Tag Archive for: higher education

Remembering Ron Fisher

Ron Fisher, AIA, LEED AP July 25, 1956 – April 5, 2023 Ron Fisher, AIA, LEED AP, our friend, mentor, and long-time principal at Schmidt Associates, passed away on April 5 at the age of 66. Born and raised on Indianapolis’s Southside, Ron was drawn to architecture from an early age, spending countless hours drawing, […]

Adapting, Expanding, Prevailing

Schmidt Associates designers work to re-imagine existing space for Spalding University’s physical therapy program On the Spalding University campus in downtown Louisville, Ky., a new school of physical therapy will begin educating the next wave of compassionate, caring, and skilled physical therapists in a $7M building beginning in fall 2023. Located along Spalding’s Health Sciences […]

Designing College Campuses for Student Health, Equity, and Performance—Part 1

Distraught, a friend described having sleepless nights concerned about her 19-year-old freshman son’s mental health. She wasn’t alone as many students across college campuses had a rough journey filled with isolation and anxiety from COVID-19. College is about connecting, community, and forming relationships. As they prepare to welcome students back, administrators’ focus will be on […]

3 Strategies to Help Colleges Prioritize Deferred Maintenance Post-COVID

The realities of a pandemic have made running a college or university harder than ever. Institutions must simultaneously plan for a murky future state while trying to keep the doors open today. This balancing act impacts nearly every decision made and every dollar spent. Even during the best of times, facilities leaders almost always need […]

Design Crossover: Filling the Higher Ed STEM Pipeline Starting in K-12

How Purdue University is combining community engagement, early program exposure, and cutting-edge education design to increase its engineering student pipeline. STEM careers are in increasingly high demand. Today, we don’t have the volume of prepared applicants funneling into higher education institutions to meet the workforce needs of tomorrow and continue to successfully compete in the […]

Owner Perspective: Ball State University North Residence Hall

This semester, students moved into the new North Residence Hall at Ball State University. A part of the campus’ North Residential Neighborhood, the hall closely accompanies two other residence halls, a dining hall, and a fourth residence hall currently under construction. The 496-bed residence hall is a science, technology, and math Living-Learning Community. It includes […]

How a Wind Study Informs Building Design

A wind study is an engineering tool we can use to help clients make informed design decisions. It’s not a primary component of most projects and is not done for every building design, but when it is needed, the results can make a significant impact on the daily experience users have with a building or […]

Construction Insights: Ball State University North Residence Hall

Interview with Kelly Knable, Director of Construction at Ball State University A residence hall—particularly one like North Hall at Ball State University, which is designed as a living-learning community for science, technology, and math majors—includes several different project types rolled into one. It serves as a space for occupants to live, socialize, and study. It […]

How Higher Ed Facilities are Moving Forward After COVID-19

In mid-May, we surveyed higher education institutions across Indiana. We wanted to understand what they’d seen so far as a result of COVID-19 and their plans for campus in the future. Based on our findings, we offered insights and potential solutions for some of their facility challenges during a moderated discussion in mid-June. Below are […]

A Love Letter to the College Campus

      I know you’ve heard what everyone is saying. They say that I’ve moved on. That remote learning has stolen my heart and that we’re planning to run away together and live happily every ever. But Campus, you were my first love! What we have can’t be replaced by a fast internet connection […]