More Than A Masterpiece: Architect Jonathan Miller has perfected the art of creating timeless homes

Since 2002, architect Jonathan Miller, RA, AIA, has been transforming dreams into spectacular homes through his firm, Miller Architecture & Design Studio, for clients in Tennessee and across the country. From traditional to contemporary, English cottage to French modern, farmhouse to mountain retreat, his ethos centers on creating artful, timeless homes tailored to each client.

Building the dream: Architect Jonathan Miller says you can’t have great architecture without great relationships.

“We are a uniquely Southern firm, and relationships are everything to us,” says Miller, owner, chief architect, and lead designer. “We love to get to know clients and how they live, then design grows from there. You can’t have great architecture without great relationships.”

A classically trained architect, he brings an exacting hand to his designs. He starts each with freehand pencil and paper sketches, perfecting the proportion, scale, and detail that define a beautifully crafted home, before moving on to digital renderings and 3D models. With a classicist’s eye, he hones his designs to not only manifest his clients’ dreams but also sit seamlessly within the environment.

“We want our homes to look like they’ve always been there,” Miller explains. “The goal is achieving a space that is unique yet feels timeless and familiar.”

For the team at Miller Architecture & Design Studio, light and views are central to their award-winning portfolio of stunning projects. What fuels Miller’s process, however, isn’t awards and accolades, but his signature passion for creating extraordinary homes his clients will love.

“Building a home is a hallmark moment in life, and it should be a delightful and joyful process,” he says. “We love being able to create that experience and happiness for our clients.”

Creating Musical Backdrops for Beautiful Movement

Music is as much a part of a ballet production as the incredible choreography and Lee County Community Orchestra’s upcoming performances of “Ballet Masterworks” feature some of the most beautiful musical backdrops ever composed for the genre.

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is one of the most popular ballets in the classical cannon.

Like last season’s “Sounds of the Silver Screen” concerts, each piece of music in this program has its own story to tell. The challenge for Music Director Vincent Povázsay was choosing music that could complement or contrast and come together as a whole. “There are many specific and organized movements in a ballet because it’s common for the performance to stop and start between dance scenes and set changes,” said Povázsay. “The way the music is composed makes it easier to find exactly the kind of music you’re looking for in terms of mood or pace.”

Povázsay says all the music in the program is tuneful and melodic and mostly, high energy. Audiences will enjoy wonderful solos from the oboe and clarinet, colorful percussion, gorgeous, grandiose strings, and every piece will feature harpist Joe Hanna.

Highlights include the heartfelt and emotional pas de deux of Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from Spartacus (a pas de deux is a dance for two people, typically characters in love with one another) and the famous, dramatic finale from Swan Lake.

"Ballet Masterworks" is a program Povázsay has been looking forward to all season. He grew up loving ballet music, but his exposure was largely limited to recordings and YouTube videos. He saw his first major professional ballet production with a live symphony on a trip to New York when he was 19. “I will always remember that performance of Swan Lake!”

Make Your Business Better with Earned Value

An Earned Value Management System (EVMS) helps measure project performance against a project baseline. It’s a common contractual requirement on any project for a federal government agency and includes strict and detailed standards. This complexity often leads businesses to incorrectly assume an EVMS is too costly or complicated to implement successfully outside of government-related work. But, Earned Value is a proven, reliable methodology that can bring practical and actionable benefits to commercial business when applied wisely.

A customized EVMS can help commercial enterprises cut costs, generate revenue and improve performance.

An EVMS provides a clear picture of how much a budget has been spent compared to the project status and gives managers the ability to compare performance against a variety of baselines including original, current and forecasted budgets. Most importantly, an EVMS reveals the reasons behind the differences. It not only tracks metrics within a single project, it also reveals trends across multiple projects and timeframes. Whether it’s a positive indicator or an early warning sign, managers can utilize EVMS insights to make key strategic decisions to keep the business moving forward.

While some members of the business community are aware of the benefits associated with an EVMS, they’ve heard horror stories of costly and unsustainable implementations. “The key to using an EVMS system successfully is choosing the right metrics and the right level of time and effort to effectively track and analyze earned value information,” says John Batten, Vice President of Construction Services for Austin-based Atlas Technical. “Companies should work with their management consultant to determine the right amount of process and complexity that fits each unique project and portfolio.”

Atlas Technical in an expert in helping its government clients with the design, development, and implementation of EVMS systems fully compliant with government standards. This expertise means they also know to build a system custom-tailored for commercial projects. Contact Atlas to learn more about creating a customized, scalable approach to EVMS that can cost costs, generate revenue and improve business performance.