In this chapter of Foundations + Futures: By the Decade, we step into the 2020s, a decade that has asked Schmidt Associates to plant roots in a new market, take on the most complex projects in firm history, and figure out what servant leadership looks like as a new generation steps into leadership.

Ben Simmons, principal-in-charge and principal leading community work out of Schmidt Associates' Louisville office, and Veena Reddy, senior project architect and firm principal whose work in sustainability, education, and community-centered design shapes how the firm thinks about responsibility, join host Sarah Hempstead to talk through the decade and look at where Schmidt Associates is headed next.

Listeners will hear about:

• Welcoming Arrasmith into the family right before the pandemic hit, a Louisville firm with roots back to 1926 behind landmarks from art deco Greyhound bus stations to the Louisville Zoo's award-winning exhibits, and how a shared belief in servant leadership made the combination work
• The Kentucky Exposition Center, the largest project either has led, a multi-phase modernization of a beloved 1960s facility built to carry its legacy into the next 60 years
• CPS projects, from Iroquois High School to Hudson Middle School, the first new West Louisville high school since the 1930s, plus an in-design STEAM charter school for young women
• Taking sustainability from a buzzword to daily practice, an approach built on subtraction and efficiency, tailored to what each owner's budget, timeline, and building actually need
• Ben and Veena's own promotions to principal this past year, and their shared vision for the firm's next 50 years: becoming a true community resource without losing the culture that gave them both a voice

More than a tour of projects, this is a conversation about planting new roots, taking on work at a scale the firm had never attempted, and carrying servant leadership into a new city and a new generation. It's a look at how the throughline holds: good design serves people, and good leadership serves everyone else first.

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In this chapter of Foundations + Futures: By the Decade, we step into the 2010s, a decade that demanded more from everyone in design. Sustainability shifted from something firms aspired to into something they felt accountable for, and communities started asking whether what they'd built still served people or the planet. For Schmidt Associates, it was an era of bold ideas, complex partnerships, and a move into its second generation of leadership.

Lisa Gomperts, firm principal, project manager, and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and Brett Quandt, principal and Schmidt Associates' first-ever Chief Financial Officer, join host Sarah Hempstead to reflect on more than 20 years apiece inside the firm. With perspectives from both the design side and the business side, they bring to life some of the firm's most ambitious work yet.

Listeners will hear about:

• P.R. Mallory, where a blighted east-side factory became an educational anchor for Purdue Polytechnic High School and the Paramount School of Excellence, sparking new housing and businesses across the neighborhood
• The Scott College of Business at Indiana State University, a 1920s federal courthouse reborn as a modern, collaborative learning community
• The Community Justice Campus criminal courts tower, one of the most technically demanding projects in firm history, designed largely through the pandemic
• The Hoosier Energy headquarters, a LEED Gold building for an owner who lives and breathes efficiency
• A move into second-generation leadership in 2016, plus Schmidt Academy, mentorship and the servant-leadership culture that still shapes how the firm shows up for clients and staff

More than a tour of projects, this is two longtime colleagues remembering the decade that asked the firm to walk the walk: to commit to sustainability publicly, invest in its people deliberately, and take on work too complex to do alone. It was a decade about leaning into values, designing for people and the planet, and building bold things through partnerships that last. That approach is still how Schmidt Associates operates today.

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In this chapter of Foundations + Futures: By the Decade, we step into the 2000s, a decade reshaped by school security, sustainability and the growing belief that a building could be a tool for wellness, community and change. For Schmidt Associates, it was the era of deepening roots.

Anna Marie Burrell, K-12 studio leader and principal-in-charge, joins host Sarah Hempstead to reflect on more than 21 years of putting community at the center of every school project. Anna Marie came to Schmidt Associates in the early 2000s with architecture already in her bones, and this conversation brings to life the decade when that kind of intentional, people-first design began to define the firm's identity.

Listeners will hear about:

• Plainfield High School and the community task force process that started with a question, not a blueprint
• Decatur Central High School, one of Indiana's first project-based learning environments
• The Vincennes Community School renovation, one of Indiana's first LEED-certified schools
• School security, mental health and wellness and how those conversations took root in this decade
• Schmidt Academy and the firm's formal commitment to lifelong learning
• Wayne Schmidt's servant leadership, seen up close by someone who got to watch it firsthand

For the first time in this series, Sarah isn't just interviewing someone about a decade. She's remembering alongside them. Both joined the firm in the early 2000s, both found something here they weren't expecting, and both will tell you the culture was better than advertised.

This decade was about purpose. About designing not just for today's students, but for the communities they'll grow up to lead. That approach is still how Schmidt Associates operates today.

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