Luminate is back! Welcome to another episode of Luminate: Navigating the Unknown Through Creative Leadership. We're kicking off a new season with host Sarah Hempstead and guests Councilor Michael-Paul Hart, Indianapolis City-County Councilor representing District 20, and Joseph Jarzen, client liaison and associate at Schmidt Associates, talking through the vision for turning 94 acres of nostalgia into a neighborhood's next chapter: Washington Square Mall.

Listeners will hear about:

• Councilor Hart's path to leadership, from HVAC service calls to city council
• The patchwork of ownership behind the mall's 1.2 million square feet, and the year and a half journey of bringing everyone to the table
• The vision plan for the site, shaped by community town halls, and the work still ahead

It's a conversation about patience as much as vision, and what it takes to bring owners, city departments, and a community to the table on a project decades in the making.

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To close out our Foundations + Futures anniversary series, we're flipping the format. Rather than revisiting a decade already lived, this roundtable turns to what's next: host Sarah Hempstead speaks with four Schmidt Associates team members, an architect, an interior designer, an engineer, and a landscape architect, about what today's practice looks like, what's changing fastest, and what they hope never does.

Listeners will hear from:

• Alvin Laguerre, Graduate Architect: on the lesson that's shaped his whole approach to Owners (listen to what they say and what they don't), why data centers have become one of the field's most urgent conversations, and the architect's responsibility to help owners understand the real impact of what they build.
• Asia Coffee, Senior Interior Designer: on ten years at the firm, AI's growing hold on design inspiration and what it means for the value of real expertise, and why she hopes the firm's creativity and genuine care for people never fade.
• Andrew Eckrich, Mechanical Engineer: on the industry's shift toward safer refrigerants and electrification, why the next generation of engineers needs to be broader rather than narrower, and how technology has compressed a mailed, triplicate submittal process into a quick turnaround.
• Stephanie Gates, Landscape Architect: on a personal story of the firm standing by her that convinced her she'd her professional home, and how climate change is upending decades-old assumptions about asphalt, native plants, and infrastructure built for a climate that no longer exists.

Along the way, the group traces the biggest shift in how the work gets done: technology, and the speed and collaboration it's unlocked. And they land on what they hope holds steady no matter how far the firm goes: creativity, humanity, and the value of solving problems together.

This is the final chapter of Foundations + Futures, but as Sarah puts it, the story is far from over. Here's to the next 50.

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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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In this third chapter of Foundations + Futures: By the Decade, we step into the 1990s, a decade of dial-up connections, AutoCAD debuts, and a firm that was growing up fast. For Schmidt Associates, it was the era of intention.

Kevin Shelley, chief operations officer and principal, and Steve Schaecher, design architect and firm principal, join host Sarah Hempstead to bring the decade to life. Both joined the firm at the start of the decade and have been part of its story ever since. Together, they share the stories behind the firm's expanding ambitions and the culture that made it worth staying for.

Listeners will hear about:

• Just get over the wall: the retreat story that captures Wayne Schmidt's leadership in one unforgettable moment
• The NCAA announcement: a foam basketball, a surprise, a private plane to Princeton, and the firm's first brush with a star architect
• Perry Clark Aquatic Center: the project that quietly launched an entirely new market segment
• Adding disciplines: how landscape architecture, interior design, and MEP engineering transformed the firm in a single decade
• The throughline: servant leadership, owner focus, and the people who made it all possible

This decade was about structure, layering intention onto entrepreneurial energy and trusting that a firm built on the right values could grow without losing itself. The 1990s gave Schmidt Associates its staying power, and you can still feel it in every studio today.

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In this second chapter of Foundations + Futures: By the Decade, we step into the 1980s—cassette tapes, big hair, and a decade that wasn't afraid to reinvent itself. For Schmidt Associates, it was the era of finding direction.

Wes Harrison, structural engineer and longtime collaborator, joins host Sarah Hempstead to bring the decade to life. From hand-drafted drawings and eraser crumbs to a bold bet on a dilapidated building on Massachusetts Avenue, Wes shares the stories behind the firm's early momentum and the leader who made it possible.

Listeners will hear about:

• The IPS school projects that launched Schmidt Claffey's first big break and a K–12 legacy
• Wayne Schmidt's vision for an old building on Mass Ave that helped spark a neighborhood's transformation
• The Soldiers and Sailors Monument restoration and the controversy over tilted glass that ultimately became beloved
• The Tippecanoe County Courthouse renovation and the hidden floor discovered inside the walls
• The Indiana University Auditorium project and the bouncing balcony that became an engineering challenge worth solving
• Wayne's servant leadership quietly shaped a generation of young professionals

This decade was about direction, discovering what the firm was built for and building the trust to prove it. The 1980s gave Schmidt Associates its pattern, and you can still see it in every studio today.

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In this first chapter of Foundations + Futures: By the Decade, we travel back to 1976—when Schmidt Associates was born from a bold idea, one chair, two employees, and a deep belief that architecture should serve people first.

Dean Illingworth, a longtime Schmidt Associates team member and firsthand witness to the firm's earliest days, joins host Sarah Hempstead to bring the 1970s to life. From hand-drafted drawings on repurposed doors to animal safaris for third graders, Dean shares the stories that reveal who Wayne Schmidt was—not just as a founder, but as a leader who practiced servant leadership long before it had a name.

Listeners will hear about:

• The real story behind "one chair, two employees"—and the doors that became drafting tables
• How a staged job interview landed Dean his first day at the firm (and why he was left alone in the office)
• The Hammond Block, Mass Ave, and the birth of the firm's historic preservation expertise
• The restoration of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument—a project that shaped the firm's identity and its place in Indianapolis
• The roots of Schmidt's K–12 education practice and early community-centered work

This decade was about conviction—showing up for communities, leading with empathy, and building something bigger than a business. The 1970s gave Schmidt Associates its DNA, and you can still feel it today.

🔗 Subscribe and follow us at @SchmidtAssociates on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. #WeAreSchmidt