Education

Places I Remember

by John Ryan

AIA, LEED AP

Associate Principal, Project Manager

There are a few songs in our popular music lexicon that lead me on a thought journey into architectural design and urban planning. I heard one of my favorites driving home recently: the Beatles song, “In My Life.”

There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain

The song was inspired by John Lennon’s regular bus route through Liverpool, and features a keyboard solo adapted from Bach, adding to its layers of time and history and space. The theme isn’t unique, of course – with many lyrics across rock and pop music musing on place. This one prompts a deep nostalgia in me for places that have changed – some forever, some gone, some remaining.

It makes me think of Moseley Hall at BGSU. I first encountered the building in the mid 90’s during my father’s graduate school studies in English. A decade or so later I taught architectural studio courses there. Eventually the building was renovated by DesignGroup and partners to provide a new home for the interdisciplinary sciences. From humanities to design to science, Moseley Hall was the background in the story for countless students in its 100+ year history. And will continue to be.

Bowling Green State University Moseley Hall biology classroom

The song also brought to mind a project for University of Pittsburgh, a building constructed, coincidentally, the year I was born. During the demolition phase our contractor found, among other issues, many walls that simply weren’t square or plumb. It had nevertheless once been a medical office building, providing clinical services (straight walls or not) to the general public for decades. Today it’s home to the university’s IT department.

I love how buildings evolve over time, shaping our use of space and the order of our actions. They’re more than backgrounds to our memories – they’re active participants in our lives.

I think back on Stradley Hall, my freshman dorm at Ohio State. The building still exists but has been renovated and expanded as part of changing trends for student life in the 21st century. My small room in the year 2000, with its well-worn cabinetry and linoleum flooring, had more in common with campus life in 1960 than that of 2024. Despite these changes, I carry a mix of memories for life in Stradley – the thrill of building new relationships, the jolt of living with 500 other freshmen in a single building.

Architecture strives to create buildings that will outlive us, that will serve the needs of present and future generations alike. Yet sometimes buildings succumb to weather and time, or no longer serve our needs. We see this in the current landscape of higher education where needs may have changed, enrollment may have wavered, or older buildings simply cannot adapt to meet current pedagogy. Demolition of aging infrastructure yields new opportunities to imagine a future use of that same space.

I vividly recall buildings from campuses where I’ve studied and worked that no longer exist, the lights turned off forever. I can still see the classrooms where I used to sit, chatting with friends before class began. I can smell the scent of the design studio and feel the dust hanging in the air of the woodshop. Though these buildings no longer exist, it doesn’t make my experience of them any less real. My memories of those places are melded with my college experience, and the nostalgia takes on greater value as each successive year passes.

Our buildings and campuses shape us; in turn our lives and stories give these places meaning. Our experiences were real; our memories continue to be real. As the song says, we can look upon these places which have changed, and not always for better, with fondness. All these places had their moments…in my life, I’ve loved them all.

John Ryan

AIA, LEED AP

Associate Principal, Project Manager

More about John

Healthcare, Education, Community

Reflections on 2023

One of the things we love about the Big Ideas articles on our website: It allows our people to show another side of themselves. Writing is never easy and yet, year in and year out, our people share their expertise, their interests, and their heart. These articles often show just how personal the work we do can be.

In that spirit, our final post of 2023 is a little different. Instead of a single writer, we asked several of DesignGroup’s leaders to share their thoughts on anything from the past year, from project work to individual interests. We’re proud of what they have to say—and proud to work with them every day.

“As we wrap up 2023, one shining moment stands out—the launch of DG's Mentorship Program. Imagine a world still spinning in the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) environment, with remote work throwing curveballs, and yet there we were, seeking our footing amid uncertainty. In the face of these changes, our innate human craving for connection and community not only persisted but intensified. The Mentorship Program wasn't just a program; it was a lifeline. Acknowledging its pilot status, we knew adjustments would be necessary, and kudos to our leadership for investing time and resources into its success.

"As we delve into survey data bidding adieu to 2023, the triumph isn't merely in the numbers. It's in the vibrant hum of conversations echoing through virtual spaces and hallways, the unexpected connections blossoming between offices, and the sheer joy of generations and cultures converging, creating an environment rich in belonging and learning. The data doesn't just confirm a successful mentorship program; it validates a vibe, a community in the making.

"So let's raise a toast to the Mentorship Program—the unsung hero that transformed the year into an epic tale of connection, inclusivity, and the cultivation of a robust sense of community within our organization. Here's to more in 2024!"

Veneetha Jose, SPHR, PHR
Director of Human Resources

Group of people sitting around a table discussing architectural plans.

“This year I focused on integrating ‘Slow Living’ principles into my work life. As DesignGroup’s Education Market Leader, I travel quite a bit, and this year one trip took me to Bradford, PA. While the work we did with our client there was itself invigorating, the five-hour drives to get there were not always so. However, each trip to Bradford offered the opportunity to explore the natural beauty of the Allegheny Forest region in which Bradford is nestled. I relished these moments and protected the time to slow down and connect to nature in my travels, a practice that exposed me to new places like the Marilla Reservoir and the North Country Trail, and even yielded a close encounter with a giant golden eagle! This act of slowing down not only allowed me to create a deeper connection with myself and with nature, but also yielded a more impactful relationship with my clients.”

Ben Niebauer, RA, LEED AP BD+C
Associate Principal + Education Market Leader

“As I stop for a moment to reflect on 2023, it feels like the year flew by in a blur and I am surprised that it’s almost over, wondering where the time went! When I close my eyes in concentration to shut out the noise, certain moments start to come into focus… and then several more spring to life, bursting like popcorn.

"There are images of my kitties cuddled together or next to me, their little bellies to the sky in total trust and comfort, one paw covering their face. Walks on the beach with my husband or through the woods with my friends and family on weekend getaways. Project openings like the OSUWMC James Outpatient Care and the Directions for Youth and Families Crittenton Community Center filled me with awe and wonder for the impact they’ll have on our community and for the people I worked with throughout the process doing that amazing work. Laughter, joy, loss, and moments of sadness come along with this reflection. Yet what rises to the top as I open my eyes: curiosity and feelings of hope for what 2024 brings. I smile thinking back and looking forward to all that touched my life and heart—and am excited for those encounters and adventures yet to come!"

Alana Haslow, LEED AP ID+C
Principal, Senior Interior Designer

Exterior view of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center James Outpatient Care. — The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center James Outpatient Care

“If 2023 were a movie (and because it’s celebrating its 20th anniversary), it was a little like “Love Actually”—a year filled with a plethora of successes and challenges alike. From big project wins to some difficult losses, we saw our people recognized on a regional and national level for their talents and gritty determination. Through each of those situations, we grew and became a stronger team. We used the challenges we faced as learning and growing opportunities to be stronger, to build new relationships and new friends, and find new pathways for success. As the movie says, love is all around us as we rededicate ourselves to our craft and the typology of healthcare for 2024.”

Christopher Haedt, AIA, NCARB, ACHA, LEED AP BD+C
Principal, Columbus Healthcare Practice Group Leader

“What I love most about being an architect is delivering projects that influence lives. Two experiences from 2023 struck this chord in me, filled me with joy, and made me so proud of the thoughtful work of my talented colleagues.

“The new facility for Directions for Youth and Families rooted a place in the hearts of many of my DesignGroup colleagues. Although I was not on the project team, touring the building felt like living the promise of our profession. In particular, the two art installations created under the direction of Alana Haslow are stand-out pieces that bring added life to the spaces in which they reside, evoke feelings of overwhelming positivity, and reflect the love and care that define Alana and the core values of DG.

“The other experience I want to share is watching the James Outpatient Care Center become populated with staff and patients. We don’t often get as close a look of how a building transforms from a construction site to beautiful space as I was afforded. I was witness to the vitally important patient experience, from being greeted in a sun-filled lobby by warm wood tones and smiling faces, to an infusion treatment in a room with a view. The facility reflected the promise of world-class healthcare. It really did work as a place to get and be well."

Jennifer Son, AIA
Associate Principal, Project Architect

Exterior view of the Directions for Youth and Families Crittenton Community Center during autumn. — Directions for Youth and Families Crittenton Community Center

“The highlight for me this year was seeing the Directions for Youth and Families Crittenton Community Center open its doors. The project is so meaningful for the community; it serves and represents a decade of focused hard work by the organization’s amazing leadership. And it was an incredibly rewarding experience to design it. Working on that project also highlighted a broader theme for the year—how nice it is to work every day with smart, passionate people who truly want to do great things for the people and communities we serve. The Crittenton Community Center team exemplified this, but I had the privilege of working with so many great teams around the office, across markets and practice groups, throughout the year.”

Joseph Mayer, AIA, NCARB, WELL AP
Principal, Senior Designer

“When I look back at 2023, I am so proud of the collaboration with our clients, engineering, and construction partners. It has been a pleasure navigating challenges together, learning from each other, and achieving common goals. Clients in all markets have felt the competitive pressures of people and resources in 2023. As architects we play a role in helping our clients make the right strategic investment of their always-limited capital.

“I’m especially proud of the diversity of DG associates that have presented at national conferences, a testament to their leadership, foresight, and passion. In addition, we celebrated the 11th year of hosting a national think tank for healthcare space in our offices to inform and challenge our clients and team.

“As a fourth-generation leader within such a respected firm, I’ve been reflecting on a special event earlier this year, when DesignGroup’s founding principals visited the job site of what is now the largest project our company has been a part of—the new OSU Wexner Medical Center Inpatient Hospital. We have come full circle to see their foresight continuing to influence us as we evolve with an ever-changing business landscape, while staying true to our core values and aspirations.”

Jennifer Horvath
President + Managing Principal

Exterior view of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Inpatient Hospital. — The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Inpatient Hospital

“This is the perfect moment to reflect on my first full calendar year at DG, and there is so much to be thankful for. First, to my PG4 team: I am so proud of the work you’ve all done, stretching yourselves, pushing and supporting each other, exploring new professional territory and roles, and for your guidance to help me understand and reflect DG in the initiatives we accept together. To the DG leadership team, thank you for making such a safe and welcoming space to learn about the firm, gain comfort with our systems and for openly receiving my thoughts and ideas with genuine interest.

“On a more personal note, it’s been such a powerful and vulnerable journey to pivot my career to DesignGroup after the continuity and momentum of more than 25 years with a global design firm. To decouple my professional brand from the past and reassemble and reestablish a refreshed career with all of you. As you might imagine, it's exciting, rewarding, and energizing, while at the same time, unsettling, challenging, and at times uncertain. What I’ve gained most this year is the deepest respect for each of our staff and a desire to continue the journey together. I look forward to our growth and success in the years to come!”

Alan Schlossberg, AIA LEED AP
Principal + Regional Practice Leader

“The most gratifying aspect of the year was the opportunity to work with such a talented, committed, and diverse team. From engagement with leadership and staff alike, our team members brought thoughtful insight and a genuine interest to decisions that strengthened our futures together, both personally and professionally.

“With the guidance of Veneetha Jose, in 2023 we embarked on two critical initiatives in support of firm growth: our Mentorship Program and EDI Committee formalization. These initiatives exemplify the commitment to our firm growth, the support and respect we encourage to each of our fellow team members, and the reliance of all team members to serve as integral components of this growth. It is extremely satisfying that our path forward together has never been as supportive or inclusive for all of our team members.”

Tom Chidlow, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Managing Principal, Pittsburgh Healthcare Practice Group Leader

“2023 saw a few of our projects through to construction completion, as well as the start of several new planning studies for our institutional partners. There’s a poignancy in the balance of wrapping one thing up while, at the same, envisioning a new future space for another project and partner. This year was also my presidency year for AIA Pittsburgh, providing new professional challenges for me and opening many new doors. This chapter is coming to a close, but there is still more I want to do in this effort of community building. There will be more opportunities to come.”

John Ryan, AIA, LEED AP
Associate Principal, Project Manager

View through a doorway in the University of Pittsburgh University Club Housing. — University of Pittsburgh University Club Housing

“2023 allowed for the continued development of client relationships that have been so important to our Pittsburgh Office. But if I had to single out one thing that allowed for my personal development, it would be the work on the Project Manager Role clarity, specifically the PM Clarity tool Mike Forejt and I have been developing over the course of 2023. This exercise afforded us an opportunity to dig deeper into the Project Manager Role and truly appreciate the depths that our position requires. Work like this isn’t the highest-profile thing we do at DesignGroup, but it’s essential to our client success. And that’s always what’s most important.”

Thomas Stanko, AIA, ACHA
Associate Principal, Project Manager

“Last year was DesignGroup’s 50th Anniversary. This year was my 25th working at DesignGroup. I’ve done a lot of reflecting in the past two years, and my brain and my heart are full of so much gratitude, pride, memories of extraordinary accomplishments, and work yet to be done. For brevity, however, I would summarize all these thoughts this way: Even better days are in front of us. I am fortunate to work with the most talented professionals in the business and a team of leaders that has the creativity, passion, skill, and ambition to take DG exactly where we want to go. In the spirit of the season, cheers to a future that is merry and bright!”

Sherm Moreland, AIA, ACHA, LEED AP BD+C
CEO

Education

Achieving WELL Certification in Healthcare Education

by Alana Haslow

LEED AP ID+C, NCIDQ

Principal, Senior Interior Designer

It’s no surprise that medical school is challenging – med students not only have to manage an intense amount of technical and practical learning, but must also come to terms with the responsibility of caring for real people. Studies have shown the grind can negatively affect the health of even the best and brightest of future physicians “Medical students enter as some of the healthiest [in the university], and leave as some of the most unhealthy,” says Ken Johnson, D.O., executive dean of Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (HCOM). “We need to change that."

So when OU began the design phase of its new Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine building in Athens, Ohio, it put health and wellness at the heart of the project. The project, completed in 2021, was just awarded WELL Certification Silver level, one of the first medical education buildings in the country to achieve it.

The certification demonstrates OU-HCOM’s commitment to prioritizing the health and safety of their students, faculty, and staff, which included changes to internal policy and supply chains beyond architecture. WELL is a roadmap for supporting the health and wellbeing of people and organizations, and the WELL Building Standard is a library of holistic, evidence-based building and organizational strategies that, when implemented, can have a direct impact on the inhabitants.

DesignGroup partnered with the firm Perkins&Will to create not just a new model for a building, but a new mindset for modern medical education. The project helped OU establish its Pathways to Health and Wellness Curriculum. We’ve never seen a built environment and educational mission align quite like this – the university’s goals were perfectly aligned with DesignGroup’s legacy of creating architecture that responds to societal needs. We loved being part of an effort to push these values even further.

Exterior view of Ohio University Heritage Hall during the day. — Ohio University Heritage Hall

Medical Student Burnout Is Real

Studies estimate that between 35 percent and 54 percent of U.S. nurses and physicians have substantial symptoms of burnout, and the range for medical students and residents is between 45 percent and 60 percent.

In fact, there are indications that burnout is a problem among all clinical disciplines and across care settings. And recent health crises haven’t helped. Nearly 60% of nurses and 20% of physicians say they considered leaving the profession due to Covid stress.

Administrators at OU were determined to reverse this trend. “By designing with the WELL Building Standard, the Heritage College has imbued our wellness philosophy into our learning, teaching and working environment,” says Johnson of OU. “It gives me great pride to know that we are ‘walking the walk’ of wellbeing through a facility that fosters the very type of healthy lifestyle that osteopathic medicine promotes.”

Students studying and writing on a whiteboard at Ohio University's Heritage College. — Heritage Hall Student Collaboration Room

Investment in a Vision

Every ambitious plan starts with goals. OU leadership and our design team chose to take “an osteo approach to building design” – finding literal inspiration from the content of this medical specialization. Wellness was a key driver from Day One. The 120,000 square foot Heritage Hall is modeled on the three tenets of osteopathic medicine, mind, body and spirit, which are expressed through openness, infusion of light, and a focus on wellness that fosters collaboration, connectivity and physical activity.

The design team created client engagement and enthusiasm though more than 3,500 hours of collective team collaboration, identifying priorities for building functionality, flexibility, aesthetics, connection to other OU campuses, and, of course, healthfulness.

A WELL Matrix was established as an initial assessment, followed by study of WELL requirements for policy/procedure, design/construction, facilities/food service/procurement. Extensive student and faculty experience mapping was integral to the design.

The project’s WELL requirements included:

Operational Features

Healthy food options
Space for eating and daily meal breaks
Restorative spaces
Mental health support
Assigned time off to decompress
Monitor and solicit feedback

Interior view of the Cafe in Heritage Hall. — Heritage Hall Cafe

Design Features

Strategic thresholds for limiting organic and inorganic gasses
Monitoring of fundamental air parameters
Sediment and microorganism thresholds
Point of use filtration for potable water
Easy drinking water access (making it a “first choice”)
Increased use of radiant heat
Light levels tha optimize visual acuity and control for glare, brightness, and flicker
Natural light exposure
Support of ergonomics
Aesthetic circulation networks
Materials optimized for health by restricting certain elements and compounds

Two people in a naturally lit room doing stretches on yoga mats. — Heritage Hall Mindfulness Space

Design Specifics

OU’s HCOM building has a multitude of uses. There are classrooms, of course. But also food service and dining areas, gathering areas for socialization and decompression, fitness spaces for health and stress management, quiet spaces for rest and reflection, and offices and meeting rooms. It is a dynamic, flexible space that represents the future of medical education.

The atrium is the heart of the building, providing an abundance of natural light and views to the outdoors. It connects all three floors visually and physically. Two open stairwells encourage vertical circulation and movement, as well as a continuous 1/8 mile walking path around the second floor. Natural materials such as wood, brick, and tile, and a neutral and timeless palette of dark and light grays, offer a backdrop for learning and views to nature.

DesignGroup and Perkins&Will recently collaborated on a presentation that expands on the ideas in this article. For a deeper dive into OU’s commitment to wellness, and how our team achieved this covered WELL certification, please contact contact Senior Business Development Manager Lindsay Andrews.

Alana Haslow

LEED AP ID+C, NCIDQ

Principal, Senior Interior Designer

More about Alana

Healthcare, Education, Community, Science & Technology, Commercial

Prefab Construction: A Time-Tested Technique with New Innovations

by Jamie Oxier

NCARB

Senior Project Architect

For many architects, our first love of design and building manifested through our childhood play with LEGOs. There is something about the quickness of completion that I still love today. (In fact, I just completed the LEGO London Architecture Skyline set.)

I sometimes wonder if LEGO building systems inspired the increasingly popular use of modular, or prefab, building construction. We’ve seen a rise in these types of applications over multiple market sectors in recent years. While modular and prefab terminology is often used interchangeably, the Modular Building Institute (MBI) defines PMC (permanent modular construction) and RB (relocatable buildings) more as complete “boxes” or pieces that are dropped on site and assembled [3]. Prefabrication is understood more as components either volumetric or panelized that can be installed on site as either interior to the structure or as part of the building enclosure. Both involve the process in which components of a building are manufactured off-site in a controlled facility, then transported to the site for installation.

No matter how these techniques are defined and differentiated, they’ve proven to be a durable solution that can, potentially, speed up construction, lower cost, and reduce waste (among other advantages). Prefabrication is time-tested – you might be surprised how long it’s been in practice. Here’s a closer look at what it is, how it came to be, and how it might help (or not be suitable for) your next project.

Prefabrication is hundreds of years old

In his book Prefab Architecture, Ryan Smith discusses this method of building in the West as far back as British colonization efforts, with the earliest recorded case being a shipment of houses from England in 1624 to the village of Cape Anne, now a city in Massachusetts. It was a way to rapidly extend their influence into regions of unknown building materials, labor, and construction methods [1].

Through the years we’ve seen great design minds reinvent prefabrication, mostly in the housing market. Two noteworthy projects, both of which I’ve visited in person, are Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House (1930) at the Henry Ford in Detroit, Michigan, and Carl Strandlund’s Lustron House (1947) in Columbus, Ohio. Other examples include Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67 in Montreal, Canada, and The House by Handel Architects Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island in NY (2017).

Typically, prefabricated components are broken down into two categories: volumetric and panelized [2]. All these assemblies consist of multiple layers of material that are fabricated off site in a factory and then trucked to the construction site.

Ohio State University inpatient tower in process of construction from afar during the day — The new OSU Inpatient Tower in construction

How DesignGroup is using prefab

We’re currently part of the design team working on the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s 820-bed Inpatient Hospital Tower here in Columbus. Developed in collaboration with architecture and engineering firm HDR, this $2.3 billion, 2 million sf, 26-story project is using prefabrication in the design and construction process.

An example of volumetric prefab on the Inpatient Hospital Tower are patient room toilet pods. This application is, essentially a “room in a box” (similar to Habitat 67’s “apartment in a box”). Our temporary office space on the project is in prefab trailers, too, delivered adjacent to the job site. Examples of panelized prefab in the Inpatient Tower are unitized curtain walls and brick-faced precast cladding. This is an increasingly common application for building enclosure (especially for large scale projects like this). There are also panelized prefabricated headwalls for the interior fit out of the patient rooms.

Another important category of prefabrication, which was used on this project, was MEP off-site fabrication. For example, 30-foot sections of plumbing pipe racks/support, sections of duct risers/support, mobile temporary power carts, subgrade conduit runs, and cable-ready electrical assemblies were all delivered to the site manufactured and pre-assembled. Some structural steel, such as the bridge that connects the primary tower to the parking garage, was prefabbed in large, complete sections off site, while others (such as trusses) were fabricated on the ground of the site prior to being lifted into place.

Outdoor during the day of a flatbed truck with patient toilet rooms on the flatbed — Volumetric Prefabrication - Patient Toilet Rooms

Close up of exterior of a building's paneled windows and wall in construction — Panelized Prefabrication - Unitized Curtain Wall

Is this approach right for your project? Key benefits and cautions

There are many factors when considering prefabrication for your next project. At DesignGroup, we start with the project’s scale, size, schedule, and context.

Let’s explore some of the benefits of this approach – and some of the reasons it may not be right for your needs.

Benefits:

Increased productivity
Consistent quality
Schedule certainty
Cost predictability (Research on cost savings is still lacking; cost is very much dependent on the quantity)
Improved safety (controlled environment)
Compensates for lack of on-site labor/skilled trades
More comprehensive warranties on systems, not just components
Improved sustainability by reducing materials and waste
Offsite AHJ inspections

Cautions:

Decisions must be made early (important to understand the manufacturer’s process)
High level of design / construction coordination (especially if the walls are not decoupled)
Tolerances and scheduling become critical
Compliance and inspection processes
Various trades and planning scope of work bidding
Shipping costs, constraints, and logistics
Different costs and site logistics with the different delivery methods (could require a crane and construction loading platform or a palette jack and buck hoist)

Current research confirms the overall benefits in terms of quality and waste reduction. Some analysis shows that for high-rise scale projects, a waste reduction of more than 15% is achievable [4].

There is a lot to discuss and consider in deciding if this approach is right for your project. Learning about the benefits as well as the cautions is critical to success of the owner’s project. Understanding the scope and scale of the project early on is the first step to making the decision.

Woman, Jamie Oxier, on a construction site wearing safety gear — Jamie Oxier on site of the new OSU Inpatient Tower

Sources:

Smith, Ryan E. “Prefab Architecture A guide to modular design and construction: 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ince, New Jersey
Design for modular construction: An introduction for architects, AIA and NIBS, AIA-NIBS Modular and Off-Site Construction Guide
Modular Building Institute, Research, Whitepapers, & Studies - Modular Building Institute: PrefabModularSmartMarketReport2020.pdf (azureedge.net)
Lu, Lee, Xue, Xu (2021) Revisiting the effects of prefabrication on construction waste minimization, a qualitative study using bigger data.

Jamie Oxier

NCARB

Senior Project Architect

More about Jamie

Education

Medical Education Design: Six Shifts You Need to Understand

by Ben Niebauer, John Ryan

“He who rejects change is the architect of decay.” — Harold Wilson

We’ve always loved that quote, even if change comes suddenly in the form of an unexpected crisis (like a pandemic). Wilson should know — he served as Prime Minister of the UK during the turbulent late 1960s and mid-’70s. For DesignGroup’s university clients, embracing change is especially timely, and crucial.

There was one upside to all the disruption of the pandemic: we were given more than 100 weeks of empirical evidence and data on a whole slew of existential questions: How important is human contact? How can you teach without? What works well remotely and what doesn’t? Each is urgent, relevant…and yet to be fully answered. But they’re accelerating changes on virtually all college campuses.

As both observers and designers of change, we noticed several shifts in thinking worth talking about. Let’s dig in.

Person wearing a medical mask using a large whiteboard and an iPad to write and study.

1. Shifts in Teaching Environments

As pedagogies continue to evolve, so too must the learning spaces that support them. Prior to 2020, universities were grappling with what to do with their aging, tiered lecture halls, which presented all kinds of challenges: They no longer supported modern case-based learning, they occupied colossal amounts of square footage, and they were challenging and costly to renovate. And yet, when these same institutions were forced to deliver their content online, colleges discovered that many of these larger classes performed better. Acoustics were easier. Attendance and engagement went up. Life became easier for students and faculty alike. In medical education specifically, some of these sites even served as COVID testing centers. (Heroic efforts by DesignGroup client OU Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine were covered by the media.) Many institutions have adopted online platforms for proctoring exams, allowing them to operate much more efficiently, effectively, and safely. Our takeaway: Lecture halls may not go away, but universities need to shift their thinking about what role they serve.

Large, natural lit atrium with tables and people walking through the space through the three floors.

2. Shifts in Research

Not all medical research looks the same. Nowhere is this more evident than in the health sciences. While neither Bunsen Burners nor motion/movement labs have gone away, an increasingly large amount of research has moved to computer- and office-based methodologies. This shift requires a different type of infrastructure: fewer rooftop fans and massive boiler rooms, more data centers and IDF (Intermediate Distribution Frame) rooms. In short: Less pipes, more wires.

Students in a classroom collaborating and working.

3. Shifts in Working

The way we work is changing. Universities – once replete with insular fiefdoms of faculty offices – have shifted their mindsets (and their allocation of square footage) back to their core mission: learning. The notion that tenured faculty are entitled to a prescribed amount of square footage, or a large, palatial office built in the 1900s, no longer represents the needs of a fast-evolving workplace. Mobility, collaboration, brand, engagement, wellness, sustainability, culture – these are just a few global concepts that must be embraced when designing effective working environments for faculty and staff.

4. Shifts in Wellness

Colleges in the health sciences often emulate the medical environments that their students matriculate to. Physically, this is of course no more evident than the large, highly specific simulation centers that every program uses to train its students. Increasingly, however, it is the psychological needs of students, staff, faculty, and patients that both our colleges and hospitals must attend to.

Even as new medical professionals enter the field, burnout is impacting hospital systems at an alarming rate — and colleges cannot fill these ranks fast enough. Studies from the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine predict a shortage nationwide of over 120,000 doctors and 510,000 nurses by the year 2030 . A horizon that is no longer that far away.

To combat burnout in both the collegiate and professional realms, institutions are seeking more creative ways to create healthy environments for their people to live, work, and recover. These changes may be policy-based (like creating protected time for wellness in people’s daily schedules) or they may be physical changes to environments (providing natural daylight and views to all regularly occupied spaces of buildings). The USGBC’s LEED rating system has been around for a while, and has helped institutions use their resources more wisely, but their most important resource – people – need that same love. Enter the WELL Building Standard, which looks more closely at the needs of the occupants of the buildings that we design. By shifting our thinking from building to the occupants of them, we give ourselves the opportunity to support their health and lower these levels of burnout.

A group of people in a workout room on various workout machines and stretching.

5. Shifts in Location and Reach

Since 2002 there has been significant expansion in medical education, and though too early to tell, that growth may continue to accelerate following the pandemic. Over the last 20 years, 30 new accredited MD-granting schools and 39 new DO-granting schools have been established. Similarly, there has been an expansion in nursing education, but primarily within existing schools.

No question, there is new demand for healthcare services due to the pandemic and our aging population. The growth of medical education institutions is in response to this need, but increasing the number of med ed students and graduates, and therefore number of healthcare providers, has typically been constrained by needs for both space and growth of new faculty. Given this demand, it’s easy to see this investment in medical education programs is one that both serves a societal need, as well as can provide new service lines and potential new revenue streams for higher education institutions.

Exterior view in the evening of Heritage Hall.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) more than 30% of medical schools now have a regional campus, which is defined as a distinct site from the central or administrative campus, but not independently accredited, reflecting a need for health education in both urban and rural communities. Many of these schools are also partnered with Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) in support of rural health initiatives — and an awareness of the unique challenges rural healthcare practitioners face must be considered a key component of their medical education. There are now 300 AHECs across the country, including seven in Pennsylvania and 10 across Ohio.

5. Shifts in Interest Levels (they're growing!)

Interest in medical programs and applications for prospective students increased dramatically during the pandemic. Per the AAMC, applications increased 18% across the country for allopathic and osteopathic medical programs alone, and increases were as high as 30% for some schools. Within this data lies another more compelling story: application numbers increased dramatically for people of color, as well as for persons of varied age ranges. Generally speaking, the pandemic provided more exposure to medical professions, increasing awareness and visibility of healthcare providers from their own background, and a recognition that this profession could be a reality for everyone. We’re hopeful it will result in a much more diverse population serving their communities during times of great need.

To paraphrase Harold Wilson, now is the time to embrace change and be the architect for the future of medical education and healthcare. DesignGroup has guided higher education and healthcare institutions through cultural and technical shifts for 50 years. We bring that collective expertise to every engagement we enter. We can help you with additions to your facility, enhancement of the existing spaces you have, or provide clarity and strategy for what you might need next.

For more insight on MedEd trends, learn more about our specific services in the healthcare field.

Ben Niebauer

LEED AP BD + C

Associate Principal, Education Market Leader

Ben leads DesignGroup’s education practice. He has focused his 21 year career on exceptional design and planning for academic facilities. Ben has significant experience designing student centered environments including medical education facilities, laboratories, over 5,500 student housing beds, and has assessed and planned over 30 million square feet of higher education campuses. Ben is an active participant with the Society of College and University Planners.

John Ryan

AIA, LEED AP

Associate Principal, Project Manager

More about John

Healthcare, Education, Community, Science & Technology, Commercial

Grounded in Mission. Driven by Impact.

by Joe Mayer

AIA, NCARB, WELL AP

Principal, Designer

As designers we are often asked, “what is your design process?” It can be tempting to try to answer this with step-by-step specifics or a cleverly alliterative flow diagram. But these approaches can belie the inherent complexity of putting a building together, the wide variation in specific goals of different projects, and the nuances of working in multiple geographic markets and building types. We want to foster broad, rigorous, and thoughtful application of expertise regardless of the project’s unique characteristics. We define a philosophy about design itself rather than a prescriptive process for achieving it.

We see Design as a translation from Mission (how the project is grounded in the client) to Impact (the unique aspirational objectives for the project).

Mission

Mission represents who, at their core, the client is. It’s what makes them tick. It’s how they see their place in the community, their public perception, and their objectives for the future. It’s their brand image, their customer/patient/user/resident/tenant/student profile, and their business case for the project. Every design must be grounded in a deep understanding that the client’s mission is both unique and dynamic. To achieve this, it takes empathy on the part of the design team and a true desire to listen.

Nikki Wildman taking a client through a persona exercise. — Associate Principal and Project Manager, Nikki Wildman, taking a client through a persona exercise.

Grounding a project in mission requires up-front work. Great design doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Grounding a project in mission isn’t just understanding the personal likes and dislikes of the people on the other side of the table. It’s understanding what made them take those seats in the first place, and what their dreams for their projects can mean.

A solid foundation in the client’s mission allows for an objective baseline for project decisions, while at the same time allowing, or maybe even promoting, the validity of disparate definitions of beauty. In other words, good design, grounded in mission, allows people to find beauty in different ways rather than trying to conform to a single style. There is no such thing as timeless style, but this degree of objectivity does allow for timeless design. A quick note on beauty: yes, we want to create buildings that are beautiful, and as architects and designers, of course we still care about proportion, scale, hierarchy, etc. – the foundational tenets of form making. Beauty makes us happy after all, but beauty is subjective.

Impact

Impact is achieving of the unique aspirational objectives for the project. It’s how the project has affected change, spurred growth, or created meaningful experiences. These objectives require thinking beyond who the client already is, as that is the mission in which the project is already grounded. These goals are how we take the client to places above expectations and beyond the status quo. We help lead the client to these goals through a series of up-front visioning exercises that are customized to the unique needs of the project. The goal is to work toward an understanding of not just what the project looks like, but what it means.

A successful project asks how the environment is affected, both in terms of initial resource expenditure and long-term resource investment. It seeks to understand how the project advances health and wellness – of staff, of users, and of the larger community.

Design translation from mission to impact creates not just growth, but strategic advancement, whether personal, professional, or institutional. This process is a mechanism for establishing and furthering brand identity, creating competitive advantages, or capturing market share. It can improve staff retention, attract new students, and enhance customer satisfaction. It can foster innovation, empower learning, and instill confidence.

Sherm Moreland performing a simulation experience with a group of people seated at a table. — CEO and Healthcare Planner, Sherm Moreland, performing a simulation experience.

Impact is so much more than appearance. It is what it feels like when the client first walks into the building when it opens. It’s how the building creates a calm environment for a patient’s anxious family member, or energizes an employee, or feels safe for a new student. This creates a conscious relationship with the community: an understanding of how the project shapes the community, and how the community in turn shapes the project once the doors are opened. Impact is how the project connects to a network beyond the project itself, such as a health system, campus, or neighborhood.

By seeing design as a translation from mission to impact, these pursuits are not simply theoretical – they are real, measurable, and specifically relevant to each client. The building is not just a representation of a moment in time, but an investment in the future.

Design

We like to think of design as a verb, rather than as a noun – that is, we see design as action, an application of lenses, a layering of meaning. The building is then neither the simple replication of a client wish list nor the manifestation of any one designer’s personal style.

Design thought of as a noun can be a trap, as it produces a product that tends to overrepresent mission or impact alone rather than navigate the complex but meaningful path between the two. Mission without impact is a representation of who the client already is, regardless of capital investment – perhaps familiar, but without an eye to progress. It is what clients already know, see, and understand. Design should advance understanding and add value. Impact without mission may lead to interesting form and space, but miss foundational financial, operational, or functional objectives that are required by the client.

Person sharing recent design work on a board to a group of people in the DesignGroup office. — DesignGroup meets monthly for a Studio Crawl to share projects they're working on inside and outside the office.

A focus on design as a translative act (verb) and not as an object (noun) allows us to create an objective framework for establishing priorities and making project decisions focused on quality, outcomes, and meaning. In other words, the project is driven by decisions that clearly draw a line between who the client is and a larger aim for the project.

Good design should not be about “meeting in the middle.” Questions of value should not be approached with an either/or mentality. Good design takes a both/and approach to problem solving, just as good design, with respect and empathy, actively navigates between relevance and aspiration rather than putting them at odds with each other. By actively focusing on design as the translation from mission to impact, the process is smoother, decision making is more efficient, and the outcomes are ultimately more meaningful – to the client, to the building’s users, and to the community.

Joe Mayer

AIA, NCARB, WELL AP

Principal, Designer

More about Joe

Healthcare, Education

A New Way to Pay For Sustainable Building Design

by Dan Malec-Kosak

NCARB

Senior Project Architect

A building science professor of mine at Berkeley was fond of saying, “the cheapest energy is efficiency.” I love that phrase and wondered who said it first. A quick Web search doesn’t attribute it to anyone specific, but it does turn up similar messages on several leading energy websites:

“The cheapest energy is energy we don’t use”
“Yes, saving energy is cheaper than making energy”
“Energy efficiency still abundant and cheaper that gas”
“Energy Efficiency Is The World’s Most Important Fuel"

His point, of course, was that the added cost of reducing energy use through a tighter building shell, and more efficient mechanical systems and lighting, will save the building owner money in the long run. And even today with the dramatic drop in PV costs, higher-efficiency systems that use less electricity often cost less than adding solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity. And once a better, more efficient building is created, fewer PV panels are needed to offset its energy use.

For example, a rooftop chiller is the typical, budget choice to cool a freestanding building (such as an office or school), and a geothermal heat pump system is a much more efficient system. While its upfront cost is more than the rooftop chiller by direct comparison, it’s a small percent of this hypothetical building’s total construction budget, and will save money in the long run – enough that all long-term building owners like hospitals and education systems should take advantage of doing. Unfortunately, some of our clients planning new construction don’t have the option of spending a little more now for efficiency that will save them money later. Often there are separate budgets for capital improvement and maintenance/operations — and the capital budget can't borrow money from operations, and the operations budget can't return energy savings to the capital. The result: there's no financial incentive to do the right thing by building better for the institution, the environment, and society.

Some larger institutions, such as higher education and healthcare, have implemented mandatory certification programs such as LEED or require more efficient systems if analysis predicts a payback in a specified time period. But that payback period is often about five years, where most systems will have a payback closer to ten. What’s a client to do?

Graph showing the cycle between investment capital, efficiency projects, and creating savings.

Meet the Green Revolving Fund

A creative new approach to get around this funding conundrum is the Green Revolving Fund (GRF). It’s an internal funding mechanism specifically for projects that reduce the operational costs for an organization. A portion of those annual savings are then replenished by the organization into its GRF for use in more capital improvement projects that generate the organization savings. Brilliant!

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the GRF model has gained increasing traction within the higher education sector, and other sectors – including healthcare, municipalities, and retail – all see the benefits of this innovative funding model and are seeking similar outcomes.

Here’s a couple of examples of how it works. If a university wants to install PV panels on a new building’s roof that will offset about $8,000 electricity per year, but the extra $100,000 system cost is beyond the construction budget, the GRF foots the bill, and the institution – now saving $8,000 per year in electricity costs – adds some of that savings back into the fund each year. Or maybe the students at that university petition to enhance all the drinking fountains with bottle filler stations, and they show the savings in water waste and plastic bottle disposal/recycling costs will pay for this enhancement in 15 years. The Green Revolving Fund could fund that, too.

Institutions that have implemented GRFs can announce their pledge by joining the Billion Dollar Green Challenge, which aims to encourage nonprofit institutions to pledge a combined $1B in GRFs and currently lists 58 participants, including:

Universities of all sizes, including Harvard, UCLA, and University of Utah;
Hospitals such as Cleveland Clinic (who started with an unprecedented $7.5 million pledge in 2016);
Cities as small as Hillsboro, OR, and as large as Pittsburgh, PA;
The state government of Vermont.

Whether or not a green revolving fund is implemented, there is an international push for buildings to reduce their impact on the environment. This year the AIA and many other organizations signed the open letter 1.5◦C COP26 Communique to "… call on all sovereign governments to ramp up their Nationally Determined Contributions, and 2030 emissions reduction targets, to limit planetary warming in line with the remaining global 1.5ºC carbon budget." 

Graph with data about building types and their status as Zero Energy buildings.

Because the U.S. lacks codified building energy regulations aligned with the Paris Agreement, achieving this goal compels a radical shift in collaboration between building owners, engineers, and architects to take the initiative of responsible design, achieve net zero energy consumption by 2030, and work toward net zero CO2 by 2050. 

But here's some good news: the hardest work is already done! Net zero energy buildings, of most building types in every US climate, have already been designed, built, and verified! The AEC industry is poised for success in mitigating Climate Change — it just needs the joint commitment of everyone involved to manifest that success.

Graph with data about how many Zero Energy projects are happening in each climate zone in the contiguous U.S.

To learn more about Green Revolving Funds visit this helpful overview from the U.S. Department of Energy. If you’d like to explore other sustainable building strategies, contact DesignGroup to start a discussion. We’ve advocated for sustainable building practices for five decades.

Dan Malec-Kosak smiling, wearing a black blazer and striped blue shirt