A General Contractor Embraces a Historic Building’s Original Foundry Equipment while Creating a Sophisticated Headquarters Design

Honorable Mention, Interior

Brackett Builders, a regional construction management and general contracting company, moved into its new headquarters in downtown Dayton, Ohio, in the second quarter of 2022. Although the firm is the most recent company to occupy the building, it was not the first to call the building home.

Built in 1900, Andrew Plocher relocated his City Forge & Iron Works here to expand the company’s architectural and ornamental iron work and forgings. After the company vacated the space, the building was mostly used for warehousing and storage. The restored and renovated building now serves as Brackett Builders’ construction office headquarters. It features 12 individual offices, conference rooms, hoteling stations, informal meeting spaces, a café and balcony overlooking the Dayton Dragons’ minor league ballpark.

As is typical with old buildings, the retrofit had to overcome multiple challenges. For example, after all the building’s contents were removed, it became clear the floor was extremely unlevel. Because of the weight, a cementitious or gypsum-based product could not be used. Brackett Builders, which served as its own general contractor, had to laser level the floor, install new blocking strips and place new wood-floor sheathing across the entire level.

There were a few locations where some of the existing wood truss structure had been damaged by moisture. Brackett Builders poured a new foundation and block support column. The column was then faced with existing brick veneer that had been removed elsewhere in the building.

The building contained a short attic space that had been used for additional storage. It was critical for the design and aesthetics of the new space that this attic be structurally removed while retaining the unique equipment upon which City Forge & Iron Works had depended. The extremely dirty remaining brick and wood timber elements were left exposed. Bags of crushed walnuts were used to blast these remaining building materials to clean the surfaces and return them to their original beauty.

The contractors, subcontractors and material vendors had to work in constant communication with the architects, interior designers and engineers to ensure the project maintained its originality but could provide all of the current technological advancements that today’s office environments require.

“The project team is to be commended for leaning into what the building provided and emphasizing that throughout all spaces. Restoration of attic structure and retention of original foundry equipment make the building unmistakably repurposed. Construction challenges of restoring century structures is appreciated.”

Ross Welch, AIA, NOMA, LEED Green Associate, associate, Trivers, Metamorphosis Awards Judge

Retrofit Team

METAMORPHOSIS AWARD WINNER and GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Brackett Builders Inc.

ARCHITECT: MA Design

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Jezerinac Geers & Associates

ELECTRICIAN: McKeever Niekamp

MECHANICAL: AirTron

PLUMBING: Evans Plumbing

Materials

WINDOWS: Pella

WINDOW SHADES: Draper Inc.

METAL ROOFING: Dimensional Metals Inc.

FIREPLACE: Foundation Series from Heat & Glo 

CONCRETE PANELS: RealCast from Wall Theory

COUNTERTOPS: Daltile

WOOD FLOORING: Shaw Floors

BATHROOM TILE: Garden State Tile and Emser Tile

BATHROOM ACCESSORIES: Trinsic from Delta and Bobrick

BATHROOM PARTITIONS: Hadrian

OFFICE FURNITURE: Kimball

PLUMBING FIXTURES: Delta, Kohler and American Standard

MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT: Goodman

LIGHT FIXTURES: Gotham, WAC Lighting, moooi, Tech Lighting and Lumens

OFFICE GLASS SYSTEMS: C.R. Laurence Co. Inc., Tubelite and Zippy Grid