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The Indianapolis Leader in Commercial Real Estate News & Events
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Brent Mather Talked His Office Into
Getting Some Dirty Work Done
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When
R & B Architects
got the opportunity to move into the
Glossbrenner Mansion
at 32
nd
and Meridian streets, it jumped on it. The building was in rough shape, and somehow (probably with doughnuts) principal
Brent Mather
convinced everyone
to get dirty prepping it
for conversion into office space.
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Indiana Landmarks had previously owned the building and was in the process of setting it up as a
residence. It did some major renovations in getting it up to code, but there was a plethora left to be done. "We tore up the tile to expose the original
wood floors and a lot of other work in order to get it ready. Right now we've probably
completed about two-thirds of the renovations," Brent (above) said as he showed us around.
A
lot of love
was put into the work they did;
a sense of pride
emits from the faces of the employees when they talk about it. We have to say, it truly is
amazing
work (so make sure to visit!).
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Brent is shown above, ironing the tiles. There were some
really cool, or perhaps odd, finds they came across while renovating the house. A
secret panel was found in the wall of the conference room, in the back of a recessed cabinet. "When we first got here,
it was open, but we had a guest close it, and for the life of us, we
can't figure out how to open it again. There must be some kind of latch or something we haven't discovered yet," he said. The
sliding doors leading into the conference room were originally covered by
large bookshelves on either side (so be careful if you ever decide to move your bookshelf!) and the room also once had a built-in
access to the incinerator, which could be a great asset for either secret ballots or terrible ideas.
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Brent, who grew up in San Diego, studied at
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and later
University of Illinois. While at the University of Illinois, he was able to take advantage of the dual studies program in
structural engineering and architecture. He felt that having a degree in both areas would be beneficial, mostly to entice a wider array of employers. And it definitely comes in handy--he's able to understand the reasons behind
why engineers say you can't do something. (And understanding engineers is certainly a skill set. We're surprised it's not a foreign language credit.) He worked at several other firms and did some traveling before becoming principal at
R & B Architects and working in this awesome house above.
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Above, a conference room in the Glossbrenner Mansion. Although R & B Architects does understand the ins and outs of
working in historical buildings, it's
not a historic preservation company per se. It does modern architecture as well as the historic buildings, and many times it creates a
hybrid mix of the two. "It allows us to practice a wide variety of styles this way," Brent explained.
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Close up of the woodwork on the banister. Many Millennials are gravitating toward the
live/work environment, where you work on the ground level of a building and live above it. It certainly sounds like a great idea and would come with benefits like
virtually no commute time (except for how long it takes you to walk down the stairs) and ease of deliveries. However, it also comes with
a lot of requirements and zoning intricacies. Companies like R&B Architects are skilled in applying for a
variety of grants and tax rebates that help offset the cost, but also in how to
separate the property between the office and the residences to take advantage of these assets.
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They've repurposed this room for entertainment. What the company excels at is creating
comprehensive architectural plans. It doesn't want to do just one project; it
wants to do 10 projects for a client. When looking at proposals--whether for a business or a municipality--R&B aims to write
honest plans outlining what the client needs to do, especially with projects involving multiple buildings. Implementation is about three things:
scale, money, and motivation. The firm also
brings in grants to help spread out the cost. Because it does this quite a bit, the execs are familiar with what grants and loans are out there and which ones would
benefit each project (for example, some companies cater to smaller cities or struggling neighborhoods). The idea Brent is trying to convey is not just creating or renovating one building and moving on, but
building up whole neighborhoods at a time, resulting in a mix of buildings that are historical and looking into the future.
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Do You Have the Coolest Office Space?
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According to a
Psychology Today article, the average person spends
roughly 90,000 hours at work over the course of their lifetime. (And remember,
one-seventh of your life is on a Monday.) Your work environment is important -- not only does it affect
how you feel about your job, it can affect your overall
health as well.
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| Many of you spend time developing other people's work environments, but what about your own? If you work in a unique building or location, have an office built from a historic factory or home, utilize some innovative design, have quirky preferences for your space, or have an interesting story about your workplace's design, Real Estate People wants to hear about it. E-mail beth@realestatepeople.co and tell her all about your cool office digs! |
| Who would you like to see featured in Real Estate People? Send your story ideas to beth@realestatepeople.co. |
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