Category Archives: Designer Spotlight

We Are One

By Jennifer Busch

May 21, 2013

Gallerie Bar & Bistro detail at Hilton Columbus Downtown Atrium in Columbus, Ohio. Photographed by Nathan Kirkman

In the 10 years since they founded their young design firm, rising hospitality designers Lisa Simeone and Gina Deary of Chicago-based Simeone Deary Design Group can count such projects as Chicago’s elegant Elysian Hotel (now the Waldorf Astoria Chicago), the Hilton Dallas Park Cities, and the JW Marriott Indianapolis to their credit. Currently they are working on Loews hotels in Chicago, Nashville, Tenn., and Orlando, a new restaurant concept with Richard Melman of Lettuce Entertain You fame, and a JW Marriott and a Westin for White Lodging in the red hot city of Austin, Texas. They’ve also started a residential design studio. Interface talked to this busy pair—who approach their work as a team—about the formula for success behind their prospering firm, their fascination with technology, and the all-important role of design in the hospitality sector.

IF: How would you describe your design process?

LS & GD: After we meet with the client and understand their criteria, we do research on the location, the building architect…we dig into the property to find out what is going to make it grow in the community. For us a project is as much a branding and positioning exercise as it is an interior design assignment.

Brush Creek Ranch inspiration images

We start our critical thinking by digging into the location, and then we create a concept that is really representative of what we are thinking. That’s when we get very creative. We open up our minds to what inspires us, and we filter all this through our story.
We make very succinct decisions around every element in every phase. This elevates us above trends, so we are creating a sense of place and not just a sense of currency.

IF: Where do you turn for inspiration?

LS & GD: Inspiration comes from everywhere! It comes from fashion, jewelry, metalwork, film noir, Hollywood. Anything we find in culture we can use. We have been inspired by Jane Austen, pin-up girls, architecture, nature. We are really into how people lived at certain times. For each project we run these ideas through the filter of our concept and see how things settle out.

IF: What do you enjoy most about your work?

GD: I most enjoy the people I work with, and watching them grow and mature, and thinking that Lisa and I are helping that happen. Also, I am exposed to so many people and places and ideas and things. It makes me a much better designer and helps me grow too.

LS: I am inspired every day working with such a creative group of people. We have such a sense of camaraderie here. Being inspired and inspiring other people is what gets me up every morning.

IF: What do you believe to be the primary value of good design to your clients?

LS & GD: Design is how our clients touch their customers. The experiences we create for them help them reap monetary benefits. Are clients seeing proof in the numbers? They are! If we do a great design, that design becomes a marketing tool.

IF: Is there anything in particular happening in the design world right now that inspires you?

LS & GD: Technology. It moves so fast. The doors are flung open on the things we are able to achieve. It has become a real vehicle for expressing ideas.

IF: What is

the biggest challenge facing the design profession today?

LS & GD: The biggest challenge is the speed at which projects are being built and financed. How do designers keep up with that? The creative process isn’t given enough time. Our own challenge is how to morph our process to be just as competitive and creative, and still fit into that excelled, demanding way of doing business.

IF: If you were able to give one piece of advice to young designers just starting out, what would it be?

GD: Everything is a learning experience. School opens the door but once you walk through that door there is a lot you still have to learn. Nothing is beneath you. Get every experience you can. And don’t be afraid to fail.

LS: Try to intern as much as possible. Understand the many different types of firms and facets of design. There is a lot of pressure to conform but be true to yourself. Don’t be timid. Let the bold idea out.

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Behind the Evidence

By Jennifer Busch

March 14, 2013

Roz Cama, FASID, principal of Cama Inc. has built an influential career around healthcare design, a segment of the industry that many designers shy away from as being too complex or too institutional. But Cama knows that nothing can be more rewarding than creating built environments that effect and inspire healing and wellness. Interface caught up with Roz shortly after she was named ASID’s 2012 Designer of Distinction to talk to her about her illustrious career, her still-thriving design practice based in New Haven, CT, and how designers like her are elevating the conversations about healthcare reform to a higher level of thinking.

IF: Recently you were the recipient of ASID’s Designer of Distinction Award. What does this honor mean to you?

2012 Designer of Distinction Award

RC: As a healthcare designer I am honored to have my life’s work acknowledged by my peers who hail from all design sectors. The healthcare design sector does not always get its due, our budgets are typically lean and innovation in the design of our environments has been slow. The evidence-based design movement changed the conditions that held us back and in the last 13 years has allowed us to leap forward. I am blessed to have been able to be at the right place in my career with access to the best clients and industry leaders allowing me with others to define and illuminate this game changing design methodology. The ASID 2012 Designer of Distinction Award is acknowledgement that the fruits of this effort have been appreciated farther than I would have ever imagined. It is humbling and I proudly share it with so many who have pioneered with me in this sector.

IF: How have you seen the design of healthcare facilities change over your career as a design practitioner?

02 princeton-rendering-patient-room-plan

The IOM report on safety gave way to the legislation of the single bedded room, proven to improve more health outcomes than any other evidence-based design intervention. University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, HOK|RMJM|CAMA 2012

RC: When I began interior design in the late 1970s, design of the healthcare environment was driven by advancements in diagnostic equipment and the specific needs of the physician, known as nothing more than utilitarian institutional design. Reform in coding for clinical reimbursement or DRG’s gave the patient consumer choice in medical providers and the patient-centered care movement was born. This movement allowed design to respond to the customer’s perception of care through their experiences within the built environment. Industrial designers were liberated to develop offerings that aligned product with trends seen in hospitality design, but unfortunately tooled for corporate design. It wasn’t until the late 1990s when the Institute of Medicine created a game changer forcing shifts in healthcare delivery in order to improve its quality. It was then that the designer’s voice became an integral part of a multi-disciplinary conversation. Health reform is now looking for all stakeholders to deliver a more efficient and effective care model that reduces care delivery costs and accountable care will look for any innovation that contributes to the improvement of each person’s health status. Evidence-based methodologies have proven the positive effect design has on every part of a human’s life. That we cannot be exempt from these conversations has been the change I am the most proud.

IF: What do you think are the primary challenges facing the design profession today?

RC: We are in a vortex of change in a rapidly developing world. Global connectedness, economic power shifts, political confusion make the waters muddy right now to see our challenges in their proper light. What I do know is that as a singular voice designers will not have to let others determine our fate. With an evidence-based approach we can be players in multi-disciplinary conversations and participate in the design of an emerging new order. We will need strong leadership and a better baseline of knowledge about the impact design of the built environment has on society and our globe. Those who will reach to a higher level of thinking and measure that which impacts human survival will influence the change needed for our next era of societal development. I want designers to be part of that conversation and influence the development of a new generation of built environment along with a kit buy generic viagra online of parts needed to sustain man and earth equally. I predict Biophilic Design will impact the field of building design more than any other evidence-based focus.

Regenerative Institution: Renovated Hospital of the Future 2025 Design Charette, MASS Design Group|CAMA, Inc.

Evidence-Based Healthcare Design (John Wiley & Sons 2009)

IF: What do you consider to be your biggest professional accomplishment?

RC: To have positioned myself to always be a part of the design profession’s big conversations. My access to these conversations has been primarily through my volunteer leadership positions in the design profession with ASID and healthcare design industry with The Center for Health Design. This involvement has allowed me to push my thinking, and the evidence-based design movement. It has allowed me and my team access to some very important design projects in the field creating opportunities for thought leadership and influence within the field.

IF: What is the most inspiring space you have ever been in?

RC: The Beinecke Rare Books Library at Yale University here in New Haven. Designed to protect the wellbeing of rare books, Gordon Bunshaft’s inspirational setting teaches a valuable lesson in the philosophy of beauty where access to the most nurturing qualities of one’s habitat can avert extinction.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, New Haven, CT

IF: What would you like to leave as your legacy?

RC:That the application of an evidence-based design methodology for the built environment has as much impact on human survival as the fruits of nature. That said I have miles to go before I rest on any laurels…

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Designer Spotlight: Jim Williamson, IIDA International President

By Jennifer Busch

August 21, 2012

You have just been inducted as President of IIDA International. What are the primary agenda items and goals for your presidency?

I’m honored and thrilled to be IIDA International President for 2012-2013!

Along with the usual business of IIDA, our upcoming year is shaping up to be a busy one. First, we are focusing on growing our international membership through competitions. Second,

we are initiating common baselines for worldwide education, experience and certification. My final goal, and also the one closest to my heart, is to refine our message about the value of interior design to our clients – be they residential, workplace, retail, healthcare, etc. There’s much to accomplish and so little time, so I’m feeling the pressure already!

You have a long history of service to IIDA. Why do you think it is important for designers to serve their industry in a volunteer capacity?
I’ve had the honor of serving IIDA since the early 1990s. I actually landed my first job through an IIDA Student Career Day and am still mentored by IIDA members even today. I have been committed to serving IIDA since day one.

The profession of interior design is a career choice. Individuals decide to become interior designers because they feel compelled to create spaces that make our societies better places – happier, healthier, more productive, and of course, well designed. By delivering our knowledge and skills, we each can have a positive impact on many people’s lives.

Volunteering for our industry is no different. Interior design has a bright future as long as we continue to invest in it. The role of an interior designer is significantly different today than it was 20-30 years ago. Today’s designers have a direct influence on how space is programmed, designed, delivered and how it affects the end user’s activities, behaviors, health and happiness. Through industry related volunteering we can influence the future education, experience and testing for the future of interior design. The investment of our time in our own industry will result in a stronger, more unified industry for future designers.

What do you think are the primary challenges facing the design profession today?

Redefining our Value
Our values as interior designers are challenged by others on a daily basis due to market limitations, role definitions and our own inability to articulate the value we deliver our clients. In the end, the values we deliver are the net gains seen as a result of a designer’s service. We have to move beyond the minimum requirements of health safety and welfare, and look toward the increased value we deliver our clients in terms of profit, effectiveness, productivity, healthiness and aesthetic value. As we are able to articulate, measure and specifically deliver on each of these, we will be able to redefine our value and compensation to our clients.

What Clients Want
At NeoCon this year, IIDA launched its first publication, What Clients Want. The book concept is simply a collection of essential conversations between designers and their clients about how 14 specific projects were conceived, how they have defined corporate culture, demonstrated value and shifted business models. Spanning the globe from Copenhagen to Las Vegas, and including tech icons who turned the word “friend” into a verb (friending) and the re-imagination of a 150 year-old French department store, the book presents and explores one of the most consistent conundrums of our industry’s existence; so often design is intended to solve one problem and results in addressing—or creating—other problems.

The book exists because IIDA supports the belief that design is what happens on the receiving end. As designers, we learn lessons each day that change our approach, and this book offers months’ worth of lessons, all in less than 100 pages. What Clients Want is not only about real and strategic initiatives, but also the unintentional, unplanned results—the serendipity that occurs between designers and a client. It’s not a how-to book, but a cerebral dive into the minds and concerns of men and women who are passionate about business and design, and believe they must integrate to be successful.

Embracing Globalization
I’ve performed services for my clients in many countries during my 23 years. I must say, there are far too many variables in international project delivery that make a basic project seem like a huge undertaking. We must begin to simplify global project delivery and we can start by defining common international education and testing standards for interior designers, so that as designers perform across political and cultural boundaries, we are working in the same design language.

In the coming years IIDA will expand its international and domestic presence with the opening of new chapters in Dubai, Milan, St. Louis and Honolulu. One of the association’s goals has always been to cultivate and connect designers who have a broad range of innovative talents and leadership skills to form a global community where they can collaborate, educate and lead the designers of tomorrow—we believe that these new chapters are a

big step towards that mission.

In addition to building new chapters, IIDA seeks to increase its international presence through competitions, such as the debut of the current Best Interiors of Latin America (BILA), the forthcoming Global Excellence Awards (GEA), and the subsequent Middle East Office & Hopitality Product Design Awards / The Office Exhibition Interior Design Competitions in Dubai.

I look forward to working with IIDA, NCIDQ, IDCEC, IDEC and our peer member associations to begin this discussion in the coming 12 months with the goal of common shared criteria in the next 2 years.

Other than your IIDA presidency, what professional accomplishment are you most proud of to date? Personal accomplishment?

I am most proud of my client relationship with Ernst & Young, which I have had for over 23 years. Ernst & Young was quite literally my first client on my first day in the profession. I am proud that I can still call them my client today.

Developing and maintaining healthy client relationships is at the core of my values as an interior designer. Besides delivering what the client wants, a healthy client relationship is built by 1) understanding your client’s point of view; 2) committing to your client as an individual; and 3) continuously creating value through design thinking. The client/designer relationship is a living entity. Since both grow together, neither can become complacent. Most important have been the personal friendships that have developed with my clients. They have each helped me to grow personally and professionally. I would not be where I am today without them.

What is the most inspiring space you have ever been in?

Image courtesy of Soane Museum

Sir John Soane’s Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Field’s in London, England, formerly the home of the neo-classical architect Sir John Soane. He was the son of a bricklayer who rose to the top of his profession, becoming a professor of architecture at the Royal Academy, an official architect to the Office of Works and eventually receiving knighthood in 1831.

Sir John Soane used his house as a display for art works and architectural artifacts that he collected during his lifetime. Besides fulfilling some hoarding tendencies, the purpose of the exhibits were to help educate his students on the various architectural histories of the world without the need for travel.

However, the space is not for the claustrophobic, minimalist taste or faint of heart. The interiors are a perfect example of how someone can live and think big while still living in a small structure. Every inch is filled with artifacts; every ledge holds a piece of history; and almost every wall has multiple hinged wall sections to allow for manifold hanging surfaces. If I lived there, I’d go crazy but visiting is awe inspiring.

What is the one thing you cannot live without? Why?

Anything Apple. I’m addicted. Apple has figured out that human beings thrive on control and that’s just what any Apple device provides–a sense of control in a beautiful housing.

I can research, buy, rate, watch, listen and talk to anything or anyone at anytime. The more you use it, the more you feel in control and so you use it even more. It’s not a healthy addiction, but there are worse.I know I’m addicted when I’ve already owned 3 iPhones, 2 iPads, 2 iMacs, 2 AppleTVs and I do not need more. Yet, when I walk past an Apple store, I have the uncontrollable desire to step in and “look around” even though I know there aren’t any new products or accessories.

For more design trends and inspiration, visit our Made for Inspiration tab on Facebook.

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Designer Spotlight: Luca Panhota, Gensler Brazil

By Interface

May 18, 2012

Luca Panhota is the Office Director for Gensler Brazil. The office is located in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Q: What are the challenges and opportunities commercial interior designers and architects face in the South American market at this time?

A: In today’s market there are both exciting opportunities as well as challenges to overcome for architects and designers. One of the main challenges is that the South American market was dormant for some time, but it has picked up and is expanding quite quickly.

Related to this, the value of design has not necessarily been recognized

in the same way it has been in other countries, so as architects and designers we place an emphasis on collaborating with clients in South America on solutions that drive the benefits and impact of design today. Design is now front and center. Where it may not have been valued before, clients are now more than ever recognizing the significance of the power of design. The design of corporate interiors has developed over the past 10 years and has also become a mainstream business in most countries in South America. At Gensler we provide a strategy and rationale in the design that reflects client’s work modes, process and their brand. This goes beyond selecting palettes and furniture, but truly understanding how our clients work and providing a workplace that promotes high performance. We instill in our clients that design is a critical factor in maximizing the return on their investment.

Another common challenge is that materials, which are readily available elsewhere, are harder to come by in South America given the import tax. Designers therefore have to develop innovative design solutions for clients; utilizing available but often limited, material selections.

While there have been challenges, I also see a light at the end of the tunnel for the design industry here and opportunities in the rich, multi faceted South American business arena. With the market picking up, there has been an increased demand for international design professionals and global design experience. I am native to Brazil, and intimately familiar with the South American approach to business, but also provide clients with a valued international professional experience.

Q: You have worked extensively in both North and South America. What do you see as the primary differences between design practice in these two geographic regions (design trends, best business practices, methods of project delivery, etc.)

A: Working with a variety of international clients on design projects in both North and South America, I have seen first hand that there are differences in design practices. Firstly, there are variances in project delivery. In North America, there are defined stages of the design process that include concept, schematic, design, construction documents and administration. In South America, the process is less defined and it is typical to just create drawings for a design build delivery approach. International firms like Gensler, who are practicing in South America, are able to differentiate themselves by showcasing staged methodologies that originated in the North America practice. By using a process-oriented delivery approach we are able to redefine what’s possible for clients through design that is inspirational, financially beneficial and performance-driven.

There are also differences in design trends, especially as they pertain to office space. In North America, it is typical to find twelve to fifteen square meters per person and in South American (eg. cities, such as Sao Paulo), seven to ten square meters is seen as a premium. With the existing import tax, South America still only has access to about 40 percent of the materials that can be found in North America. But, I am thrilled that there is a paradigm shift occurring with the uptick in the market, and design is becoming more valued in South America. Clients have started to request, by name, products such as Eero Saarinen chairs as they are now recognized as a design status symbol.

Q: What advice would you give to young designers about the value of an international/global perspective in design practice in the years to come?

A: For architects and designers, the value of a global design perspective is priceless. I recommend that young designers look beyond what they are taught in school, and use their curiosity to explore. They should travel and see the world; to open up their eyes to what else is out there. Within the firm and office, I can often tell those who have traveled versus those who have not as they demonstrate a different perspective on global issues and understanding of today’s design influences. Also, I highly suggest that young architects and designers be fluent in English, as it is key to be able to communicate with local and global clients. And, today English is the most highly spoken/understood language in this industry.

Q: What inspires you in your work? What is the most inspiring interior space you have ever been in?

A: My design work is inspired by the idea that ‘less is more’. For me it is the spaces with clean lines, strong design concepts, and a sense of minimalism that make you feel most comfortable and help motivate creativity in your own work. Projects are meant to be beautiful, comfortable, and functional places in which to work and live. The spaces in which the interiors have a connection to their exteriors tend to be the best and most successful interior spaces as well.

I have traveled extensively, and seen a wide variety of inspiring and beautiful spaces, but it is my own home in Sao Paulo that continues to provide me with the majority of my inspiration. My home is a place of comfort for me, but also a reminder of my worldy travels, as it showcases the trinkets and items collected throughout years of being abroad.

Q: What would you like to leave as your legacy?

A: I worked for a global corporation in the business world for 15 years. After working there for over a decade, I recognized that I wanted to pursue a new career direction where I could have an impact on

future generations and make a difference in the world. At that point, I made the decision to go to architecture school. As an architect, I felt that I could design game changing spaces for people to work and live, and they would leave a lasting impression. Now, as the Office Director for Gensler Brazil, I also have the opportunity to guide and work closely with the firm’s young architects and designers. I hope to assist in inspiring those who are the future of the architecture and design industry, and that I can help them define their own career path.

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Category Archives: Designer Spotlight

We Are One

Behind the Evidence

Designer Spotlight: Jim Williamson, IIDA International President

Designer Spotlight: Luca Panhota, Gensler Brazil

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