Meet Mat Gradias
Mat Gradias is a Principal Architect at KBZ Architects.
A fifth generation native to Santa Barbara, Mat began his career in high-end residential design in the office of Andy Neumann, Architect.
After a brief but valuable stint working on large scale institutional and commercial projects in the Portland office of ZGF, Mat returned to Santa Barbara to work with Neumann Mendro Andrulaitis. Mat joined the offices of KBZ in 2011, after working on his own for a number of years, and was recently made a partner in 2020.
Mat has worked on projects of varying scales and typologies. He brings an expert level of experience to all phases of the design process.
What led you to begin your career in architecture?
My dad was in construction for years and he would take me to job sites as a kid. As a result, I got to meet a lot of trades people and they would ask if I ever wanted to work in construction or be an architect. As a kid, I put those conversations to the side and was really interested in being an airline pilot. It wasn’t until the middle of high school that I got more interested in architecture and started paying more attention to the buildings in our community. College definitely enhanced my passion for architecture. If you find yourself spending a lot of late night hours working on a project in college, you’ve probably found your passion.
What are the most memorable projects throughout your career?
Rather than offend anyone by not mentioning their project, I’d rather say that my most memorable projects are those where the owner, design team and the builders find alignment with the project goals and work together to help make the project a success. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience several projects that fit into this mold. It helps that our community has some highly skilled trades people to help execute those project goals.
As an example, we were working on a project that included the placement of salvaged brick pavers in a plaza area. We had a group of incredible masons working on the project. I had a high level of respect for the work they were doing, and they also respected the effort we put into the design. They were working on a highly visible area of the project and asked if I could come out to the site on a Saturday to review their progress because they wanted to make sure they were meeting our expectations. My 4 year old daughter and I ventured out to the job site on a Saturday with a box of donuts for the masons. My daughter and I ended up working with the masons for an hour or so as we interspersed the salvaged brick within the plaza. That is obviously an extreme version of “working together” and we don’t always end up working that closely, but working that closely definitely made it memorable.
What awards, certifications, or achievements are you most proud of?
This isn’t an award, or even a certification, but we could probably call it an achievement. We’ve worked on several historic renovation projects and I think I’m most proud of the projects where people have a hard time figuring out what we actually did. It’s really great for a building to maintain its soul even after you’ve intervened a bit.
How has your work positively impacted the communities you serve?
Given how public our work is, there are a lot of these, but I’ll name two that operate on different scales. The first is the Lobero Theater. The Lobero has a rich history as both a prominent building in our downtown and more broadly as a performance venue for a variety of world class artists. Our work on the project expanded access to the building which allows more people in our community to enjoy the theater. Our work also secured the Lobero’s relevance as a performance space for years to come.
On a smaller scale, we recently worked with Harding University Partnership School on an outdoor classroom. Harding happens to be the elementary school that I attended so it has some personal relevance. Working alongside an outdoor education group and the school's faculty we reimagined a small courtyard space as an outdoor classroom. The impact on the campus was immediate and hearing the kids talk about the opportunities the new outdoor classroom provided was really inspiring.
Why are you excited to be working with the KBZ Architects team?
I think our philosophy of personal service results in an ego-free working environment. While we have defined roles in the office, it’s nice to be in an office environment where the focus is on our clients.
