Tag Archive for: planning

Infographic: 5 Tips for Early Childhood Planning, Design, and Construction

Most of us may have a difficult time remembering what it was like to be in preschool, but try to put yourself there for a moment. Everything seems so much bigger than you, your imagination is running freely, and you are actually encouraged to nap in the middle of the day. When planning for an […]

The Heart of the Placemaking Process

Every place evokes feelings for people. A great place feels welcoming, exciting, curious, comforting—and maybe even inspiring. Your designated place always has the opportunity to evoke vastly different feelings than it does now. In downtown places, reinvestment from all parties is evident and necessary—and generates a lot of interest and excitement. A Placemaking Plan does […]

Mixed-Use Development Challenges

Mixed-use development combines two or more uses; residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or industrial into an integrated structure or area. This can be a single building, a conglomeration of several buildings, or sometimes an entire neighborhood or development area. Blending together restaurants, boutiques, and apartments can bring a lot of life to a city corner while […]

Designing a One Stop that transforms the Student Experience

American Association of Community Colleges Annual Conference April 10, 2016 Kevin Shelley, Anne Penny Valentine (Ivy Tech Community College) Serving a diverse student population with diverse needs creates challenges for community colleges seeking to improve the student enrollment experience. Ivy Tech Community College decided one stop could transform the enrollment experience. Less than two years […]

Project Blogs: What are They and how do They Work

Schmidt Associates believes it is important to keep Owners, users, and the members of the surrounding community involved with the design process. However, it can be a challenge meet with all of those people and keep them informed without delaying a project’s schedule. To address this need, Schmidt Associates has developed project blogs to serve […]

Philosophy of Space Planning and Design

In order to produce a strong space plan and design, Schmidt Associates believes a proven process must be followed. In simplest form, the process can be defined as having five main components:   Mission and Goals A “Core Group” comprised of key decision-makers will help define the objectives, desired culture, and vision. By creating common […]

Roof 101: Steep-slope Roof Material Options

There are two primary types of commercial roof systems: low-slope roofs and steep-slope roofs. A roof typically qualifies as a steep slope if it has a ratio of at least 3:12–for every 12 horizontal inches of roof, the slope increases by 3 vertical inches. There are three main sub-categories of steep-slope roofs that we normally […]

Crime prevention through environmental design

As communities work on neighborhood revitalization, one strategy of note is to deter crime through design. When Schmidt Associates studies opportunities in a neighborhood, we use a variety of crime deterrence design strategies including; Natural Surveillance – adding first floor windows onto the street, lowering hedges and fences, providing proper lighting, all provide both the […]

Elevate Your Expectations for Downtown Development, Part III

In my Indianapolis Business Journal column listing 10 things Indianapolis could do to make our already thriving downtown an even better place to live, the third item was: Mix in more housing individuals can afford. Starter living units with lower price points will lure sought-after young professionals earlier. Energy consumption will make housing and retail […]

Elevate Your Expectations for Downtown Development, Part II

In my Indianapolis Business Journal column listing 10 things Indianapolis could do to make our already thriving downtown an even better place to live, the second item was: Have the guts (and the money) to build more than five stories. Downtown Indianapolis has a few notable existing and planned high-rise places to live, but many […]