Robert J. Ett

When the rules didn't seem to apply, Daniel Levine asked architect Bob Ett and his firm, Omni, to help him break them.
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Twenty-three years after Ett formed OmniArchitecture Inc., and three years later was joined by N.C. State University classmate Don Porter, architecture has been dropped from the name.
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"We have become so much more than an architectural firm to our clients," says Ett.He searches for a description of the new Omni.

"You could say we're consultants in the three-dimensional world of business and corporations," he says.
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"One of the huge transitions is space as an entitlement," says Ett.
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For Ett and Porter, Omni represents a pairing that began in college.
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Ett, who grew up in Miami, and Porter, a Virginian whose family moved to Charlotte 40 years ago, both choose Charlotte when they graduated from NCSU.
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With their credentials established, in 1976, Ett formed OmniArchitecture, and in 1979, Porter joined him.
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Fortunately, adds Ett, Omni had anticipated the slump, and expanded work in tenant upfit and less recession-prone projects.

"We were able to sustain ourselves, but we cut the staff back, partly through attrition, from 22 to about 15 people," adds Ett.
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Today, says Ett, Omni "is walking the talk of what we tell our corporate clients."Its offices represent the same flexible, modular design preferred by clients.Employees work in teams organized around clients, and there is a section for hoteling, where those who work at remote locations -- the firm has members assigned to Duke Energy Corp., First Union and other big clients -- share space.

Approaching its 25th anniversary, Omni expects to build on its past."If we did anything really visionary, it was in the 1980s when we foresaw the rise of financial institutions and decided that was the market to go after," says Ett.
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Ett doesn't rule out marriage with another firm, such as the 1997 acquisition of Middleton McMillan Architects of Charlotte by Indiana-based SchenkelShultz Architecture Inc.

But he expects Omni and the Charlotte architectural community to increasingly stand out on the national design map."We're always had good architecture here and been blessed with good architectural firms," he says.

WHO: Guests will include host Robert Ett, President of Omni; Mark Vitner, Vice President and Senior Economist from Wacovia Corporation; John Connaughton, Ph.D., professor of economics at UNC Charlotte; and Harrison Campbell, Jr. Ph.D., assistant professor of geography at UNC Charlotte.

Robert Ett President, OMNI Architecture, PA

When the rules didn't seem to apply, Daniel Levine asked architect Bob Ett and his firm, Omni, to help him break them.

About half of 53-employee OmniArchitecture's work is dedicated to banks, says Bob Ett, principal in the firm.

But its work with First Union, Wachovia Corp., BB&T Corp. and other banks hasn't convinced the firm to open offices in other cities."In today's world of communications, we don't think that's cost effective," Ett says.

For Little, not all the work in the Philadelphia office will be dedicated to First Union or even to banks.Little has done work for Valley Forge, Pa.-based Vanguard Group, which has a large presence in LakePointe Office Park here.

Mr. Robert EttManaging PrincipalOmni Architecture

September 20Topic : Co-Luncheon with IREMGateway Village Urban Mixed Use DevelopmentMeeting Time : 11 : 30 a.mCost : $ 20.00 - members $ 25.00 - guestsPlace : Adams Mark HotelNote : RSVP by Sept. 15 (704/372-0005 x 400)

Omni's Founder, Bob Ett, Interviewed about Auto Museum History

January 11, 2005

Lynn Wheeler with WBTV-NEWS interviewed Bob Ett about the plans he worked on with Bruton Smith for the conceptual auto museum in 2000.Now that NASCAR has announced plans to select a city for the NASCAR museum, the plans of the Ett, Smith museum were discussed in an on-location TV interview with Ett and Wheeler.
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Ett revealed the thoughts behind the museum in 2000 and his desire for NASCAR to approach Charlotte for their current auto museum.
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by Robert J. Ett, AIA

Robert Ett is Managing Principal of OMNI Architecture, directing its vision and growth since starting the firm in 1976.A registered architect in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Nevada, he studied the principles of mixed-use development at Harvard University.