IAF Scholarship spotlight: Chris Reinhart
IAF scholarship helps former college dropout realize his dreams of becoming an architect
Chris Reinhart didn’t take the traditional route toarchitecture school. But Reinhart isn’t what you’d call a traditional kind ofguy. He built his first home out of straw bales and salvaged materials.
When he graduated from Lafayette Jefferson High School, theacademically gifted 18-year-old headed off to Indiana University and the worldappeared to be his oyster. However, after five semesters, he “very ungracefully,”dropped out. He formed a rock band, Cadmium Orange and got a construction job.
Today, at age 40, Reinhart is days away from receiving his master’s degree in architecture, and he’s working part-time as a design associate at Cripe Architects, a job he said he landed, in part, because of the Indiana Architectural Foundation.
During the scholarship presentation, IAF asked each of therecipients to say a few words about their project. Reinhart talked about ahypothetical design for a future charter school in Bloomington. He doesn’tremember exactly what he said, but he remembers the call he got from Cripeasking him to come in and talk about a job.
Reinhartwas “prepared, polished and engaging,” said Fred Green, Cripe’spresident and COO and former IAF board member. Reinhart grabbed his attentionas soon as he started speaking.
“I think I was in the middle of dessert when he beganspeaking, and I thought who is that? He presented himself in a very organizedand thoughtful manner, and you could tell he was a little older than the restof the students, a life-long learner who had been around the block and knewwhat he was talking about,” Green remembered. “I thought this is a guy whocould really be an ambassador for our firm.”
Reinhart is grateful for IAF, which awarded him three scholarships and helped him make connections.
“It made it finally possible to go to school and not be sostressed out,” said Reinhart, a single dad who commutes from Bloomington toMuncie as he completes his masters. “I have enormous gratitude for IAF for tworeasons, helping me make it through school and bringing together all these Indyfirms and providing me the opportunity to make myself known to them. It’s verymeaningful to have a great relationship with an employer I love.”
He’s also doing work he’s passionate about. Reinhart’s loveof architecture began to build as he worked up through the ranks inconstruction. He became enamored with the thought of building his own house, sohe took some workshops about earth and straw bale construction, bought a littleland on a hillside in Bloomington and went to work on a cottage, which beganhis working lab.
That became the genesis for going back to college. After a10-year hiatus, he enrolled in the design technology program at Ivy Tech.Things began to click. He became president of the Ivy Tech Ecology Club, and bythe time he graduated from Ivy Tech in 2009, with a 4.0 GPA, won the Janine CRae Humanitarian Award, was named the Outstanding Student in Design Technology,was named the Bryon Fellow and was a commencement speaker.
Next up was Ball State’s prestigious College of Architectureand Planning. Reinhart enrolled at the age of 32. Along with his bachelor’sdegree he collected even more accolades. He won the prestigious Udall Scholaraward in 2012, and was awarded Indiana Architecture Pinnacles of Excellenceawards in both 2012 and 2013. In 2013, he received the CAP Best and BrightestAward, was named a Building Better Communities Fellow and won the BuildingBetter Communities Leadership Award.
Reinhart has found his stride. When he completes hismasters, he’s going to stay put in Bloomington and help Cripe develop thedesign market in Bloomington and will become Cripe’s director of sustainability and research.
“I love the intersection of technology and architecture asit relates to human wellness,” he said. “I want to do more with evidence-baseddesign, not just in medical office buildings, but also in retail and officesettings. There are a lot of improvements that can be made.”
While he no longer lives in the straw-bale house, he’splanning an addition to bring it up to 1,200 or 1,300 square feet, and maybemove back in when his son, who is now 17, heads off to college.