about us
randi (marsh) thiebaut
Randi (Marsh) Thiebaut is the founder + architect at Commonality Architecture. She attended Lawrence Technological University and earned a dual Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Interior Design. While attending college, she also worked at a construction company to help gain the useful building knowledge she felt that she was missing in the classroom. After finishing school, she knew the Detroit lifestyle wasn’t for her and that she wanted to get back to the northern Michigan area where she was born and raised. While getting her Master of Architecture, Randi worked for a couple of local firms where she gained experience in multi-family, residential, commercial, and wineries. She found that she craved a more collaborative and open-minded process and decided to open Commonality Architecture in July of 2018 in pursuit of the work she felt would have a positive impact.
Randi’s passion lies in “Less but Better” design and having the opportunity to move the built environment forward (in both process and building methods). She thrives in collaborative team environments and believes the same for the projects she works on. She cares deeply about the future of the projects she is involved with and how they affect the community and environment. Randi loves the Traverse City area for exactly this reason- it’s full of people that care about preserving this wonderful place in a thoughtful way.
In her personal life, Randi and her husband spend most of their free time outdoors with their two huskies. She is also very passionate about living as close to a zero-waste lifestyle as possible and is constantly trying to master the perfect coffee.
so why commonality?
architects without the egos. yes, you read that right.
we are passionate about the built environment and using practices that are forward-thinking and collaborative. We believe in the future of our community and working on projects that promote positive change.
Commonality Architecture believes in a holistic approach to architecture. The firm was founded on the belief that architecture should be collaborative, innovative, and thoughtful. Working with an architect should be a rewarding and engaging process so we work to bring you tools that makes it easy to visualize your project. We also believe that the best projects are born in a collaborative environment so we prefer to work openly with you and the entire project team. The result? Architecture that has a positive impact on our clients, our community, and our environment.
We use BIM (Building Information Modeling) to help collaboratively integrate building systems like structural, mechanical, and electrical- if you don't know what that means, don't worry, that's what are here for! We also use this as a tool to help you visualize the spaces within your project so you know exactly what you are getting.