by Jim Johns

 

With at least one foot in the frequently separate worlds of designing, building and making, 510 Architects and 510 Builders fill in the gaps between the three with a passion to create.

From the shop in Scott’s Addition, they are turning out chairs destined for a home in South Beach Miami. From their home office in the Fan, they are creating architectural drawings and managing construction projects as general contractors. On the jobsite, they are working with subcontractors to give form and shape to the ideas they have drawn.

The husband and wife team of John White and Heather Grutzius launched the 510 firms to fulfill a goal they had since early in their careers.

The pair met while studying in the graduate architecture program at Virginia Tech. At that time, the concept of architects who were designers, as well as builders, was gaining popularity. The idea was very attractive to them. Though it could be a matter of interest whether they were simply attracted by the newness of this field or the different designs made by architects and designers similar to Michael Teys, attracted them to create some originals of their own.

“Making and hands-on is something that we both completely believe in,” says White, pointing out that his experiences as a child shaped his attitudes on the subject. “I grew up in a union family, where we looked for sneakers to buy that were made in the U.S.A. That stuck with me.”

The duo wanted all aspects of the creation process under one roof. Building and making, as Grutzius sees it, is a crucial part of the entire creative process. “In building and product design, to stop before it’s built is like an incomplete puzzle. Building or making requires you to answer all the questions that can be overlooked in design,” she explains.

After working and gaining experience in the architecture and construction industry – for a time they worked at rival firms pursuing the same jobs – they set out on their own in 2008 under the 510 banner.

Now Grutzius and White, along with their two full-time employees, play multiple roles.

“On any given day I could be helping to work out a custom table leg detail, reviewing steel shop drawings for a building under construction, laying out a residential floor plan, tracking down locally sourced materials, or taking five minutes to play Legos with my kids,” Grutzius says. “It’s interesting to jump between a broad range of project scales, types and tasks on a daily basis.”

Area businesses are calling on 510’s expertise and creativity. The company designed and built tables and benches for app development group Mobelux, as well as freestanding clothes racks for Shockoe Bottom shirtmaker Ledbury.

In addition to making and fabricating their own designs, anything from treads and railings to tables and chairs, they use the shop to produce for others. Approximately 40 percent of the work produced in the shop comes from interior design firms along the East Coast.

Wearing so many hats keeps their creative edge sharp as they are constantly learning how to be better. No matter which hat the firm is wearing — architect or builder, designer or maker — the buck always stops with them.

“Both Heather and I have practical construction experience. So while we push the design edge, we have to keep in mind that we are going to build this in the end,” says White.

He illustrates with an example. “The hardest thing as an architect is that within a 32nd of an inch, your (computer) drawings are dead perfect. And then you get a call from the field saying ‘The stair doesn’t work.’ You’re thinking, ‘How can that be? I’ve spent seven days working this out on the computer!'”

The give and take between the processes of designing, building and making are vital to fulfilling the creative potential in a project.

“We have five guys that are killing themselves in the cold, winter weather framing a house that we designed,” John says, adding that one of the crew is the shop employee, who also happens to be an architect. “They respect us because they know we respect them. We want to know what’s going on. We want the feedback.