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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