We create places for people, built on principles.
People and places are what we do. Principles are how we do it, right-sized design that gives clients exactly what they need, nothing more.
Arete is a Fort Collins based commercial architecture firm specializing in design-build project delivery. Our strength is helping owners navigate complicated building projects in a practical, collaborative, and construction-minded way.
From industrial manufacturing facilities to healthcare clinics, corporate offices, fire stations, and pre-engineered metal buildings, our mission is the same:
to create places that honor the people they serve and the principles they represent.
(Are – ah – tay)
Arete started with a simple frustration: too many architects designed for themselves, not their clients. Our founder spent years in beverage manufacturing and brewery design, and the pattern was always the same. Firms would show up with an ego and a vision, then try to make the client's business fit inside it.
We asked different questions instead.
How do you make your beer?
Where do people get stuck moving through the day?
What's actually slowing you down?
At the time, the industry rule of thumb was one square foot of building per barrel produced. Listening this closely let us build breweries and distilleries at half that footprint, so clients spent less on construction and more on their product.
That approach is still how we work. We call it People, Places, Principles. We learn who a building is really for, then design the place around them, guided by first principles rather than more square footage than the job requires.
What began as brewery and distillery work has grown into municipal, healthcare, educational, and industrial projects across Fort Collins and beyond. The scope has changed. The care hasn't.
to create places that honor the people they serve and the principles they represent.
Our Mission:
to be of service by thoughtfully informing you about the process along the way, being a guide you can rely on when decisions or actions are needed to keep things moving forward, and working to gain and build your trust.
Our Purpose:
is helping owners navigate complicated building projects in a practical, collaborative, and construction-minded way.
Our Strength:
Here's how that mission gets built.
Listen
Clients understand their own vision better than anyone. We bring genuine curiosity and real presence to that conversation, then use what we learn to chart a path through the challenges ahead.
Design on Principles
Design is detailed. Engineering is tedious. Construction is hard work. Every project carries operational, technical, and regulatory realities, and we help our clients understand them clearly so we can solve them together. Our solutions stay aligned with the client's vision, grounded in value, technically sound, and practical to build.
Execute with Integrity
We stay involved from concept through completion, working alongside builders honestly and rigorously. Seeing a project through construction is as rewarding as the finished place, and it keeps the work on track and the value intact for our clients.
Core Values
Service
We guide clients in a thoughtful, reliable, honest way that builds trust over time. Our role is to serve, and that means seeing the contract through to completion.
Enjoyment
We love what we do. Leading a collaborative design and construction process is as rewarding as the finished product, and helping others is part of what makes the work enjoyable.
Gratitude
Creating things is a privilege. We're grateful to learn, grow, and do good work alongside good people, and grateful to our clients for letting us be creative with them.
Abundance
Approached with optimism, creativity, and generosity, challenges reveal opportunities to add value. Our clients' success is what allows them to bring us in, and we pass that abundance along to the people who support us in serving them.
The People Behind the Places
Good design takes good taste, and it turns out our team has strong opinions about music too. Meet the team and find out which artist they'd time travel for, dead or alive.
Matt Brooksmith, NCARB
Principal Architect
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Q: If you could see any artist (past or present) perform live, who would it be?
A: Bob MarleyBachelor of Architecture, Montana State University - Bozeman
Matt is the principal and founder of Arete Architects. He has dedicated over 30 years to weaving architecture and construction together. From spending time as design architect and construction superintendent, to leading a quality program for a mid-sized commercial construction company, he has experience on both sides of design and construction. He is highly detail oriented, and his hands-on, collaborative approach focuses on creativity, craftsmanship, and quality. He is dedicated to practical, inspiring spaces that align a client's vision and goals.
Paul Vanderheiden, NCIDQ
Operations Manager/Designer
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Q: If you could see any artist (past or present) perform live, who would it be?
A: Pink FloydBachelor of Science, Interior Design, Colorado State University
Paul is operations manager and lead architectural designer at Arete Architects. He has over 12 years of design-build experience across a wide range of project sectors including commercial, industrial, hospitality, education, and corporate office. Paul has worked on dozens of existing buildings and addition projects, and he is an expert in adaptive reuse and complex renovations. Blending his design and project management skills, he fosters teamwork, creativity, and accountability among the design-build team. Paul is a driver that listens first.
Marcia Brake, NCIDQ
Project Manager/Designer
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Q: If you could see any artist (past or present) perform live, who would it be?
A: David BowieBachelor of Science, Interior Design, Colorado State University, minor Construction Management
Marcia brings more than 20 years of experience in interior design and architecture across healthcare, commercial office, and hospitality projects. She is well versed in medical spaces that balances challenging code and regulatory requirements and complex equipment coordination within calming, healing environments that support patient well-being and staff efficiency. She also has experience in fire sprinkler engineering and manages Arete’s dynamic process modeling program. Her diverse background in complex building systems and process-driven environments, including brewery design, complements her technical and process-oriented design focus. Marcia is passionate about designing highly functional, human-centered spaces that integrate technical precision with sustainable design.
“This team brings years of experience in the industrial and commercial sectors for design. They will exceed your expectations throughout the process, whether its your first project or 20th project.”
— Barry H | Project Executive