LEFT The Design Studio's exte- rior maintains the industrial feel of its auto-shop roots. RIGHT A complete set of Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances was incorporated into an active kitchen that reworks the traditional layout. E AST SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA-BASED DESIGNER Nar Bustamante was on the hunt for a new space for his firm. After failing to find any building that appealed to him, he happened to drive by an old Mercedes-Benz auto shop he had noticed many years before and saw that the owners were in the process of moving out of the space. After 25 years in business, they were retiring. "I admired the building when I first came to Sacramento 20-plus years ago," said Bustamante, founder and principal designer of Nar Design Group. He quickly networked his way into the building and secured it, then transformed the already architecturally innovative space into the firm's open-concept design studio. Rather than filling it with elements typical of a showroom - material towers, vignettes or sample boards - Bustamante and his team incorporated the tools needed to show clients the products without trying to recreate actual spaces of a home. REVAMPING THE SPACE "The design and buildout were a 'family effort,'" he said. "I'm incredibly proud of my whole staff and everyone just jumping in and creating the environment we want to work in." 47 46-49_KBB_0420_CoverFeature.indd 47 3/24/20 11:22 PM