Our team began shaping communities for the better more than 44 years ago in Southwest Michigan. In 1979, we got our start providing clients with surveying, civil engineering, and marina development services. Our level of quality and service led to organic growth, and in 1984, we added architecture, planning, and landscape architecture to our services.
As our client base and our geographical service areas expanded, so did we – opening additional offices across Southwest Michigan and Northern Indiana. Today, we work across 11 offices on some of the most transformative projects in the region.
Abonmarche is a team of professionals who are passionate about helping others – with client service at the core of everything we do. We design the infrastructure and spaces that make our cities hum – with a keen eye on enhancing the resiliency and livability of our communities. The communities and clients we serve know that by working with us, they’re collaborating with a firm that helps foster opportunity.
We’re cultivating design excellence.
We concentrate on harnessing the talents of our staff so that they bring their best to each project – no matter the size. Our agile work processes, supported by our mentorship-based culture is what sets us apart. We are constantly developing our team members’ skillsets, so that our clients are always getting the best. Rather than telling our clients what to do – we listen to understand their needs, then collaborate with them to develop a plan to address those needs.
Abonmarche staff members are active members of professional organizations including the National Society of Professional Engineers, American Public Works Association, American Waterworks Association, American Society of Landscape Architects, American Institute of Architects (AIA), National Trust for Historic Preservation, Michigan Library Association, United States Green Building Council (USGBC), National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), and Council for New Urbanism. We’re also a proud member of the West Michigan Minorities in Architecture / Engineering Consortium (WMMIAEC), whose mission is to increase the number of qualified minorities and women who are employed in the architectural, engineering and scientific professions.
Engaging future generations in the design process offers young people a sense of belonging in their own communities. Abonmarche staff work with students at the high school and higher education levels to help them pursue technical careers. We collaborate closely with end users, including students, to create a transformative experience through design. We take pride in serving as an advocate for the design engineering profession in our local communities; our architectural team participates in higher education critique juries, and we are also leading efforts to begin apprenticeship programs in surveying and construction technician services through a local community college.
Transforming our communities for the better is baked into everything we do.
Our mission focuses on improving communities and making lives better by creating great places.
Our portfolio of work shows our focus on creating better experiences for the people in our communities – but it goes beyond that. Since our beginnings, Abonmarche has served as a leader in giving back to our communities through active volunteerism and charitable donations to many events and organizations across the region. We know communities grow stronger if they are built up from many angles, and we’re passionate about pursuing this goal.
In working with local school and government leadership, Abonmarche employees participate on boards and commissions of several local communities. And we are proud sponsors of many local charity programs, including Habitat for Humanity, Adopt-A-Highway, the Benton Harbor/St. Joseph Rotary’s Great Bed Race, Home Team Valpo, Feeding West Michigan, HOSTS, Boys & Girls Club, Junior Achievement, and holiday Angel Tree programs.
We’re shaping a resilient region for future generations.
Abonmarche was founded on the principle of improving the places we live by building longevity into each project. Our region surrounding the Great Lakes has experienced environmental challenges over the last 40 years that have revealed vulnerabilities. Our goal is to create resilience against those challenges – so that future generations will inherit a built world that will last through their lifetime and beyond. Through data-driven insights and the combined experiences of our staff, we’ve been a part of shaping some of our region’s most notable coastal, waterfront, and adjacent landscapes.