All the Creativity Without the Mess

For many downtown Indianapolis residents, smaller living spaces and reuse are a way of life. But with that comes a challenge: how do you repair, recycle and salvage? In the past, it involved messy projects on the living room floor or in a stairwell. However, the Maker’s Room at Circa is quickly becoming a popular solutions for its residents.

The Maker’s Room is on the first floor of the historic building. Designed for residents to complete DIY projects, the space features an overhead door to the outside, allowing residents to wheel in large-scale projects, as well as use a large work table, sawhorses, shelves full of common tools, a sewing machine, a flat screen TV and bright lighting.

Whether it’s sewing together a Halloween costume, salvaging bar stools or repairing a bicycle, residents are finding ways to use one of the most unique aspects of Circa and to downtown living. “The room reflects a global maker movement toward less consumerism and stewardship of the environment,” said Jake Dietrich, Director of Development, Milhaus. “It’s another example of how Milhaus looks at lifestyle and cultural trends and builds them into our residences.”

The room is also the only one in a Milhaus development thus far and reflects the people drawn to live at Circa. The idea stemmed from the history of the property and the neighborhood. In addition to renovating the historic structure which houses the property’s leasing office, amenity center and loft-style apartments, materials from the original factory were repurposed. These include metal siding from a shed that are now wall coverings and beams which were reused to create resident mailboxes and a large conversation table in the urban lounge. There are also one-of-a-kind sculptures from Nick Allman and Kipp Normand incorporating materials from the original headquarters of the tool and die company, which opened in 1933 and moved to a new location nearly 80 years later.

“The room is heavily used on the weekend and evenings,” added Danielle Littlejohn, Director of Residential Services, Milhaus.” “Residents love it because it keeps the mess, smell and stains away from their living space.”

For more information about available residences and other amenities, visit liveatcirca.com.