business

A knack for seeing how things will look before they are built has proved useful for Minneapolis architect Judy Grundstrom.

It has helped her design work on everything from Betty Crocker's new kitchen to futuristic skyscrapers overseas and local residential and commercial remodeling and construction projects.

As an entrepreneur, it's also helped her form a clear vision for her boutique architecture and interior design firm, IOTA --for Inland Office for Tomorrow's Architecture.

"The goal is to build it into a nationally and internationally recognized design firm," said Grundstrom, 36.

As such, IOTA concentrates on design, not the production work or project management services in which larger firms tend to specialize, said Grundstrom, a registered architect and certified interior designer.

"We're an idea company," Grundstrom said of IOTA, which launched in 2004.

"The reason why you would want to come to IOTA is [that] we've got great ideas. We have creative solutions that solve people's architectural needs or space needs."

To generate all those ideas -- and communicate them to clients -- Grundstrom has assembled a small, nimble, tech-savvy staff at what is one of perhaps a handful of female-owned architecture firms in the state. Revenue is projected to hit $360,000 this year.

The IOTA management team also is all female. Joining founder and managing principal Grundstrom are Kate Speckmann, marketing manager, and Lauren Rath, design studio manager.

'Charlie's Angels'

That's prompted Grundstrom to refer to the firm jokingly as the Charlie's Angels of Architecture. That may be a distinguishing point, but it hasn't necessarily boosted business.

"I think that it does put us at a disadvantage still," Grundstrom said. More on that later.

IOTA's design approach is modern, though with an eye toward preserving under-appreciated buildings from the recent past -- ramblers, early strip centers and other aging structures.

"We focus a lot on adaptive reuse in the urban community," Speckmann said. "We really like buildings from the city, especially the post-World War II stock that has really great structural elements and [was] designed well." Many of those buildings have fallen into disrepair, she said. They aren't yet old enough to appear to be worth saving and often end up being replaced by cookie-cutter designs.

Grundstrom disagrees strongly with the tear-down approach.

Besides her professional work in finding new uses for older buildings, she and her architect husband, Rob, won an award this year from the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission for the remodeling of the rambler where they live with their two young children.

"We have a responsibility to the time and place we're in," Grundstrom said. "We have to preserve the buildings that were there before us and we should build the buildings that are here now to reflect the time and place of our age now."

Grundstrom grew up wanting to be a painter. Her skills in math and science prompted her high school art teacher to suggest architecture.

"It was a good fit," said Grundstrom, who went to architecture school at North Dakota State University. "I always did have a strong ability to visualize things -- how they were going to look and be -- but I guess I didn't know that everybody else didn't have that."

She spent her first few years after school at a large firm in Minneapolis. She did design work for General Mills' corporate campus, which included a new Betty Crocker test kitchen.

Grundstrom left to start her own firm, fulfilling a long-held ambition. She still teams with larger firms that seek IOTA's expertise on big, complicated projects such as huge office towers or shopping centers in far-flung countries.

"The international work is fun, but it's very important to be doing work here in Minneapolis and locally as well," she said.

Diverse projects

IOTA's local clients include Jeff Herman of commercial real estate development firm Urban Anthology. Herman first enlisted IOTA for design work that involved converting a dilapidated storage building in north Minneapolis into a designer-retail showroom.

"I appreciated her ability to think outside the box, to see through issues and potential hurdles in a creative and different way than other design professionals and to do that expeditiously and stay within budget," said Herman, who since has brought IOTA in on a number of other projects.

"I really admire what Judy has done with her company -- the young, fresh, energetic staff that she has, that I think is in many ways beyond its years in their creativity and their abilities," he said. "She has a knack for finding good people, for finding good projects and for harnessing all the magic in her profession."

IOTA has been certified as a woman-owned business in the state as well as in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties and in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Grundstrom said. (Various certification programs help companies owned by women, minorities or socially and economically disadvantaged people grow by gaining access to government and corporate contracting opportunities.)

"The point of having that is that it's supposed to level the playing field," Grundstrom said. "I meet men who own businesses and they say, 'Oh, you're a woman-owned business, you must be getting tons of work.' I say, 'In the four years I've been in business, guess how many government jobs I've gotten. Zero.' ... We have much better luck in the private sector," she said.

"We don't want handouts, all we want is just to meet them," Speckmann said of prospective government clients.

The expert says: Sam Zordich, CEO of Stonegate Growth Strategies, a business consulting firm in Golden Valley, said she advised Grundstrom about refining IOTA's marketing to focus on her and her company's strengths.

"We worked on that with her pretty extensively to nail that down so that's a clear, crisp message," she said.

"Right now, her marketing and sales efforts are really strong."

Emphasizing Grundstrom's design expertise in urban, post-war buildings, IOTA now concentrates on projects in Minneapolis and St. Paul, largely forgoing the suburbs, Zordich said.

Grundstrom's experience with certification is similar to that of many other women who own businesses, said Zordich, who holds a national certification designed to open doors with large corporations.

"We think it will give us an edge but it doesn't -- not in the real world."

Todd Nelson is a freelance writer in Woodbury. His e-mail address is todd_nelson@mac.com.