Mike Till’s residential design philosophy is based on his decades – old observations of Door County’s many pre-existing farm buildings from its southern border to its most northern border. Since 1969, Mr. Till has designed new residential homes using the shapes and forms of these peaceful protective farm buildings, both on the shorelines as well as in the back woods of the inland areas.
We invite and encourage all to simply slow down their driving in order to observe these last surviving treasure troves of uniquely Door County/Wisconsin building gems…it’s like viewing a time capsule or perhaps visiting a free natural museum – a must see when on vacation in Door County.
Mike Till has made these tours many, many times over decades and as such, loves these buildings of varying shapes and sizes and said buildings are incorporated in all of his residential builds that reflect the charm of these jewels.
“Barnyard Engineering” is essential to Mike Till’s rustic industrial style approach in his Door County’s residential designs.
The following photos represent mere samples of Mike Till’s restorations, remediation and re-purposing of existing timber framed farm buildings including stove wood walls-log-cedar shingled “sheds”. Till’s restorations of farm structures are his models for his new residential design works. Mike Till is well known as the area’s most acclaimed rustic design engineer yielding aesthetically pleasing effects and with structural sustainability.
We invite and encourage all to observe these last surviving treasure troves of uniquely Door County/Wisconsin building jewels that Mike Till presents in all his new residential builds. By the way, during your personal observation tour that I suggest, you’ll be able see the use of indigenous building materials such as Door County’s abundance of field stone and it’s renewable wood resources that can be observed everywhere in and around this unique land mass (a lot like the Italian Peninsula). As you might observe, these great older rustic structures, will show perhaps how dormers were adapted to modern homes or how meaningful modern additions are from barn extensions or how milk house entries were, in reality, the first “Air-Locks”. These powerful structural elements are prevalent in all of Mike Till’s Rustic Residential design approach throughout rural Door County.
It should also be noted that Mr. Till also specializes in historic preservation of residential buildings such as Victorian Classics found in down town Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin’s Historic District.
Till believes in the old adage “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. So, when Mike lived in Chicago, he worked on skyscrapers and then with his arrival in 1969 to Door County, he was greatly inspired by the aforementioned expressions of beautiful pure rustic industrial style structural engineering elements of old Door County buildings.
Because Mr. Till has a double major in Architecture and Structural Engineering/Building Science Technology, he clearly understands how these structures work in harmony with the local environmental elements. Not to mention how these early “Artisan” Engineers from Europe optimized space. NB: Till’s new modern builds, while being more energy efficient, reflect the aforementioned simplicity of early Door County buildings…
“SIMPLICITY IS THE ULTIMATE SOPHISTICATION”… Leonardo Da Vinci, the Artist/Engineer.
The following photos are samples of Mike Till’s New Builds showing Green Energy Efficient Rustic Industrial Designs.
