Kayak Pools Midwest, Indianapolis, IN

Type: Commercial Office Building
Role: Architect of Record - Beyond Architecture
Status: Built

Kayak Pools Midwest sells the outdoor life, and their headquarters was designed to make that case before anyone enters the building. Located on East 65th Street in Indianapolis, the two-story commercial office deploys poplar board-and-batten siding and heavy timber cladding in a way that positions the company as a craftsmanship-minded operation in a corridor that typically produces more generic commercial architecture. The material choice communicates directly: wood says something about the kind of company this is — one that takes the quality of what it builds seriously.

The massing works through clarity rather than complexity. A well-proportioned two-story volume with large commercial glazing at the ground floor and residential-scaled Jeld-Wen windows above. The parapet line is clean and consistent, accommodating either standing seam metal or architectural asphalt shingles and keeping the building's silhouette firm regardless of roof finish selection. Window placement is sized to the rooms behind it — an approach that appears obvious but is rarer than it should be in commercial construction, and one that gives the building a settled, considered quality.

The project's restraint is the point. In an industry where commercial buildings often read as purely functional containers, this one announces that the company inside thinks carefully about quality. It is the kind of building that reflects well on the business within — a first impression that earns trust before the pitch begins, and an investment in identity that compounds over time.