By Steven Ryzewski – Staff Writer, Orlando Business Journal
Walking through the building known as “The Edyth” — the new $8 million
headquarters of the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation in downtown Winter Park —
architect Ekta Desai effortlessly points out each subtle design feature and
architectural flourish.
Whether it’s the placement of recessed lighting, how sight lines interact with open
space or the way the front of the new building was designed to have a stage-like
quality — in honor of its actress-turned-philanthropist namesake — Desai is intimately
familiar with each detail.
She ought to be, too. Desai is the design lead and a partner at Orlando-based
Schenkel Shultz, one of Central Florida’s largest architecture firms and the team that
designed the building.
The completed project is important to Desai and her firm. Not only is it a premiere building for a well-known organization and located just off Winter Park’s ritzy Park Avenue corridor, but The Edyth is also a case study of sorts for what she and her firm want the community to know about what it is capable of.
It is also where, on Nov. 2, the firm held an event to reveal its new branding, new website and enriched portfolio of offerings for clients. Spearheaded by Desai, the rebranding included collaboration from Orlando design firm Purple, Rock, Scissors and Orlando creative firm SIX The Agency, and was at least three years in the making.
For 40 years, the firm has been an institution in the Orlando market, but largely focused on projects in the education, aviation and public safety spaces. Now, Desai said, it has expanded to add what she calls the “three C’s” — cultural, commercial and civic projects.
