Partners

Michael J. Mills, FAIA, has devoted his career to the preservation and adaptive use design of some of the region’s most significant historic structures. He has served as Chair of the Advisory Group of the AIA Historic Resources Committee and is a past president of Preservation New Jersey, a statewide non-profit. Michael is a national peer reviewer for the GSA Design Excellence program, and was a long-time member of the NJ Uniform Construction Code Advisory Board. He has lectured at Princeton University’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning and at the Association for Preservation Technology’s (APT) international conference, and serves as Associate Graduate Faculty in the Rutgers University Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies program. Publication credits include the APT Bulletin, the AIA’s Academy of Architecture for Justice Journal, and Design & Historic Preservation: The Challenge of Compatibility (University of Delaware Press).

Michael received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from Princeton University; his Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University; and a postgraduate certificate from the International Center for the Study of Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome, Italy. He is a Registered Architect in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Ohio, and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Michael R. Schnoering, FAIA, leads the design and management of many of the firm’s artseducational, and civic projects. His work encompasses a wide variety of innovative new and adaptive use designs involving public and private entertainment, lecture, education, and administrative spaces. He has guided awardwinning renovation projects in theaters on the national stage and completed successful projects at several well-known historic downtown theaters.

Michaels experience with projects for the arts extends to his volunteer service. He serves on the boards of the League of Historic American Theatres (LHAT); the New Jersey Theatre Alliance (NJTA), and the Cultural Access Network of NJ (CAN). He has shared his knowledge on theater planning, design, and accessibility, and advocates for increased access in all locations beyond the minimum code requirements.  His passion for access in the arts has led to multiple speaking engagements at national LHAT conferences as well as regional training events for the Cultural Access Network.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and is a Registered Architect in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Washington DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, and Colorado.  He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Meredith Arms Bzdak, PhD, is an architectural historian, overseeing the majority of the firm’s cultural resource management projects, which include Historic Structure Reports, Preservation Plans, Master Plans, and National Register of Historic Places Nominations. She also often serves as Architectural Historian for these projects, conducting background research and preparing statements of significance. Meredith also contributes to a number of the firm’s preservation and planning projects, working with a range of government, higher education, and cultural institutions.

Meredith holds a BA in Art History from Mount Holyoke College and a PhD in Art History from Rutgers University. As Associate Graduate Faculty at Rutgers University in the Art History Department, she has taught classes on the development of the modern American city (specifically New York and Los Angeles), the preservation of the recent past, and Modern Italian Architecture. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of DOCOMOMO US.  She is a Chair Emeritus of the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC) and a former board member of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF). Meredith is the author of Public Sculpture in New Jersey; Monuments to Collective Identity.