2025 was an incredibly impactful year for the Michigan Architectural Foundation. As we look forward to the next year, MAF looks back on the impact created in the past year.
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Scholarships
In 2025, MAF awarded a total of $41,000 to eleven Michigan college and university architecture students. MAF’s 2025 Scholarship Winners exhibited impressive academic achievement, outstanding leadership skills, strong commitment to architecture, and exemplary community involvement.
In 2026, there will be 16 scholarships available on an annual basis, with value of the scholarship awards ranging from $2,000 to $10,000. 2026 MAF Scholarship applications are due by March 13, 2026. Click here for more information.
Grants
MAF awarded the 2025 Evans Graham Preservation Grant to The Friends of the Harrisville Train Depot Inc. and their project, the Historic Harrisville Train Depot in Harrisville, Michigan. The $25,000 will provide support in restoring two of the original doors and replicating the third original Train Depot exterior doors. After decades of wear and tear, they remain as an important piece of the depots history. The restoration of these doors is critical to help support and preserve the building from further deterioration.
MAF’s Damian Farrell Architecture Awareness Grants were awarded to five different projects that increase awareness and appreciation of architecture. In 2025, a total of $18,000 has been awarded. The projects that received the grants were: “Utopias”, the 2025 History of American Architecture lecture series by Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research; BETWEEN: Approaches to Existing Buildings in Disinvested Communities, book by Amy Hetletvedt; 2025 AIA Grand Rapids Honors Awards Program Video and Media Production by AIA Grand Rapids; AIA Explore SWM App by AIA Southwest MI Chapter; and University of Michigan Duderstadt Center 30th Year Anniversary Drone Video by Carol Kahn. Read more about the projects here and here.
The 2025 MAF Education Awareness Grants were awarded to three different projects/programs that engage and promote awareness of architecture through the education of K-12 students in Michigan. The recipients include Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Glen Arbor Arts Center, and NOMA (National Association of Minority Architects).
The Fellows Fund for Equity Grant was awarded to Odette Giorgees, NCARB, who is a lead architect for Gateway Engineering, an Architectural Engineering firm located in Shelby Township. The grant is awarded to newly licensed Black, Hispanic, Native American (and other individuals from underrepresented groups) architects who are actively practicing architecture.
Education Portal Update
This year, MAF updated our website Educational Portal, making it easier to navigate content that supports Elementary, Middle School, and High School students. The future of the world is in the hands of today’s students, and the way they see the world will help to shape the future.
Discovering architecture at a younger age can help to shape students into becoming future architects, advocates for their communities, and champions of the built environment.
Events
“A French Connection: Farrell+Wine+Dine” was hosted by Greg Aerts, AIA at Ann Arbor Golf & Outing Club on April 5, 2025. It was the second annual event planned to help support MAF’s Damian Farrell Architecture Awareness Grants and to honor late long-time MAF board member Damian Farrell. There was a total of $17,000 raised with 75 attendees, with all proceeds going to fund the Damian Farrell Architecture Awareness Grants.
MAF’s beloved ‘Fore a Great Cause’ annual golf outing was held on May 19, 2025, at the beautiful Plum Hollow Golf Club in Southfield. The sold-out event hosted 132 golfers and raised more than $33,000 in support of MAF’s architecture student scholarships, educational initiatives, and awareness grant programs.
MAF’s ‘Auction for Education’ was held at the AIAMI/AGC Midsummer Conference on Mackinac Island at The Grand Hotel. Due to the generosity of the auction winners, MAF was able to raise over $18,000, which will support MAF’s architecture-based K-12 educational initiatives, as well as programs that enhance Michigan communities and improve the lives of our residents through architecture.
2025 Road Trip Series
Photo Credit: Mike Norris
For the 2025 edition of MAF’s popular Architecture Road Trip article series, MAF visited various lighthouses throughout Michigan. Michigan has the most Lighthouses in the United States, with each one being distinctive and having their own story.
The series included: Lake Huron, Lake Superior, Northern Lake Michigan, Southern Lake Michigan, and Northern and Southeastern Michigan.
Michigan Architecture Profiles
Throughout the year, MAF highlighted various examples of Michigan architecture across the state.
The White Lake Yacht Club Clubhouse, which was built in 1906, still pulses with seasonal life, a testament to early 20th-century craftsmanship and Michigan’s enduring culture of recreation.
Little Sable Point Light is located south of Mears on Lake Michigan in Oceana County and began its service in 1874. Designed by Orlando Metcalfe Poe, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a Michigan State Historic Site.