CBJ: Local firm grows during economic downturn

A decision to blend architecture, construction and graphic design has helped grow and sustain a Charlottesville firm in the midst of the recession.

Alloy, founded by Dan Zimmerman and Zac Snider, who met in 2006, is marking five years in business this month. They began in a small downtown space on East Market Street with just a couple of employees.

Today, they have 13 employees, and earlier this month, they moved into an 1,800-square-foot space at 1109 Rose Hill Drive. The new location is twice as large as the old space.

“We started right before the recession hit,” Snider said.

“Because we were a new business, I consider us lucky that we never really had our feet under us to begin with, and so the recession didn’t really feel like that much of a change to us.” Zimmerman agreed.

“I think having those three disciplines within the company is sort of a three-legged stool … Each of [those] business models have a really different business cycle. It really allowed a downturn in one [sector] to be held up by another.” Zimmerman also cited the housing market slump as a contributing factor that boosted the architectural business across the board.

“In down markets like this, folks stay where they are and then add on to their house or modify it.”

Being design-oriented by nature and profession, both men said they genuinely relish the opportunity to design their new office from scratch. Asked what exactly the renovations encompassed, they answered in unison, followed with laughter.

“Everything,” they said.

“It’s a complete renovation of the building,” Zimmerman added. The building, he continued “was … like a caveman-kind of dwelling.”

They’ve added windows, new floors, a glass-walled conference room, a wood stove to supplement the standard heating and air system and sun tubes, which are specially designed skylights that magnify daylight, reducing the need for artificial indoor lighting.

The partnership has allowed them to take on several prominent projects, chief among them the design and building of the Commonwealth Restaurant and Skybar on the Downtown Mall. The restaurant opened this past fall.

“That took a majority of our attention for last year,” Zimmerman said. “As soon as that finished, it kind of opened up to a lot of clients who had patiently been waiting. We went from one central focus to suddenly like eight to 10 [projects], which, management-wise, is a challenge.”

“We had a really good team,” he continued. “The restaurant owners had a fairly clear vision of the feeling they were going for. The initial idea was they were looking for something that you didn’t walk into and think, ‘Oh, an architect got a hold of this.’”

Marthe Rowen, an architect and partner with Rowen Barton Studio, was one of the people who worked with Alloy on the Commonwealth project. She said their decision to bring different yet complementary skills under one roof is a good move, and one that more companies will likely follow.

“They are able to work at small and larger scales, and they are willing to work in different capacities depending upon the needs of the project,” Rowen said by email. She described Zimmerman and Snider as energetic and flexible and expressed confidence that their success will continue.

“Certainly the design and construction industries have felt the impact of the downturn in the economy and every business has had to find ways to adjust,” Rowen said.