Arris Finkbeiner

Project Architect

Arris Finkbeiner, AIA, NCARB, NCIDQ, LEED AP BD+C is a self-described type A personality with a knack for organization and an appreciation for a precise spreadsheet. Because Arris is both a licensed architect and interior designer, he offers building owners a well-rounded perspective. Whether he’s working with an internal branding team to create signage and wayfinding for office expansions or helping a university building committee revive a business school’s façade, Arris balances projects’ technical, design, and budgetary aspects. He also draws from his experience as a certified ambassador in the Fitwel healthy building movement to design projects that support mental and physical well-being.

Arris’s portfolio ranges from project management to furnishing standards for project types including residential, commercial, laboratory, and education. His interior makeovers have helped organizations expand into new markets and attract new business. He has designed renovations that transform private offices into open formats with more collaborative and shared spaces. His due diligence reports have even resulted in reduced upgrade costs for tenants.

Arris is a key member of the Legat team for a new three-school campus for A.E.R.O. Special Education Cooperative. He helped develop a revised floor plan layout that saves costs while retaining all desired program spaces.

Arris has a passion for mentoring the next generation of designers. For instance, he has devoted many hours to guiding high school student design projects for national competitions.

Arris’s architectural aspirations stretch back to boyhood, when he used colored pencils to draw buildings and tinkered with Legos, Erector Sets, Lincoln Logs, and K’Nex systems. He earned his architectural degree from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, just outside of Detroit.

Outside the office, Arris enjoys golf, downhill skiing, and biking, as well as home improvement projects and cooking. He also loves hanging out with his wife and daughter.

And how does one come by a name as distinctive as Arris Finkbeiner? Arris’s namesake is his great grandfather—the German emigrated through Canada and ended up in Detroit, where he became a police officer.