Contract - January/February 2016 - 43

As commercial interior design and
client needs evolve, the savvy, intelligent,
and talented Todd Heiser from Gensler
Chicago is elevating the practice

The Designer of the Year honor is most often awarded to those who
have already accomplished great work but are on a trajectory to do
much more. It is a recognition of excellence in design and leadership
within a firm and the profession; someone who is having a notable
impact. Creative, eclectic, visionary, and thoughtful, Todd Heiser, IIDA,
of Gensler transforms commercial interiors and is at the forefront of
reshaping design practice. A design principal based in Chicago, and
a firmwide leader of the firm's consumer products practice, Heiser
is the 37th Designer of the Year, and the first ever from Gensler
to receive the distinction.
Humble Midwestern roots
Well-traveled with experience across the country, Heiser has roots that
are thoroughly Midwestern. His parents were both Wisconsin natives,
and he grew up in Rockford, Illinois, a small city in north-central Illinois
less than two hours drive from Chicago and just south of the Wisconsin
border. His late father, a banker, owned a series of farm banks
throughout Illinois. His mother is from a family of cheese makers near
Spring Green, Wisconsin, in proximity to Frank Lloyd Wright's home
Taliesin, and Heiser says he gained his first creative insights by
observing the cheese-making process. "Growing up, I spent a good
amount of time in Spring Green, Wisconsin, where Taliesin is," Heiser
says. "So I grew up around stories of Frank Lloyd Wright and seeing
the buildings that he had created, which certainly filled my mind with
really exciting things."
While in high school, Heiser considered becoming a doctor,
and he even spent a summer at Georgetown University studying
biology and pre-medicine. But he realized medicine was not for him,
and credits a high school art teacher, Sandi Uram, for encouraging
him to not only pursue creative endeavors but to apply to Savannah
College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Georgia.
"I was awarded a scholarship [by SCAD], and [going to school
there] was a pretty magical experience," Heiser says. "It was a small
school at the time, and the connection to the leadership of the school
was amazing." While he was a student, Heiser got to know the founders

By John Czarnecki

of the school, Richard Rowan and Paula Rowan (now Paula Wallace),
who were the president and provost, respectively. Those connections
would prove advantageous a few years later. Heiser went on to receive
bachelor of architecture, bachelor of interior design, and master
of architecture degrees from SCAD. "I graduated with an architecture
degree but knew that I wanted to practice interior design," Heiser says.
Entering the workforce during the recession of the early
1990s, when job opportunities were scarce, Heiser considered pursuing
a doctorate in architecture. It was a fleeting thought. Instead, he
moved to Minneapolis and landed a job with the firm Walsh Bishop,
where he began to develop his skills with interior concepts, illustrations,
and material palettes for many hospitality and entertainmentrelated interiors. More specifically, Heiser was imagining fun themedentertainment spaces for brands such as Rainforest Cafe and
Sega Gameworks.
"I ended up studying a lot of crazy things, like animatronic
elephants and what happens when you have 10,000-gallon aquariums
as backdrops for interior space," Heiser says. "It actually was a good
lesson to learn-that all designers should have a sense of humor.
I believe this kind of work, this kind of thinking outside the box,
is incredibly creative. Through those experiences, I really learned
that anything was possible and that sometimes you need to think
about nontraditional details and materials to pull spaces together."
While the themed-entertainment design work was exciting
and unusual, and also led to time working on projects in Los Angeles,
he realized it was time to move on after three years. Wallace personally
recruited Heiser to come back to his alma mater as a staff designer
with the school's internal design team. He returned to SCAD in 1996
and spent the next three years helping to design some of the key
SCAD projects during a major growth period for the school. Heiser
had a hand in the renovations of older buildings-including Jen Library
(formerly a department store), Trustees Theater (a home to
performances and films that was built in 1946), Gryphon cafe (housed
in a 1926 Scottish Rite building), and Keys Hall (home to the school's
communications department in what was originally a residence when
contract



Contract - January/February 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - January/February 2016

Contract - January/February 2016
Contents
Editorial
Industry News
Columnist: Rethinking Practice Through Business Model Innovation
Product Focus: New Year's Resolution
Designer of the Year: Todd Heiser
Legend Award: Stanley Felderman & Nancy Keatinge
Annual Interiors Awards
Adaptive Reuse
Education
Entertainment
Exhibition
Healthcare
Historic Restoration
Hotel
Office: Large
Office: Small
Public/Civic
Restaurant
Retail
Student
Sustainable
Sources
Ad Index
Installation: Given the Chance to Dream, Legend Stanley Felderman Launched his Career with the Fabergé Headquarters
Contract - January/February 2016 - Intro
Contract - January/February 2016 - Contract - January/February 2016
Contract - January/February 2016 - Cover2
Contract - January/February 2016 - 1
Contract - January/February 2016 - 2
Contract - January/February 2016 - 3
Contract - January/February 2016 - 4
Contract - January/February 2016 - 5
Contract - January/February 2016 - Contents
Contract - January/February 2016 - 7
Contract - January/February 2016 - 8
Contract - January/February 2016 - 9
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 13
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 17
Contract - January/February 2016 - Editorial
Contract - January/February 2016 - 19
Contract - January/February 2016 - 20
Contract - January/February 2016 - 21
Contract - January/February 2016 - Industry News
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 24
Contract - January/February 2016 - 25
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 29
Contract - January/February 2016 - Columnist: Rethinking Practice Through Business Model Innovation
Contract - January/February 2016 - 31
Contract - January/February 2016 - 32
Contract - January/February 2016 - 33
Contract - January/February 2016 - Product Focus: New Year's Resolution
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Contract - January/February 2016 - Designer of the Year: Todd Heiser
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Contract - January/February 2016 - Legend Award: Stanley Felderman & Nancy Keatinge
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Contract - January/February 2016 - Annual Interiors Awards
Contract - January/February 2016 - 71
Contract - January/February 2016 - Adaptive Reuse
Contract - January/February 2016 - 73
Contract - January/February 2016 - 74
Contract - January/February 2016 - 75
Contract - January/February 2016 - Education
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 79
Contract - January/February 2016 - Entertainment
Contract - January/February 2016 - 81
Contract - January/February 2016 - 82
Contract - January/February 2016 - 83
Contract - January/February 2016 - Exhibition
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 86
Contract - January/February 2016 - 87
Contract - January/February 2016 - Healthcare
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 90
Contract - January/February 2016 - 91
Contract - January/February 2016 - Historic Restoration
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 94
Contract - January/February 2016 - 95
Contract - January/February 2016 - Hotel
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Contract - January/February 2016 - Office: Large
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 103
Contract - January/February 2016 - Office: Small
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Contract - January/February 2016 - Public/Civic
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Contract - January/February 2016 - Restaurant
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 115
Contract - January/February 2016 - Retail
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 119
Contract - January/February 2016 - Student
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 123
Contract - January/February 2016 - Sustainable
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 127
Contract - January/February 2016 - Sources
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Contract - January/February 2016 - 132
Contract - January/February 2016 - 133
Contract - January/February 2016 - Ad Index
Contract - January/February 2016 - 135
Contract - January/February 2016 - Installation: Given the Chance to Dream, Legend Stanley Felderman Launched his Career with the Fabergé Headquarters
Contract - January/February 2016 - Cover3
Contract - January/February 2016 - Cover4
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