Tag Archive for: spirit

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 […]

What Makes a Hotel Easily Accessible?

There are plenty of rules and guidelines when it comes to designing accessible spaces—but there are things that still do not make it EASY for people to use. When working with The Arc of Indiana to design their new Training Institute and Teaching Hotel, we had the opportunity to sit down with a group from […]

Elevate Your Expectations for Downtown Development, Part I

A couple of months ago I was honored to write a column for the Indianapolis Business Journal about 10 things Indianapolis could do to make our already thriving downtown an even better place to live. Number one on my list is investing in more parks as an amenity to keep young urban dwellers downtown after […]

Auditorium Design Basics

An auditorium is an auditorium, right? Actually, planning for a new or renovated auditorium in your school is more complex than that. You must design for what audiences SEE, and for the parts they don’t see as well. There are three main components to auditorium design projects:  1. The Main Seating Area Seating is based […]

Sustainability: Indiana University Rotary Building

The Rotary building on the IUPUI Campus in Indianapolis was originally constructed in 1931 as a home for orphaned and ill children. It was later turned over to IU for academic and administrative purposes.  The facility is one of the few remaining historic structures on the IUPUI campus. Its location offers the building as a […]

50 Letters From Architects: Our Contribution

This is part of a series of blog postings of Schmidt Associates architects’ responses to the American Institute of Architects (AIA)-Indianapolis invitation to write letters to Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard. Architects submitted big or small ideas to improve the urban built environment for Indianapolis and were on display at The Hall during June and July […]

How to Pick a Site

The design of a school campus is crucial to the safety and efficiency of any program. When given the opportunity to choose between different locations, here are some thoughts on what elements create a successful K-12 exterior environment. Space to establish clear visibility and organization –When on a school campus, clear site lines help create […]

Leadership Moment from January

The sparkle in his eyes bears testimony. This young man will not be forestalled in his mission. We share his story of youth leadership to honor many. Derrin Slack struggled with stuttering and its stigma while growing up. Unable to afford a college mission trip to Botswana with his peers, an anonymous benefactor intervened. Derrin […]

Leadership Moment from December

She was six, despairingly sad, and too young to get the “we give according to our means” model of charity. Her happiness about what was under the tree for her only made worse the grief she felt—not being able to give each family member something splendid in return. It was time to learn of the […]

Higher Education Alphabet Soup

In mid-September, Schmidt Associates posted an online quiz called “Higher Education Archibabble – Knowledgeable or Naïve.” As part of the quiz, there were several acronyms (a.k.a. alphabet soup) which described higher education trends, teaching methodologies, etc. Since then, we’ve been asked to elaborate on the acronyms, as well as to share how these concepts are […]