Don’t use the “M” word to describe the architectural style of Content Design Group.
Modern is almost a four-letter word in Jacksonville, they say, a place with many historical buildings and fans of the same.
The company’s three partners also avoid the “G” word.
Green building is synonymous with “expensive,” they say. Educated buyers already want green features when shown how they pay off.
The real idea behind Content Design Group is simply to design well.
“Everything we do is well-considered,” said partner James Blythe. “When you walk in, you have a feeling it’s something you can understand, instead of it being something that someone else felt was a good idea in the past.”
Modern and green, though imprecise, are the quickest ways to describe the team’s renovation of the JAX Chamber or the design of TerraWise’s net-zero solar-paneled home in Cedarbrook, a Northside subdivision that came online last month.
The team’s look is so distinctive, it’s recognizable in the clean lines of a custom concrete and glass beach house, the transitional look of neo-urban eateries like Riverside’s Bold Bean Coffee Roasters and Downtown’s Volstead, and the bright color splashes in the Downtown office build-out of Ignite.
One of Jacksonville’s newest and edgiest design companies, Content Design Group was forged out of friendship, a shared vision of building and an economic downturn that forced outside-the-box thinking.
Content Design Group’s three partners entered construction via design backgrounds. Greg Beere earned a design degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Blythe and Jason Fisher both earned design and architecture degrees from the University of Florida.
In their work backgrounds, they brought residential, architectural, commercial and LEED building experience into the mix.
Beere started the company in 2008 when the home building company he worked for went under.
Job postings were slim, so at his wife’s suggestion, he picked up lighting design contracts and worked towards his general contractor’s license.
He soon teamed up with Fisher, a friend he met on the job whose company was also closing.
The two built Content Design during the recession by working any kind of project they could get — porch additions, summer kitchens, carports.
When clients were few, the partners spent their extra time imagining new looks for Jacksonville.
They took photos of their favorite buildings, created renderings of the renovation possibilities, and posted them to their website.
It kept their designs in front of potential clients, it kept their skills sharp, and it was fun. In some cases, owners later painted the buildings to match the renderings.
When Blythe, a college friend of Fisher’s, came on a few years later, the team picked up commercial projects.
The team does office and restaurant build-outs, but it was the renovation of the Jax Chamber that put them on the building industry’s map.
It also illustrates the team’s take on modern design.
Modern can be about the aesthetic of a building, but it’s also about lifestyle, Beere said.
“Our goal is when we design a space is that every square foot functions well and the people living in it are successful.” he said. “We happen to like modern because we think it’s honest.”
For the chamber building, the partners interviewed employees to better understand the organization’s needs.
When it came to the renovation, they replaced plaster walls with translucent ones – a feature that enables privacy, but also shows activity.
“You walked in there before, and it was like a ship’s hull,” Beere said. “Now, it’s not like walking into a scary place. There’s a vibrancy.”
They included training rooms with web-enabled screens and a first-floor cafe.
After learning the chamber had spent thousands each year on renting event space, the team committed to expanding a second-floor conference room and converted a break area into a full service kitchen.
When it comes to designing homes, economy of space and honesty in design also apply.
In Cedarbrook’s TerraWise home, for example, Content Design Group removed standalone living and dining rooms, spaces that were used in the past, but aren’t used today. Instead, there’s a loft above the kitchen, where kids can play separately from, but also within earshot of adults.
They moved excess square footage from the master bedroom, a place that’s only used for sleeping and reading or watching TV, to other areas of the house.
“Sometimes when you look at spec-built house plans, it just looks like people literally just added, added, added,” Blythe said. “So you end up with these McMansions, where nobody was ever told no.”
The Cedarbrook homes by TerraWise stand out for their solar panel option, a feature that increases mortgage payments but decreases energy bills for a net savings of about $35 month.
But energy efficient design, even without solar panels, is a choice that pays, the team said.
A higher SEER (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) air conditioner can recapture the $1,200 extra upfront cost in one or two years.
Low-VOC paints emit fewer fumes and don’t cost any more than traditional paint.
Aerated and low-flow plumbing fixtures save money on water bills, and Energy Star appliances come with a label that estimates annual operating costs.
One problem with “green,” Beere said, is the word has been overused.
“There were a lot of builders who came out when green was the big buzzword,” he said. “It was, ‘Yes we’re green.’ But they were not quantifying that in any particular way.”
Also, contractors sometimes struggle to adopt new “green” building materials and processes. That can make job quotes rise.
Educating customers and businesses on the value of green can be a challenge. But it’s also a way Content Design separates itself from the competition, the partners said.
“It’s smart, so why would you waste money?” Beere said. “You don’t need to be a tree hugger or environmentalist. We realized high-quality building is the same thing as building green.”