If you’re working in one of Rustin Schwandt’s buildings and you pause at your desk to gaze out the window at the snowfall, then he’s got you right where he wants you.

People often notice a building’s design when it doesn’t work for them. He’s there to ensure it does – and that you notice. Design matters, and when it works, it sparks emotions. It causes people to stop and stare, to look around.

Creating special moments like those throughout a building is Rustin’s goal on each project. He was hammering nails at 3 years old, helping his dad renovate their houses and learning from his grandfather’s experiences from his construction business in Wautoma. You could say construction is in his DNA.

Always curious about how things are put together, he strives to create value by thinking about design as a whole: not how one room functions, but how that room interacts with the rest of the building. And how that room’s users interact with its functionality.

Focusing on K-12 schools, technical colleges and other higher education projects, his day-to-day can include site visits, progress meetings, building information modeling work and community events. Though he spent some time in Chicago after college, he found himself drawn back to the area he considers home, where he shares travel and outdoors adventures with his family, embraces the changing seasons and considers it his responsibility to help make this community the best it can be.

Rustin is motivated by the knowledge that buildings last, and his work will be part of the community for years to come. That lasting impact will be a positive one if Rustin has anything to say about it.