The practice
About
Black Flag designs places that help communities feed themselves and care for the land. We draw carefully and work with the people who will build, use, and run them.
What we do
Our work starts with food.
Food access infrastructure. Places that connect the people who grow and make food with the people who eat it. Farm stops, co-op groceries, market cafes, shared kitchens, and space to process, store, and distribute food.
We also work on gathering spaces, existing buildings, native planting and site work, additions, and the everyday repairs that keep a place useful and sound. The scope follows what the project needs.
How we work
Start with the material. What is available? What can the project afford? What can we use again? Those questions help shape the design. We look first for reclaimed materials, then regional materials, then new materials with a verified low-carbon footprint.
Bring the builder in early. We prefer to have the owner, architect, and builder working together from the start. That puts cost and construction knowledge into the design while there is still time to make changes. This approach is called design-assist. We also work with competitive bids and owner-led builds when those fit the project.
Draw, test, revise. We work back and forth between what a place needs to do, the materials available, its form, and how it will be built. We share that work. Project pages include sketches, revisions, and marked-up drawings so you can see how decisions took shape.
Make the work accountable. Each project follows a clear sequence: define the problem, test feasibility, design, build, and close out. We write down budgets, fees, and the reasons behind design decisions. We set schedules honestly. If meeting a deadline would compromise the work, we explain the conflict and work through it with the owner and builder.
Look back before moving on. Every project ends with a conversation about what worked, what did not, and what we need to change. Those lessons shape the next project and how we run the practice.
Who we work with
Nonprofits, cooperatives, land trusts, small producers, farms, neighborhood associations, civic partners, and homeowners.
When we say community, we mean the people doing the work together: owners, neighbors, trades, suppliers, and makers. Local trades help shape the design. Their knowledge belongs in the process from the start.
Robert W. Toot
Bob grew up making things. His father was a furniture maker who worked in wood, slate, and willow. Before architecture school, Bob worked as a heavy equipment operator and mechanic, which taught him that buildings have to work for the people who build them and the people who use them.
He studied architecture at BGSU and the University of Michigan, where drawing became his way of working through problems and food systems infrastructure became his focus. Black Flag Building Workshop grew out of that work. He still builds gourd banjos and works in leather.
The practice
Black Flag Building Workshop is an architecture practice based in Youngstown, Ohio, led by Robert (Bob) Toot, a Registered Architect (RA), with AIA membership, LEED AP BD+C accreditation, and the NCARB Certificate. Licensed in Ohio and Wisconsin.