Jean Mah describes this architectural firm’s effort to lead the development and renovation of healthcare facilities around the world.

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It seems like everywhere you look a medical center is being developed or renovated. With so much riding on the success of these construction projects, it is no wonder so many leading providers turn to the healthcare arm of architecture giant Perkins+Will. 

Jean Mah, the firm’s healthcare national market sector leader

The firm also uses each project as an extension of its research and development efforts. There is a dedicated healthcare research manager on staff, and the firm regularly participates in research with universities and design schools to develop metrics to evaluate the success and performance of projects. One recent example includes a project with researchers at Texas A&M University around two rooms the firm designed called Adapt-a-Room. The rooms were created with input from focus groups of children and parents because they are in a pediatric oncology unit in Minneapolis.

“The rooms are highly interactive and inclusive of family and siblings. The child can control the environment, change color schemes and lighting, rearrange furniture, and control the entertainment and information education systems,” said Mah, noting the firm and the university developed a survey to compare those two rooms against others in the facility that haven’t been redesigned. “That will hopefully present some interesting findings about what features in the space people value.”

Although Perkins+Will is an entrenched player in healthcare architecture, the firm is not about to back down. Many facilities are looking to expand their services, and though that pace may eventually slow, there are still plenty of opportunities. The firm can use its connections to generate repeat business and new contacts, plus its reputation brings many unsolicited requests for proposals. This is why Perkins+Will operates 17 offices in the US and has leadership spread around the country. Communication challenges are dealt with through state-of-the-art video conferencing and other communication tools.

Much like the healthcare industry, competition for talent is fierce. The firm not only competes with other architectural firms, but also with program managers, construction managers, and consulting firms. Even potential client hospital systems are looking for people to be their own internal directors of design and construction. Perkins+Will is able to attract people because it works on many challenging projects, and the firm has a strong retention strategy in place.

“We have a full-time corporate learning officer who develops teaching tools for all levels of the organization, from young interns to the principle level,” said Mah. “We also have an aggressive mentorship program with hands-on teaching and learning sessions on each project. Learning and development is part of everything we do.”

Although the slowing economy presents questions about capital availability because hospitals rely on philanthropy for funding, the push for modernization by providers should supply Perkins+Will with projects for years. Moves like the recent acquisition of New York-based firm Guenther 5 expands Perkins+Will’s healthcare practice and sustainability expertise. And Mah said the firm is committed to creating environments to promote safety, healing, and efficiency, as well as giving healthcare professionals a beautiful place to work.

“Retention of clinical staff is a challenge for our clients,” Mah said. “The more we can do to improve the working environment from not only a quantitative efficiency point of view, but also from a qualitative, stress reducing point of view is a good thing.”