Side of Design
A podcast from BWBR, for those with a craving to take their organizations and spaces to new heights, with a side of design. We explore topics and issues affecting how we heal, learn, work, research, play and pray with those whose passion and expertise centers on the spaces that enable us to do all of that.
Episodes
53 episodes
The Interplay of Design, Engineering and Contracting in Science & Tech
The research, development, and production that takes place inside science + technology facilities is highly complex and technical. It’s no surprise that the design work that brings these environments to life demands the same level of precision....
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Episode 52
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33:41
Revolutionizing Employee Engagement: Insights from BWBR on a People-First Culture
Employee engagement goes beyond happiness and job satisfaction—those are byproducts of something deeper. As BWBR's Director of People and Culture Tricia Eiswald and Knowledge Manage...
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Episode 51
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49:45
The Price is Right: Considerations in Design Fee Development
Despite being a sensitive topic, money is central to any project—managing costs, remaining on budget, and achieving maximum value per dollar spent are all critical to a successful design, whether a new build, a major expansion, or a renovation....
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Episode 50
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31:12
A Safe Space to Heal: Balancing Safety and Comfort in Behavioral Health Design
Like any other healthcare facility, behavioral health environments must be comforting places to heal. But these spaces pose unique considerations to keep patients safe, requiring thoughtful balance from skilled design professionals to create en...
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Episode 49
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26:50
Anatomy of a Simulation Space: Designing for the Future of Healthcare Training
Simulation spaces are high-tech, realistic environments designed to train both students preparing for careers in healthcare and medical professionals learning new skills. These environments require both the functionality of real healthcare spac...
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Episode 48
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34:09
Space to Heal: Exploring the Cutting Edge of Neuroscience Facility Design
Neuroscience facilities serve patients with a wide range of conditions, from cognitive issues like Alzheimer's to mobility challenges resulting from spinal cord injuries. Patients facing cognitive disorders may feel as though they’re experienci...
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Episode 47
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36:23
Connecting the Dots: How Healthcare Operations Inform Design
A lot goes into creating healthcare environments that work for both the patients they serve and the staff who provide critical care – from having the right number of beds to planning strategic layouts that allow providers to do their best work ...
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Episode 46
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16:28
Beyond the Basics: How Today's Student Housing is Evolving to Meet New Expectations
Student housing is commonly associated with bare-bones accommodations designed to be tolerated rather than enjoyed. However, today’s residence halls are advancing in remarkable ways to better foster community, support student well-being, and re...
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Episode 45
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22:41
The Building Blocks of Construction Administration
The worlds of design and construction are closely related, yet they speak entirely different languages. A lot hinges on maintaining a clear, consistent vision and understanding of every detail, with absolutely nothing getting lost in t...
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Episode 44
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29:10
Celebrating the Future of Design With BWBR's 2023 Scholarship Winners
If our latest podcast discussion is any indication, the future of design is in excellent hands. We were honored to sit down with the recipients of this year’s BWBR equity scholarships for ...
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Episode 43
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23:14
The Art of Precision: Quality Assurance
Quality assurance is all about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, confirming that design details meet code regulations, stakeholder requirements, and quality standards. Hosted by: Matt Gerstner - BWBR Podcast Host and P...
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Episode 42
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32:20
Putting Lab Design Under the Microscope at BWBR
The folks in lab design at BWBR have no trouble seeing common ground between their work as designers and their scientist clients’ work. In both cases, it’s about coming up with innovative, out-of-the-box, and creative solutions to intricate pro...
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Episode 41
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23:42
Financing Critical Access Hospitals: Navigating the Complexities
When it comes to Critical Access Hospital projects, two themes reign supreme: affordability and strategic thinking. Working on these projects means getting creative in figuring out how to fine-tune design for a community's unique needs, maintai...
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Episode 40
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29:46
A Different Side of Design: Meet the BWBR Graphic Design Team
At BWBR, the graphic design team ventures into the physical realm, envisioning three-dimensional spaces and conceptualizing how two-dimensional elements will interact. That means considering an array of materials and components with innumer...
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Episode 39
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41:38
Insights from Inside: The 2023 BWBR Intern Experience
The future of architecture and design is here. The BWBR internship program is designed to provide students with hands-on, real-world experience, but it’s a win for us too. We benefit from their in...
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Episode 38
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50:47
Small but Mighty: Challenges, Triumphs, and Community at Cascade Medical Center
Critical Access Hospitals, tasked with providing vital hospital services to their rural populations, face unique challenges while serving their sprawling communities within the confines of budget, space, and oftentimes aging facilities.
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Episode 37
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49:14
Coming to Consensus: How BWBR Designers Approach Building a Common Vision
You’ve heard the phrase “too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the broth.” Do too many stakeholders in the planning room spoil the design? That depends on how you approach the challenge.Hosted by: Matt Gerstner - BWBR Podcast Ho...
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Episode 36
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28:14
Take Care: The Present and Future of Crisis Mental Health Design
The United States is in the midst of a mental health crisis. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in five adults in the United States experiences mental illness each year. And yet, only about half of those who need treatmen...
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Episode 35
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34:46
The Practical Magic of the Design Process
Designers bridge very different worlds — creative, technical, and consultative — and there can be an air of mystery about the process and the various roles within it. For the latest episode of Side of Design, we invited some of the BWBR team to...
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Episode 34
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42:47
Caring for Rural Communities: The Unique Design Needs of Critical Access Hospitals
If you live in an urban area, you may take for granted that you can call emergency services and have someone on the scene within minutes or hop in the car to reach a hospital before a bad situation gets worse. That’s not the case for the tens o...
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Episode 33
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22:51
Bringing Spaces to Life Through Interior Design
Interior design has a massive impact on the way we interact with the spaces around us. It involves macro-level factors (like layout) all the way down to the details (like the finish on drawer pulls). That’s a lot to take on, and it ...
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Episode 32
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34:34
Healthcare Planners Take Design to the Next Level
When you think about healthcare, you might think about doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals who work tirelessly to save and improve lives. You also might think about all the equipment involved — MRI and Xray machines, CAT scanners, ...
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Episode 31
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42:07
Designing a More Equitable Future: Talking with BWBR’s Equitable Design Scholarship Winners
Today, we're so excited to recognize the achievements and talent of the recipients of BWBR's second annual equity scholarships. We had the chance to...
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Episode 30
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26:16
Designing Smarter Spaces for Science and Technology
Interior design and architecture are often described as perfectly blending art, science, and technology. Part of the beauty of that blend is being able to craft spaces that look aesthetically pleasing and yet also have a lot going on behind...
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Episode 29
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27:04