Live, Work, Play
Before its retrofit and after it was abandoned by Ford, the Universal Ford Building had been used for miscellaneous storage but basically had been vacant for the past 20 years. Fortunately, the cast-in-place concrete construction had aged well and, structurally, the building was in good shape. The majority of the 37,000-square-foot facility was wide-open space, so Lilly Architects was challenged to maintain the original, historic character of a raw, concrete building while interjecting new elements and modern uses.
The location of the 11,000-square-foot 36°N space is in an area of the building once considered the back-of-house—an area in which mechanics worked in the Model T dealership. “There used to be a railroad spur that came off the south side of the building, so they were actually able to unload the Model T’s directly into the facility,” Lilly explains. “There was a historic freight lift that went all the way to the roof, and that’s all cast-in-place concrete, so they were able to actually park Model T’s on the roof for overflow storage. There was a large ramp that was in the building, which was taken out and infilled to allow for its current use.”
The dealership’s west facade contained the original showroom, which featured a mosaic tile floor where Model T’s would be lined up along the windows. “That would have been where you came in and sat down,” Lilly explains. “There’s an old fireplace that people would have sat at to finalize their transactions to purchase a car.”
Lilly Architects and the building owner decided the expanse of mosaic floor, which was restored, would be the perfect location for what has become the Prairie Artisan Ales brew pub, a nice amenity for the 36°N co-workers to flesh out ideas after the workday is through. The fireplace also has been restored with an insert gas, ventless unit.
“This area was basically a large volume of space that we tried to break down without dividing,” Lilly recalls. “We designed a dining ellipse on one side with a couple booths in it, which breaks up the volume that you walk through. Then there’s the bar in which we actually use a foeder, an 8-foot-wide by 9-foot-tall beer-brewing barrel, as the bar’s centerpiece. It has 20 taps coming out of it, and the bar is on a radius around that.” A larger dining space and private dining area round out the brew pub.
On the second floor of the building, Lilly Architects created 23 apartments, consisting of studios and one- and two-bedroom units, many of which are for the Tulsa Artist Fellowship Program, which is a George Kaiser Family Foundation-sponsored program. It encourages artists from all over the world to come to Tulsa to live and work.
Office Space
Coordination among trades and an open line of communication between stakeholders served Lilly well. “We allowed decisions to evolve and change, as necessary, as the process proceeded,” he remembers.
The building’s envelope was improved with new stucco and brickwork repairs. The team retained the original steel windows, which were repaired in place. “There are over 2,000 individually glazed window units that are insulated that have been put into those steel window frames,” Lilly says. Window treatments and shades protect the workspaces from glare.
Electric lighting within the building is LED. “We went with a direct/indirect primarily
for the open office space, so it’s a suspended system that shines out of the bottom of the fixture and shines out of the top to reflect off the ceiling,” Lilly states. “In the offices, we actually have a lay-in 2 by 4 troffer. We’ve been really pleased with the performance and color temperature of it.”