B&J Tools

Built: 1998

Location: Sparks, Nevada

B & J Machine and Tool in Sparks, Nevada, is a 53,000 square foot facility for a decades-old established family-operated tool and die and sheet metal shop.

The building is adjacent to Interstate 80 in a highly visible location. The design intent had two specific goals:  to pay homage to the old brick industrial buildings of the area and to express metal as an element of the environment.

The users were deeply engaged in the design process and encouraged to participate in many ways. In the spirit of creativity this translated into the owners going from their original idea of a gray building with a single blue stripe across the parapet, which evolved into a cost-equivalent crenelated parapet, to designing and manufacturing the twisted stainless steel downspouts.