.
MWA was one of ten companies from the Portland metropolitan region chosen from seventy-seven applicants, to be recognized at the 17th Annual BEST Awards Breakfast on April 22, 2009. The City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability presents the BEST Awards annually to businesses demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to sustainability.
“Portland’s early leadership has drawn the best talent to create a confluence of expertise, fueling local innovation in sustainable design, production and clean technology,” said Mayor Adams. “It’s the innovators of today that help set that bar higher and higher for tomorrow’s companies – innovators and entrepreneurs like this year’s BEST Award winners.”
Moscone Central Subway
Moving People West: A New Transit Station
MWA is architect and Joint Venture Partner with Parsons Brinckerhoff for the newest link in San Francisco’s transportation network: The $90 million Moscone Street station is one of three new stations planned in the $628 million Central Subway Project. Moscone station will be less than two blocks away from the 2005 Moscone West Convention Center expansion on which MWA was also a Joint-Venture partner.
The new station will bring millions of visitors to Moscone, and is part of the new line that runs from the Caltrain Station, to Moscone, to Union Square to Chinatown. It is scheduled to start in the last quarter of 2009.
MWA Associate, Brad Bane presented at the 2009 HUD HOPE VI Green Building & Energy Efficiency Development Conference
Brad Bane, AIA, LEED AP was asked by our client at the Housing Authority of Portland, Julie Livingston, to co-present our work at both New Columbia and Humboldt Gardens as it relates to green building and sustainability. We are the beneficiaries of working with this progressive client. The Housing Authority of Portland consistently raises the bar on their sustainability efforts. HUD recognizes this effort and we were asked to present our achievements as well as our lessons learned.
HUD Presentation
Future Perfect:
Thinking ahead in Hunter’s Point
MWA joined a distinguished group of architects assembled by architect Dan Solomon to develop ideas for the Hunter’s Point neighborhood in the southeast section of San Francisco.
Each of six architects was given two blocks to see if there were some overarching principals that could guide the land developer, Lennar Urban to a sound plan for neighborhood redevelopment touching on issues of project types, densities, parking, retail, and streetlife. While not a final design, these conceptual approaches to building a neighborhood offers a glimpse into the issues to be resolved when the land parcels begin to go under construction. MWA focused on affordable housing in its two block parcels.