VMDO Architects

Michael joined VMDO in 2019 after several years of teaching and designing educational facilities across the Mid-Atlantic. A farm kid from western Pennsylvania, Michael discovered an inkling for creative design in college at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA, where he studied art, photography, and communications, before attending and receiving his graduate degree in architecture from Iowa State University. Professionally, he has worked on K-12 architectural projects totaling over $200 million for public and private school clients across Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The son of a kindergarten teacher and lifelong learner, Michael continues to integrate the creative fields of architecture and education, designing spaces to inspire creativity, wonder, imagination, and connection. But in the end, he will most enjoy sitting across from you and learning about your life – over a big bowl of ice cream.

With additional stints as a marketing professional, a freelance photographer, and a professor of media and design, Michael facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration by continuously asking questions from many disciplines – encouraging students, colleagues, and clients to blur boundaries and spark new potential for design, craft, and communities. He believes that those communities, alongside their buildings, are transformed through participation in the design process.

Always curious about the world, he continues to invest spare time into soccer, getting too many books from the local library, the golden light after it rains, and losing to his nieces and nephews in card games.