Built with Purpose

We purposefully built our facility in Granite Shoals to embody our values (high-end construction/low-end materials). Every inch of this place is made to either create great experiences for clients of the architects+builders we work with (gallery pod), line out artisans for great days  in the field (service pods), or to do the thinking work that leads to greater value creation (office pod). Our values (Safety, Raving Fans, Create Value, Uplift) were everywhere, so when I wanted something positive on the service pods, that old BDP song that I tattooed on my brain as a 8th-grade skateboarder came to mind (video linked here). 

There is a line in there that goes “There’s no defense agains common sense, competence, intelligence or excellence. / Intense. / But here’s the difference: KRS-ONE does not mean ignorance. / Try obedience / Magnificence…” When we put text over the service pods, we added "Represent" and eliminated "intelligence" since that can be a source of insecurity.  

The salient theme of my life is increasing human capital. I want to make the people around me better so badly its confounding at times. The cool part though is how I have been so fortunately placed at the intersection of ideas and physical work. All breakthroughs in thinking seem obvious when uncovered and add to "common sense".  

I love architects / ideas - actual AIA members and those that "get meta" and create systems in any arena (business - military - government - education - ministry - service -NGO - etc.). I also love physical work / artisans. To work between them is an honor and a supremely exciting role for me. In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice - in practice there is. Improving best-practices with a uniquely complete combination of feedback from the field and understanding of the science behind the materials and processes is super-duper fun.

As Dan Walters says “So, what?”. So…thank you. Thank you for choosing a hand-made floor that may never wear out or go out of style. Thank you for transcending how society has conditioned you to be a consumer and despite imperfection and uncertainty and choosing element7concrete over future-garbage. Thank you for “getting it”. And right now, I thank you for reading the expanded explanation of why we are so stoked to stain and polish another foundation slab into an amazing floor. We all love you.