Stutz II Apartments | Indianapolis, IN

Project was designed by Renato Gilberti during his time as Senior Design Leader for the Chicago Office of  BKV Group.

Client      Somera Road, Inc.

Type        Mixed-Use (Market-Rate Housing & Retail)

Size         6 Stories, 275 Units

The Story      The Stutz II Apartments is the second phase of a major mixed use redevelopment of Historic Stutz Automotive Company’s factory buildings.  The developer undertook the task of rehabilitating existing historic buildings in the First phase of development and converting them into a combination of retail and market-rate apartments.  The second phase seeks to building upon the success of the first on across the street from the original.

The Site      The site is composed of 2-1/2  city blocks just north of downtown Indianapolis, IN.  Bound on the north by 10th Street, Capitol Drive on the East and Senate Avenue on the west, the site is also bisected by the smaller Roanoke Street.  As part of the redevelopment, this section of Roanoke will be vacated to create a public Plaza.  

The Concept      The project consist of 2 buildings connected via a bridge across Roanoke Plaza, and the adaptive re-use of the existing Stutz II factory Building.  The Larger Building is a 5-story Type III wood framed design wrapped around a Type I concrete parking structure.  A sixth floor Amenity Level with a landscaped pool terrace sits aboce the parking structure, and provides residents with views of the Indianapolis Skyline.  The smaller L-shaped building steps down from 5-stories to 4 to match the height of the existing historic building.  A landscaped courtyard separates the existing building from its new neighbors. 

The cladding system is a combination of a white masonry base, and a charcoal and silver corrugated metal panel on the upper levels.  A diagonal transition between the corrugated metal panels gives the building a graphic “racing stripe” aesthetic as homage to the sites history luxury automotive manufacturing.

The building’s form is broken down through the use of recessed triangular balconies with a light ash finish to give a warmer texture evocative of the interior of a car.

Status      Entitled, On Hold