Contract - January/February 2016 - 45

PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY PERKINS+WILL, CRAIG DUGAN © HEDRICH BLESSING PHOTOGRAPHERS (THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE, BELOW); COURTESY SCAD (OPPOSITE, TOP)

Heiser is a graduate of SCAD
in Savannah, Georgia, and
returned to be a staff designer
at the school in the late-1990s.
One of the projects he had
a hand in designing was Jen
Library (opposite, top), in
a former department store.
He moved to Chicago in 1999
to be a designer at The
Environments Group, where
he was part of a team that
designed the offices for
Transora (opposite, bottom)
and the law firm McDonnell
Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff
(right). Both Transora and the
law firm were completed in the
early 2000s.

built in 1870)-that would transform not only the school but also
the civic heart of Savannah. He had a lasting impact at his alma mater.
And Heiser recognizes the lasting influence that Wallace had
on him as a designer and as a professional. For inspiration, Wallace
traveled with Heiser and others to various locales, including European
cities. She had high expectations for what SCAD could become,
and she wanted Heiser and his colleagues to push boundaries
in conceiving the school's physical presence in Savannah. "Paula
was unbelievably critical and really developed my design sensibilities,"
Heiser says. "As a client, Paula knew exactly the vision she wanted
to create for the college. Obviously, it has only continued to become
a more amazing place since I left."
With the experience in Savannah in hand, Heiser sought out
a more urban environment closer to his Midwestern roots. In 1999,
he joined The Environments Group, which was a top commercial
interiors firm in Chicago at the time. For the next nearly seven years
there, Heiser honed his commercial design skills, specifically for
corporate interiors clients. He cites the firm's leadership-particularly
Gina Berndt, Fred Schmidt, and Peter Shull-as significant influences.
"It was my work at The Environments Group that really brought
together a lot of my previous experience. It was an incredible ride,"
Heiser says. "I had the opportunity to work very closely with Peter Shull
and Gina Berndt, and the two of them are important people in my
career. They gave me a tremendous amount of opportunity. Gina
allowed us to really do anything. She was an incredibly inspirational
person. She loved materiality, and she pushed me to develop palettes
that were deeply layered."
The admiration is mutual. Berndt, who is now a principal
and managing director at the Chicago office of Perkins+Will, which
acquired The Environments Group in 2008, says, "Todd's energy
sparkles. He is exceptionally talented and equally passionate,
impeccably current yet always classic, gifted and giving."
Heiser's many projects at The Environments Group
included workplaces for USG, Transora, Brinson Foundation,
Accenture, UBS, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the law firm
45

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff. Transora, a Chicago
workspace that conveyed a cutting-edge tech image and facilitated
employee interaction, was designed in just five months. While primarily
workplace interiors, Heiser's work had range: He even completed
offices for Merv Griffin, as well as a small early project for a thenburgeoning tech company, Google. "Although The Environments
Group was in Chicago," Heiser says, "I got the opportunity to travel
throughout the United States and cut my teeth on corporate projects."
Joining the team at Gensler
While establishing himself as a designer in the Windy City, Heiser
got to know Carlos Martinez, a principal at Gensler who was building
the firm's Chicago office. Both Heiser and Martinez recount having
had multiple conversations before Heiser finally joined Gensler
Chicago in 2006. Martinez explains, "It was a small, emerging office
in Chicago for Gensler. Part of my job was to build a strong culture
of design in the office, to create a very robust group of people.
Todd was one of the first people that I zeroed in on bringing in."
In his first months at Gensler, Heiser leaned on his past
experience with themed entertainment to pay dividends. He was
asked to essentially split his time between Chicago and Los Angeles
for about two years, working on hospitality and themed projects
for such clients as Nickelodeon and Las Vegas Sands. "It was
an interesting point in my career because I felt like I was coming
full circle," Heiser says.
During that period, Heiser collaborated with Andy Cohen on
a number of projects. Now a co-CEO of Gensler, Cohen praises Heiser
for his design sensibilities. "Todd is all about creating compelling,
visceral environments that enrich the human experience and delight
people. He has the uncanny ability to understand and translate clients'
goals and objectives into something tangible, real, and compelling,"
Cohen says.
After his stint splitting time with the Los Angeles office, Heiser
began focusing on work based in Gensler's Chicago studio. He worked
closely with Martinez for years on multiple projects-they even sat
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