Once Upon a Project SANDOW Design Group and SURROUND

Join host AJ Paron in an enlightening conversation with Jennifer Kolstad, the Global Design and Brand Director at Ford Motor Company, as they delve into the fascinating world of design and its profound impact. Despite her limited background in healthcare design, Jennifer took on the monumental task of spearheading the six-million-square-foot Kuwait Children’s Hospital project with HKS. Together, they explore the intricacies of this ambitious endeavor and touch on themes of innovation, empathy, and the lasting influence of design on our world.
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Big business means a big office. For Boston Consulting Group’s Canadian HQ in Toronto, HOK Canada was the architecture, planning, and engineering firm for the job. Regional winner for the Best of Canada Design Awards for Shaw Contract 2023, Caitlin Turner, project lead and Director of Interiors at HOK Canada, discusses how the project became such a success with host AJ Paron. From tenant-improvement fit-ups, and championing Toronto’s mighty emerging design scene to planning for serendipitous bump-ins, this episode covers the social, financial, and design aspects of return to work so many of us are figuring out. 

This season of Once Upon A Project is presented by Shaw Contract.
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If you ever find yourself in court, you’re going to hope it’s this family circuit in Orlando, Florida. Designed by Jose Jordan who comes from an architectural family and is a current Principal at DLR Group, his scientific approach to architecture with a focus on tactile materials has led him to this niche of civic architecture. Host A.J. Paron shares a personal story that helps hammer home the importance of Jordan’s design ideas like planning for privacy, ensuring views of nature, and the inclusion of lively colors. “Safe and secure” is the guiding ethos for the project, which makes sense when you listen to how Jordan talks about his approach to designing for positive change.

This season of Once Upon A Project is presented by Shaw Contract.
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This might be the one sex shop you can walk into with your mother and not feel awkward. When given the brief to design a SoHo storefront for Contact Sports, an elevated and experiential sex and wellness destination, Madelynn Ringo was obviously intrigued. As the founder of her own NYC-based eponymous design studio, working with Contact Sports’ founders Justin and Chelsea Kerzner was a match made in heaven, two disruptive and creative teams collaborating to bring their respective visions to life. Listen to how a vintage aesthetic and cheeky signage can feel totally modern, a locker room feel luxurious, and a brief homage to hockey’s great one, Wayne Gretzky. 
Season 2 of Once Upon a Project is presented by Shaw Contract.
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Hear the story behind designing a 1-million-square-foot Nike World Headquarters building that set out to change and inspire how a legacy brand and thousands of employees work. Nita Posada, a partner and director of interior design at Skylab Architecture, explains the multi-faceted functionality of the monumental Serena Williams Building. With “Phenom, Warrior, Muse” as the guiding design principles inspired by the legendary athlete, Posada describes the deliberate work behind every detail, like neon-winged shopping carts and rose-shaped name plates. Plus, learn about Posada’s familial and Oregonian connections to design, how Skylab’s internal jam band helps professional cooperation, and what it’s like to design for a space that will be constantly changing.
Have a project to pitch? Tell us about it here – we would love to hear about it!
Season 2 of Once Upon A Project is presented by Shaw Contract.
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Coast-to-coast, designers are figuring out how to get the workforce back into their offices by implementing innovative concepts that are still conducive to productivity. In this episode, learn about two projects that took creativity and thoughtfulness to the next level.
In New York City, landscape architect Hank White of HMWhite has put a timber forest on top of the iconic Radio City Music Hall, realizing a dream that was in the development’s original blueprints, bringing the wild to the urban dweller. Over in California, the HQ for plant-based beverage company Califia Farms saw its vegan ethos brought to life; led by SLAM Collaborative principal Alexis Dennis whose life-long passion for creating any and all aspects of built environments took her to firehouses for inspiration, a kitchen is now the central congregating space of the office without the fluorescent lights and leather chairs.
Have a project to pitch? Tell us about it here – we would love to hear about it!
This season of Once Upon A Project is presented by Shaw Contract.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices