- Welcome to the Spring 2023 "Architecture for Health" lecture series.

It's great to have you with us.

Those of you that are watching this and those who have joined us in the studio audience, it's terrific to have you here.

Welcome.

I think we're in for a treat today especially, and for this semester.

We tried something new this semester in building a theme for the lecture series, and we wondered to ourselves, surely graduates today don't all have to go to work and face the drudgery of doing window details and toilet partition sections and flashing sections, wall details.

Surely there are ways to enter practice these days and do something exciting and meaningful and fun.

And so we invited firms to come join us for this lecture series and showcase for us opportunities where the younger members of the team, members of the firm got to actually work on meaningful projects in meaningful roles and make meaningful contributions to the work.

So we've got a whole semester of lectures coming about how the younger members of a team are doing things that are really significant in the life of the project.

That's gonna be fun to listen to and fun to learn about.

Today, our two guests are from Earl Swensson Associates.

We have Victoria Codrington, a design manager and team leader with ESA.

And her goal, I love this, is to design healthcare experiences, not buildings or facilities.

It's experiences.

I love the way that sounds.

Kudos to you.

She's a former A&M student, Aggie, alum, do we use that word around here?

It's former student, right?

She is a former student here at A&M's College of Architecture.

It's great to have you back, by the way.

And really nice new addition to her career.

She was added to the Health Facilities Institute, facility's Guidelines Committee.

She's gonna be working on that.

That's a huge opportunity for her.

And we have joining her, Hayleigh Engelhardt, also with ESA.

And she's in interiors, interior design.

And she's particularly passionate about how evidence-based design can contribute to the design of a healthcare facility.

Now, what I want the viewers and the audience to understand, ESA could have sent anybody to talk about their health work.

They have sent us.

And for those of you looking to get outta school and get into work, think about what I'm saying here.

Victoria in architecture is not yet licensed.

Hayleigh in interior design is not yet licensed.

Now, think about that.

That firm could have chosen anybody to send, and here they have two rising stars in the firm who don't have their license yet in their respective field, but are treated with such respect by the firm that they were sent down here to give this presentation and represent the firm and the opportunities for young people to do meaningful things.

That's just hard for me to imagine.

I think that sends an incredible message to us, and it speaks volumes about the firm, and even more volumes about these two young ladies.

They're very special and it's our special treat to have them with us today.

Welcome.

(audience applauding) - Thank you, Ray.

As he just said, my name is Victoria Codrington and this is Hayleigh.

We're very excited to be here.

I know as an Aggie, it's kinda like a fun bucket list item to be a part of as well.

I think one of the things we talk the most about is the things we wish we knew before we were in the industry or even as we were applying for internships and jobs.

And so we're super excited to share some of our experience with you today, share some project highlights, different things we've learned as well.

So really the structure of our talk today will be in two parts.

The first part will be really kinda sharing, like I said, our experience, what that's looked like, some opportunities.

And the second part is a little bit more meat, educational things of like principles, technologies, things like that that we've seen implemented that we're growing in that have been really interesting to us as well.

So just a little bit about ESA.

We really, I think our goals for this talk are to continue to equip you to have critical thinking skills as you move forward as you're looking at jobs and internships.

Of course, we'd love for you to apply to ESA and to talk with us after.

But at the end of the day, we want what's best for you and every firm, everyone needs a different place, but we'd love to help you along the way, whatever that looks like.

So ESA is located in Nashville, I think.

I'm from outside New York and went to school obviously here.

So I love Nashville 'cause it's such a fun combination of things.

We are a little bit less than 200 people.

So I think I had had a small internship before, and then really enjoy that size because of the resources.

I think that's been really good.

Relationship is probably one of the biggest buzzwords, if we were gonna have a list of buzzwords for today, just because it's important in everything we do, both personally and professionally.

But for ESA, I think that's one of the things that we'll both talk about that more, we kind of fell in love with of, for example, the average tenure is 14 years, and I'm sure some of you've had internships, maybe even worked and come back into the school environment.

But in an industry that has turnover rates of usually like one to three years over and over again, having a 14-year average tenure is pretty amazing across the firm.

I know many of my mentors graduated, started there and have never left.

They've had very successful careers.

And then 80% repeat clients.

So I think this is something that becomes more important the deeper you get into your jobs and your roles.

But doing a quality of work and having a level of character where your clients, 80% of your work is through existing relationships that are continually being cultivated is pretty, pretty incredible.

And we also work in all 50 states.

So that's one thing that was interesting to me when I was talking to ESA.

We are one office, which is a little bit unique for a firm our size, but that has been a deliberate decision even though we work in all 50 states very actively just because our community, our culture, and just those relationships and mentorships are so important that when you are all together, you can have that continual interaction across disciplines, like interior design and architecture especially.

That's really helpful.

- So a key focus that we'll talk about today is why interior design and architecture pair so well, why they are such a team sport, and why we're constantly collaborating.

Before I dive into that, I first wanted to talk kind of about typical paths, maybe what you're expecting once you guys graduate, once you hop into your career.

So I graduated in spring of 2020 from Florida State University.

So rough territory to be here in Texas.

(laughs) I had a year experience after I graduated.

It was in the pandemic, so I was kind of getting my feet under myself, and then I thankfully made my way to ESA after that, and I've been there for a year and a half now.

When I first graduated, I thought my path would be very much red lines, a lot of Revit work, not really participating in a lot of meetings, maybe just kinda sitting on the sidelines.

And it very much was not that.

I was active in user group meetings.

I had full creative liberties on a lot of the things I was working on, whether that be floor plans, RCPs, floor patterns, finishes.

And I was constantly collaborating with my architecture team, with consultants, with other team members at our office.

So it very much was not what I expected.

It was not red lines, and it didn't really take me 10 years to get there.

It may have been kind of thrown into the fire situation, but it very much didn't feel like that because I was so supported in my role.

- I think that was another thing that we both have really valued about ESA is they're very good at showing that everyone has a seat at the table.

And I think that's something that's important for y'all to kind of evaluate as you're talking to firms and depending on what you're looking for.

I think when you're starting off it's easy to feel like you don't have anything to give, but your education, your life experiences, your family situation, all that is so informative, especially in healthcare because so much of it is relational, is experiential, things like that.

I think for us, I remember talking with one of my mentors who had probably worked 40 or 50 years at the time, asking him a question assuming he would know right away, and he was like, "I don't know."

And I think just that honesty and that kind of, that type of environment of being open to not knowing, asking questions, researching, just facilitates a lot of growth and kind of the opportunity and the comfort for students and then recent employees like ourselves to really grow and make our own paths.

So you may be asking, "What's it like to be a new hire or intern?"

So like I said, I'm sure some of you have had internships or work before but are still evaluating what's next.

I think most of you're in the grad program.

And I think that's something I wish I had understood more graduating and kind of figuring that out.

And so, I think really important things to look for are, do they have structured onboarding processes?

That may seem simple, but you really want to be working somewhere that's organized, that really thinks about what the experience is as a summer intern or as a new hire because that really sets the stage for a lot of the kind of semester of the year, whatever your time period is.

One of my additional roles is helping with recruiting and over interns and internships.

And so something that we've been really continuing to facilitate is setting goals early on.

So I think that those sound really simple, but when you sit down with a new hire, an intern and talk about, "Okay, what do you want out of this time?

"What is important to you?

"Do you have a certain passion?

"Is there a certain type of architecture you wanna work on?"

Things like that, that continues to facilitate that seat at the table, that voice.

Ray was talking about that before.

And I just think that's really important because it helps us understand.

For us, we are a part of a larger firm, at least in our eyes, where there are a lot of opportunities.

We do, actually I didn't say this before.

So we do healthcare, hospitality, education, multi-family senior living, and any others?

I think that's it.

Just not really residential.

And so maybe we have a student who actually comes in with a commercial background and is like, "I've heard a lot about hospitals.

"I'm really interested in that.

"Can I get plugged in or can I shadow?"

Or things like that.

And I think we don't see, the benefits of our size is we don't see any intern or new hire as one size fits all.

It's very much like, share your work experience, share your life experience, like I said, what are you passionate about?

And then we can go from there.

So we have the goals, we check in.

I think it's important to have accountability, and so, sometimes when you're in leadership, you need goal check-ins with an intern to remember the things that you're helping them with.

So we do have accountability going through those, probably every three to four weeks, one-on-one, resetting those.

And then I think those are probably the biggest things.

- So something that we love about ESA is that, and most firms, is that an internship very much is like a three-month interview.

So it's great to voice what you're looking for.

Like Victoria mentioned early, if you guys want more exposure to different sectors, whether that's healthcare, whether that's commercial, it's great to voice those early on, and if you have any skills or maybe you wanna get plugged in internal side, like I mentioned, I wanted to have more involvement with interns and with the emerging professionals like what Victoria does.

And I was immediately keyed into that and was able to kind of help her out and game plan on how I could be a better resource.

- And I think sometimes, like Hayleigh didn't know I needed a lot of help with managing the emerging professionals group, but because she was passionate about education and just wanted to continue to get involved, and she mentioned one day, "Hey, I'd love to help coordinate "these discussions internally."

I was like, "This is what I've been looking for."

And because she asked, there was an opportunity.

And so I think that's something we really appreciate in the firm is a lot of it, you can ask and there's usually an opportunity.

Obviously, you have to be trustworthy, you have to work hard, have to prove yourself, but really just a lot of space to grow in those things.

And I think too, with the three-month interview, it may sound like just a cliche little phrase, but I think it's just a reminder of every day you go to an internship is a day for you to evaluate, is this the character of the people that I wanna be spending my time with?

Because ultimately, you want an internship to lead to a job, and a job leads to a lifestyle.

And so is it somewhere where people have healthy relationships outside of work?

Whatever your path is, are their good marriages or community or whatever that looks like, whatever's on your path for you.

I think that's really important 'cause how you live your life is important.

- So a practice that we implement at ESA is to teach both ways.

So if you guys have an interest like virtual reality or model building, you guys are exposed to a lot of these new technologies in school, like Rhino, Lumion, Enscape.

These are programs that are pretty new to the field and that a lot of our coworkers don't know much about.

So if you're able to bring that resource to ESA and teach others, then it just, it brings that passion to things.

It's another thing, a tool that we can use on projects and to show to clients.

So yeah, we really enjoy teaching both ways.

- I would say too, I know many of you are international students and that can sometimes be challenging.

And I would say, be encouraged and empowered that you have so much different life experience, maybe even program differences, things like that that you can bring to a firm or an internship that that may be the key to the mindset they need in this new project or something like that.

You just never know what that's gonna look like.

And I think one of my other favorite things I've learned from one of my mentors is architecture is a team sport.

I think it can sometimes be hard to transition from school to the work field because it is such a typically solitary sport when you're in school, and I understand why it is that way, but I think in the industry, that's really not it.

You have to rely on all your teammates.

You have to really have the support from all those positions.

And so I think, and it's definitely better than group projects.

Don't worry about that.

That's part of the process though.

Okay, so we'll kinda go into the more like educational/our experience a little bit more.

So the first learning objective, useful examples of benefits of an integrated team of architects and interior designers on healthcare projects.

So like we said in the title in the beginning, one of our biggest objectives is really to show the relationships that are important, show the importance of collaboration and things like that.

And just why you really want that strong communication between party members.

So as Ray mentioned, one of my roles is a design manager.

So that's really, the way ESA breaks things up, that's really like a pre-design, schematic design through the middle of a project to design development.

And so one of the things I think is really critical is bringing the rest of your team in early.

So yes, I could meet with a client day one, get the information.

Are they looking to add patient rooms or classrooms or whatever the program is.

But I really need Hayleigh to be there with me because it's important to not treat everyone just as their title or their role.

It's another person who's a critical thinker who has a design mind.

So even if her background is interior design and mine is in architecture, there'd be maybe an issue we're trying to work through that she can see in a totally different way than I can.

And I think it's important to see people in that light.

So with that being said, design process, bringing your team on early.

That also can include your consultants.

So typically, we'll also be working with mechanical, electrical, plumbing, telecom, structural, and civil engineers, as well as possible other consultants depending on type of project, location, you could have lead, things like that.

And I think listening, that's another thing.

If you aren't good at listening at this point, we highly encourage you to really grow in that skill, 'cause I think honesty, hard work, and listening is one of the biggest skills you can have.

And I think, at least for us, that's some of the things that are most recognized within our firm.

But then also with clients, there's nothing better than to sit in a room with a client after you've shown them a new plan iteration than them say, "You've listened to us."

To me that's the ultimate form of success.

And so I know you'll continue to learn.

Some of you may already know all the phases of a project.

I don't feel like I need to go through all of that.

But the more detailed your project gets, the more critical it is you have that collaboration between all the different team members.

- So yeah, rather than just passing a project from discipline to discipline, like Victoria mentioned, we do very much need to work together.

Or oftentimes, information gets lost in translation, and then the client isn't heard.

- Like telephone.

- Exactly.

It is like a game of telephone.

So if information maybe is left out of a conversation and then the interior design team isn't able to pick that up, then it just leads to more holes in the design later on in the process.

If I were to create a crazy ceiling design, I can't be designing that in a vacuum.

I need to let my consultants know, mechanical, electrical.

I need to talk with Victoria, make sure that the windows would pair well or the overall feel of the design.

So we very much do need to be working together as disciplines and completely integrating that throughout the project.

- Okay.

Learning objective two, techniques and technologies that we use to make healthcare environments visually comfortable, safe, and easy to navigate.

I know already starting off because you guys are students here, you learn a good amount about evidence-based design, like those different principles.

And so you will hear a lot about those things in different words in the things that we're talking about.

For me, one of the reasons I chose healthcare architecture is because I had a lot of personal family experience in the healthcare system, a lot of hard times.

And I think it's good to remember that often, except for having a baby maybe, people's hardest time of their life is in healthcare or in a hospital or any type of situation like that.

So how much more important is it that it meets the clinical needs of the space and it meets, you're really creating an environment, and I think that's really important.

- So the specific project that Victoria and I are gonna walk through as we continue on through the presentation is a project that both and I worked on together.

This was an existing hospital that they wanted to expand to create more patient beds.

They wanted to give a few other services like behavioral health, a larger NICU.

So this animation that you're seeing here, again, this was an existing space.

So this is an interior atrium.

It was a two-story space that they wanted to expand up to add three more beds of patient beds on the floors.

In order to expand that, we had to make the interior design decision to keep this atrium because it was essential to provide natural light to each of the patient rooms.

We designed the existing space to match the city's local vernacular.

So you have the whimsical punched window openings, you have the faux railings, the faux shutters.

So we continued those details up, and this was all in an interior environment.

So it was a constant coordination between architecture and interior design, whether that was concealing structural elements, because as you're building these large spans, you obviously need to support it structurally.

We also had to conceal duct work within the ceiling type designs.

So it was just a constant coordination effort, and all in all, it was able to provide natural light to the staff, to your caregiver that's with you, and to the patients.

- Okay.

One other thing that is really important.

So I'm sure you guys have heard the word wayfinding a ton in school.

I remember hearing that over and over, especially in undergrad and thinking, "Is this really that important?"

But it really is it.

I think any of you that have been to large-scale buildings, like a hospital, like a school, anything like that, in an environment where someone is already anxious probably being there or struggling, how much more important is it that it's clear and makes sense the path that they end up where they're looking for.

So this was just a rendering of an example of a nurse station and kind of showing some conversation we had around it.

So this was a situation where the staff was concerned about these patient rooms not having visibility near them or workspaces near them.

They're also concerned about this kind of cross-shaped intersection where people could get lost and just not know which direction to go, 'cause I think sometimes hospitals can look all the same, even though they shouldn't.

Wayfinding also is an example of something that is typically an architectural principle, but that the implementation includes both architecture and interior design.

So we could talk about, hey, we really think there should be a nurse station here, but then working with Hayleigh to really talk more about what that looks like.

- So yeah, in this example, we dropped a bulkhead over each of the main nurse stations.

As you can see, it's accented with the blue color, and that's carried out in the floor pattern as well.

So those kinda speak to each other and really ground the nurse station.

Throughout the corridors, there's wall protection.

And then on each floor, that wall protection has a floor number to kind of point out to patients and staff what floor they're on.

And obviously, it provides protection as those carts are taking those round corners and they're not beating up the walls.

And additionally, we had these wayfinding nodes, so the circular feature up in the ceiling, we used a wood-look wall covering and a decorative light fixture.

And these were implemented throughout corridors throughout the facility to just break up the monotony of the long stretches.

And then last thing would be the nurse stations themselves were clad with a solid surface and resin panel material.

So just providing extra durability.

I also wanted to point out that both this rendering and the animation done before were additional resources that I was able to really have fun with because they were done in Lumion, which is a program I learned in school, and I was able to bring that to our team and say, "Hey, I would love to tackle these by applying materials.

"I have a good knowledge base."

And then I could work with our visual graphics team on, how do I further polish this so it's great to show to our client?

- And this was not some small client that was, no one's insignificant, they're all important, but this was a really, this is a big client for us.

And so just the trust that was in Hayleigh to represent the graphics to them, to the team really selling the product was a huge deal.

And I think she's done an incredible job.

But just an example of really of the environment that we're in that you're given that ability to, "Hey, I know this.

"I'd love to take a stab at it."

And we worked through it together, I think has allowed both of us to thrive a lot.

So safety and visibility are obviously things that are very important in any facility, but especially in healthcare.

I'm sure some of you may know this, some of you may still be learning this, there are certain unit types in hospitals that have even elevated levels of risk and need for safety and visibility.

So the example on the screen is behavioral health.

So that's something I've been working on a lot the last probably three years.

So I could talk about it for days, which I won't, but we'll definitely share some snippets.

Women's services and pediatrics are probably also examples of that where that's really critical.

So kind of the pink central blob is the nurse station, and to the plan, south is the entry to the unit.

So you're entering in the unit, you can be seen to the plan, to the right-hand side is looking down the corridor where all the patient rooms are.

So then any patient who's coming out of their room, they're immediately seen.

And then at the top of the plan is a door to the exterior, which is actually to a patio or a courtyard that they can use.

So they can also be seen out there.

And then to the bottom right-hand side there is a activity space.

And so this was an example of having visibility into there, but also a tiny bit of privacy to allow for some independence and autonomy for patients as well.

So that's visibility.

From the safety standpoint, one of the big principles is an example that we really deal with in behavioral health is anti-ligature.

So really anything that helps protect from self-harm.

So that could be anything from a type of door closer to a piece of hardware for casework.

It goes into finishes as well.

- So yeah, common interior finish decisions that we do for these environments would be vinyl wall coverings that are kind of biophilic in nature so they're evoking a sense of nature as the patients are in the space.

Oftentimes, behavioral health furniture is very gray, neutral tones.

So this way we can bring an element outside in.

We also use in the flooring material, wood tones, wood tones in the wall protection, just, again, evoking a sense of nature in the space.

And then as Victoria mentioned, anti-ligature everything, whether that's handrails, transitions between the floor base.

And we often use pick-resistant caulk and headwalls and any tile transitions so that way the patients aren't able to break anything off and harm themselves.

- I think this too is another example of just why collaboration is so important.

So in behavioral health, and I'm, again, not sure your exposure to it, you really have to put on a different thinking cap when you're evaluating it because unfortunately, it is such a large problem in our country, really our world.

But if we're focused on the United States, our country, and the way you have to think of patients and the ability to, can they break it off and hurt themselves or someone else or even eat it?

We heard a lot of horror stories in the last two years of different things that you have to accommodate for.

And so that's where it's so important that your whole team is there from the beginning because that's truly a safety thing.

If my mechanical engineer wasn't there and didn't have exposure to behavioral health, he wouldn't know that he has to specify the special grill with the taper-proof screws, like things like that that can really be life and death for someone in these type of scenarios.

- So our next learning objective is how quality of building documentation and material selection are integral to patient satisfaction and long-term performance of the facility.

So we're gonna break that down further by looking at actual examples of building documentation.

We're gonna talk through some standard details and go through actual examples of when we've selected materials and why we've done so.

- And so this is important.

Obviously, your clients will want beautiful buildings.

I think we will always move that forward.

But I think one of the things I think we both love about healthcare is that there's always gonna, we are all designers, we love beauty, we love design, we love things to look good and function well, but there's another level of design that's even more complicated with the equipment, with the technology, with situations like that we talked about that you really have to evaluate, and I think we love that challenge.

And so it's so important to deliver a safe and beautiful and high-quality building to your client, which is spending a lot of money either personally, raising it from the community or the government.

So one of the really glamorous parts that I know, I'm sure you learn a lot about in school is codes.

And I'm sure in graduate school, you're looking at that more than at least I remember I did previously.

But it is actually really important, and I don't know your perspective on it.

For me, I thought it was super dry in the beginning and boring and kind of like a hindrance to my designs.

But now I actually see that.

So when I started working, I remember thinking, "I don't totally know what I have to bring to the table."

And that was before people showed me I actually had things to bring to the table, but I remember thinking, "I know how to read, "and so I can read this and I can help the team "by reviewing this and looking at their plans "and talking about it."

So I think it's become a real passion for me.

We all have our nerdy things, you know?

But it's so important to know, okay, I am building, I am using beautiful materials on this, and I am creating amazing atrium or entryway or things like that.

But then, is your patient room too small?

Are they gonna get through the design review process with the state or is it gonna be in construction and then something's totally wrong that you missed because you only cared about the aesthetics in that moment?

And I think that's where you really have to have them hand in hand of, okay, it's requiring this size or this type of relationship, but how do we do that in a way that still is beautiful and still doesn't sacrifice an experience?

- So here's an example of patient safety relating to standard details.

In this specific situation, this is a photo of the existing hospital.

They wanted to carry this patient toilet design up into the new addition.

They really loved the poured floor and how it transitioned seamlessly into the patient shower without a trip hazard.

It was a poured floor that went into a trench drain, which then transitioned to the solid surface pan in the shower.

The materials that we used here, we were able to use the standard detail from the existing project and kind of copy it in into our new project.

Victoria's gonna talk to you more about standard details and how those relate to our firm, but in this specific instance, it was the client loved this detail, it's great for patient safety, it's great for long-term performance of the facility, it's easy to clean, and we are just able to implement that.

- So standard details I think is probably one of those things you'll only get into when you're in a firm 'cause it's not necessarily a selling point when you're looking for an internship or full-time employment.

But what's really important, what it really means is that you have a set way or a refined way of having specific materials or situations come together in a building.

And the benefit to that is that we know when they're doing this detail, it's because they've also used it on hospitals over the last 10 or 20 years.

Not the sense of that you don't innovate when something can be better or wrong, but there's so many specific things that can happen in construction with warranties or things like that, a client likes knowing that you have refined details, that you have people that are working on it that really know how materials come together.

But it's just kind of a strong part of documents if you can have an arsenal of details like that.

- So our next learning objective is to explore shifts in the traditional design model, what that means for the future of healthcare and then ESA as a whole.

So healthcare is constantly changing, whether that's new technology, whether that's a rise in behavioral health, a rise in telehealth, and we are constantly having to evolve for those things.

And then additionally, healthcare design firms are evolving too, whether that's in their recruiting practices, whether that's in involving new members of the team.

So we're gonna go through some examples of that.

- Okay.

So there's a few different things here.

One of the things that's been interesting to see, I'm sure you guys have probably done projects post-COVID talking about how that's affected the industry, things like that.

And I think one of the things that's been interesting for us to see is, yes, we see that on the patient side or even the flow of visitors, stuff like that.

But even more, we see it with making additional provisions for staff because I think that nursing, just the medical industry, doctors in general is one of the most difficult industries to be in, one of the most draining and tiring.

And so I think in the past, there hasn't always been as much emphasis either from a code standpoint or from a priority standpoint of really investing in that as much.

So I think that's something we're seeing a lot more of facilities being a lot more aware of wanting to really care for their providers and looking at that.

So the upper graphic is just showing kind of a touchdown space for a nurse between two patient rooms with some visibility.

Some of it is also in the interior design of those things and just making provisions for things like she was talking about, bulkheads, lighting, just so it's noted.

Okay, this is kind of a node to pull into.

Do you wanna say anything about that?

- Yeah, additionally, so like we talked about, the bulkheads kind of mimicking in the floor patterns, just creating visual interest down the corridors, and then like what Victoria talked about, an emphasis on providers, so maybe that's elevating designs of physician spaces, physician lounges, giving them more opportunities to kinda have a place of respite, come and rest.

So that's obviously done through emphasizing the interior design of those spaces.

- I think another trend we're seeing, and I'm sure you guys talk about this, is telemedicine.

So I think what's been cool, because of the size of firm we are, we work in a lot of city-based healthcare and a lot of rural or critical access-based healthcare.

So something I've been interested in and we're still learning about, it's totally learning process but we're aware that it's happening and trying to get connected into that is in some of the city hospitals we're working in that are more populated areas where a lot of the doctors are and it's easier to recruit there, they'll have spaces where they can administer the telemedicine out.

So a space for them to be on camera, things like that.

But then on the rural or the critical access side or regional healthcare, it's space for them to receive it, from the community where the doctors aren't as much.

And so I think that's something I'm curious, especially being a part of the FGI review this next cycle, what continued provisions are they making for that?

'Cause I think that, I remember hearing about that a while ago and thinking, "Is this just a robot thing?

"Like what is is this?"

But I think it's totally part of the future and something we need to be thinking about.

I'm sure something you guys are incorporating into your projects and continue to learn about.

So I think that's exciting.

And then the middle graphic is a behavioral health exam room, and so that's just really the comment on that's such a need obviously and something that's gonna continue to grow.

I would say most of our projects right now, I feel like there's always some comment about behavioral health.

So it may not be a behavioral health ED or a whole hospital but it's, how do we plan a space to be flexible?

Because you never know who's gonna walk in your doors.

You may know your population and that it has this typically or that typically, but you also, behavioral health and mental health is something that affects everyone.

So you don't always know what that's going to look like.

- And I think a key feature of all these things and these shifting technologies is that as designers, we need to just have a big focus on flexibility of spaces, whether that's done through furniture, mobile furniture in these behavioral health exam rooms, maybe that's equipping standard exam rooms to be anti-ligature.

So in the event that they needed one, they have that.

And with telehealth, maybe that's having rooms that flex to be offices on some days but are able to have users come in and use them as telehealth rooms on other days.

So just flexibility in all of our designs is something that we're seeing.

- Okay, so this was an example of a behavioral health project we worked on together.

It's standalone hospital, and so kind of the most northern point of the plan with the pink all the way to the purple, those are the patient wings or most of the patient wings.

And what was interesting in this, this was a principle that I hadn't heard about before that we've had a lot of discussion, have been trying to implement and talk about in other types of healthcare as well is medical mall or a treatment mall concept.

So the old way of doing behavioral health was really that you kept the patient in the room or they're just on the unit and much more almost like, almost like a jail-type confinement type situation instead of, and it's moving towards more like therapy-type situation, which I think is really good.

Definitely takes a lot more planning and a lot more clinicians, things like that.

But I think for there to be actual solutions, it means a lot.

And so with this one, the clinicians we were working on had heard about this as a model, had never seen it built.

So it basically means that the patients that are on the top wing, so we have six total wings, but five on the top, each can be brought individually as a unit to that central area just that's planned south of the courtyard in the middle.

And then they can have, it's a scheduled time.

So in kind of the salmon-colored block is the gym space.

So maybe from like 11 to 12, they're able to have an open gym time or a scheduled activity, then they can move to that middle green block, which is dietary and dining and have their meal.

Then the two kind of brown spaces off of the courtyard are activity therapy.

So that could be any gamut of things.

It could be art, it could be music, it could be things like that.

Within the courtyard, we also have horticulture.

That was something that was important to this client.

And so it's just cool because you're being able to bring these patients off of their units for a block of time and I can't imagine if I was there how helpful that would be for me.

Just even a change of scenery.

I think there is so much depression and things like that, that if you're staying in one room all the time, how could you get better?

Like how would that be helpful in any sense?

So that's been cool.

There's been a lot of conversation and talk around that.

This also focuses a little bit on circulation.

So circulation, another buzzword you've heard a billion times and worked through.

But for a facility like this, circulation was critical 'cause we try to separate service and staff, and then plan it in a way that patient populations wouldn't interact.

So when you have pediatric, again, I probably shouldn't talk about this forever, but when you have a pediatric population and then adult population, they can never mix.

And so designing it in a way that they can flow from their unit into that type of medical mall area and not interact with adults.

Obviously, there's operations behind that, but, do you wanna?

- So now we wanna talk about the shifts in healthcare firms and specifically our firm.

So this is just a breakdown of our firm, how we're broken up into architecture, interior design, and support staff.

But I'd also like to outline how we have broken down.

We have 35 project managers at our firm, and then we have, let's see, for design managers, we have 20 of them.

And those numbers, 30 of our staff are considered emerging professionals.

So they're seeking licensure, like Victoria and I.

We are becoming a younger firm.

We're constantly hiring, recruiting, and that to be said, a lot of people at our firm have these higher roles, whether it's design managers, whether it's project managers, and it doesn't necessarily take you 10 years to get there.

So I've only been at ESA for a year and a half and I already have so many responsibilities on my plate.

I've been able to be a key member in a lot of the graphics that we've shown today, and my opinion definitely is heard and it's seen in a lot of the designs that we've done.

So all that to say, you guys are definitely an asset as recent graduates, as interns.

You're bringing skills like Lumion, Enscape, even just the things you know in Revit.

Chances are you know shortcuts better than a lot of the people that we have on staff.

So just think of yourself as an asset, and you guys really do bring a lot to the table, and firms are recognizing that.

- So yeah, we just hope this has been an encouraging time for you guys to really be thinking about what you're looking for as you graduate.

I think for us, drive, loyalty, attitude, and humility are really important.

I would encourage you to kinda hold in the balance the mix of, you have something to bring to the table, but also being humble of, I'm here and I'm earnest and I'm ready to take notes and learn.

I can give opinions and all these things, but also respecting those that are older than you and have gone ahead of you.

I think that's something historically Texas A&M has done really well of honoring history, but also always looking forward and giving you opportunities in the future.

And yeah, thank you guys.

- Thank you.

- We're happy to be here today.

(audience applauding) - That is a wonderful start to this series.

That was a great peek behind the curtain.

Thank y'all for bringing that, and also answered any question about why y'all would be chosen to do this.

Fantastic job.

- Thank you.

- I really loved a statement that you made.

I thought I knew exactly where you were going and you threw me at the last second.

You said the internship leads to a job and the job leads to, and I'd already filled in the blank, career.

And you switched it and you said, internship to job, job to lifestyle.

I love that twist.

- Thank you.

- 'Cause it is so important that the job enables the lifestyle.

- Totally.

- Not just the career.

Loved that twist.

Great, great point.

- Well, I think so much of architecture's, I mean, architecture as an industry is like, we all have to walk uphill in the snow to school both ways.

And there is truth to it.

It is really difficult.

What you guys are doing is very difficult, but that your career itself doesn't have to be that.

And I think you all probably have personal goals in your future and your life, and I think it is really important to not lose sight of that.

And I don't think your job should take that from you.

It should give you that or give you, it should be a way to use your skills and your interests in ways that you want to.

And ultimately, you have to answer for how you live your life.

And so it's important what jobs you choose and what you value.

Don't ever compromise what you value or what you wanna promote for more money or for something like that.

- Great.

I loved it.

Questions from those who are here?

Come on up.

- So thank you.

It was a really, really beautiful presentation.

I just wanted to ask, so it's very evident that you guys gave your, whoever you hire a lot of opportunity within the design of a project.

I know usually as new hires, you usually operate between the SD and DD phases, but as with new hires, do you give 'em the opportunity to be more on the CD and CA, and even stay through the life cycle of a project or lifespan of a project to be able to see kind of what happens in CA and how to kind of maneuver through those obstacles, and then be able to carry that into the next project and be able to learn from that?

Thank you.

- Totally.

That's a great question.

So that's one of the things when I actually, I just came from interviewing some students, and we're continuing the next few months to do that, and that's one of the biggest questions we get.

I think that's where you really, when you're beginning, you have the conversation, "What are you interested in?"

So we do get a lot of applicants, you're right, that are more interested in SD or pre-design through DD just 'cause that's a lot of what your exposure is at this point.

But if someone has a pension or an interest in the more technical, we would love for them to work in the CD.

Yeah, DD, CD through CA process.

I think we typically get to a point where we encourage, especially the earlier design side, to go follow through projects because you need to know how everything goes together to design it well.

And so we are not necessarily a super structured in the sense of that you have to only, you only get to work on pre-design and you only get to work on this.

Some of it's also, are you clearly gifted?

Is this clearly the right thing for you to follow?

So I think a mix of following that, but some of it is also just, you do need a round education or not like a one-size-fits-all of that.

It's really just in that communication, that conversation of, "Hey, I'm interested in this, "or I'd love to shadow this team "that's great at detailing," or things like that.

- Thank you.

- Thanks.

- Good question.

Who else has a question?

I've got one.

When y'all are looking at soon-to-be graduates or graduate students looking for an internship experience, tell us what those top things are that you hope to see in a candidate.

- Do you want me to speak to that?

- Yeah.

- So I think this may be taboo to say, we don't actually look at portfolios as much as we do resume or just conversation.

I'm sorry, but it's just honest.

I think it's very, so let's say like a first meeting, we typically wanna sit with you and just learn about you and talk with you because you learn a lot about a person when you hear what they're passionate about, whether what type of leadership they've taken, what's their background or things like that.

I think, again, if you're looking for a long-term fit in your culture of your firm, one of my mentors said this to me and it hurt at first 'cause it was funny.

I was like, "I don't know how to do this task.

"What am I gonna do?"

And he laughed and he was like, "You're not equipped for your job, "but we're gonna teach you how to do it."

And I think that's a lot of the mindset of like, do you have, honestly, it's a lot of the principles of A&M, like, do you have the character?

Do you know how to work hard?

Are you honest?

Do you have integrity?

Do you have a design sense?

I'm not saying that's not important, that's very important, but just because you don't know how to detail a building coming out of school, as awesome as that would be to have, and definitely cultivate that as much as you can, but your team should teach you.

That's part of giving back to the industry.

So I would say really, probably work ethic, character, and honesty are probably some of the biggest things.

Humility is great.

I think there is that balance of coming in, like I said before, with being confident, you should be confident of your experience, the ability that they wanna interview you, that you're in that place, but also know, you do have a lot to learn.

But I think people seeing that you're honest about that, you end up having so many more opportunities because of that.

Revit, honestly, Revit.

Just learn Revit.

It's really just, it's what's typically used in the industry now.

I understand from a education standpoint it is not always great in university because it is a little, can be limiting from a creativity standpoint, but it is really what the industry's using.

So there's maybe a balance in there of hand sketching or using other Adobe-type programs to stay creative in that.

But you definitely get farther quicker if you do have that skills and you're not limited by that as much.

- Do you look with favor on people who have studied in a specialty of any kind in school versus generalist?

- I think everyone's different.

I would say like if you're, I assume most of you are in healthcare certificate or any of the other specialties, if you're pursuing that, that's great.

I think anything on a resume can speak to a greater interest or commitment.

So if maybe your GPA's not as high, but maybe you've been involved in all these things in the same field or had a certificate or had a minor, something like that.

I think it's ultimately about the person.

It's not just, there can be someone with every degree that's not a good person or doesn't have a great design sense or wouldn't be a good asset in that.

You want a person that's a long-term fit and not just a resume or something.

- Wonderful answers and a wonderful presentation.

Thank you both for coming all this way to join us.

We're out of time, gang, but it was a lot of fun.

Good questions.

Thanks for being here and thank y'all again.

One more time.

(audience applauding) (upbeat music)