Principal Architect Brent Koch takes us on a journey to define and demystify the concept of design excellence. He explains that it's more than just aesthetics; it's a guiding philosophy for creating buildings that truly serve people, respect the planet, and are built through thoughtful collaboration. Drawing on the AIA's Framework for Design Excellence, Brent walks us through ten key principles from integration and equitable communities to sustainability, economy, and well-being. This is a conversation about broadening our definition of success to encompass purpose, resilience, and the power of a design that is truly meaningful and lasting.

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Episode Transcript

(Skyler): Welcome everybody to another episode of the Laying the Foundation podcast. My name is Skylar. I'm your host, and joining me today for a very special episode. We've got Brent, one of our principal architects, here over in the Sioux City office. Brent, welcome to the show.

(Brent): Thank you.

(Skyler): Absolutely. Glad to have you. We're doing another one of our Leading the Way episodes. This is an opportunity for each of our principal architects across all of our offices to talk about something they're passionate about, some element of design that they really, really want to delve into personally, or anything, right?

We've done everything from community involvement all the way to biofelic design has been talked about a lot and things along those lines. So Brent, today we're going to be talking about design excellence, and that's like its own term in a sense. What does that mean, really?

(Brent): Well, I think the term itself kind of comes from the AIA putting together the principles of design excellence. And it's just the way I kind of interpreted it. It's just a way to make all of our designs, our projects, better. And it's not just looking at the building, but even how into the community and the experiences that you know people using the facilities should have. And so it goes into pretty deep on what we should be looking at as far as design and what to be thinking about as we design a building.

(Skyler): Right! Because there are a lot of factors, right? It's not just how do we get these pieces to kind of fit together? How big should we make this room? So on and so forth. There are a lot of technical details that go into a lot of like psychology, that kind of goes into it, which is really cool to think about. So yeah, there's a lot of different, unique elements.

So, within the AIAs' kind of framework that they've created for this concept of design excellence, you mentioned that there were 10 principles specifically that you guys like to look at or that they encourage people to look at or that are just key to look at when it comes to designing a space. Do you want to walk me through each one of those, what they are, and what they mean?

(Brent): We could take a look at some of them.

(Skyler): Yeah.

(Brent): There are some that I would say we.... not so much don't use, but you know, depending on the project, maybe a better fit. And then I think a lot of them do kind of relate to each other and our axle. I got a concept of one kind of should fit into one of the other two principles. But I guess, you know, when we're looking at design, that building, would kind of do you need to get that input from the owner first?

But there are a lot of things that when we're back at the office, you know, working on our team away from the owner, before we go back to the to means that we're trying to take a look at, you know, really looking at called that user experience is.

(Skyler): Oh, yeah.

(Brent): One of the big ones that I like to look at, you know, depending on the project, and I do a lot of higher ed type of projects. So, trying to remember what it's like to be a student, education has changed since I was a student, but we still try to keep up on some of those trends.

But you know, sitting down and trying to just figure out, you know, what they're feeling, what they're experiencing, and what we can kind of help them. One of the principles is being kind in design for well-being.

(Skyler): Well-being, okay.

(Brent): Trying to ease some of the anxiety, maybe that can occur in a person's life, for some of that, we always talk about mental health. It's a big topic in the news these days, and just trying to promote good mental health. A lot of times, we'll do, you mentioned biofelic one and two from the previous episodes, but that is something we want to take a look at, you know, nature can help reduce some of that stress, some of that anxiety.

And so either bringing some of those natural elements inside the building, either use of maybe wood or like a green wall or something along those lines, but also be able to, in some of those more public areas, where natural light wants to come in and have that connection.

At least if the building's in a setting that, you know, it's got some surroundings that kind of look onto nature, making sure that we take advantage of them, some of those views to incorporate that into the design. So get that connection kind of outdoors.

(Skyler): Right, right. Big glass windows, glass doors, that kind of stuff. Things that allow you to see through obviously. And I'm glad you mentioned it. Obviously, with students, especially in higher ed, right? It's like a pretty big change in life, going off to college or university.

And so yeah, being able to set things up in a way that's more comforting, a little bit more positive, a little bit more healthy from a mental perspective to try to help ease that transition totally makes sense. Absolutely.

What other, what other's, what's another design key concept here that the AI is kind of put forth?

(Brent): Well, I think another one kind of that design for integration, and there are a couple of layers, I think on that one too. Again, it's bringing in that outside, that nature, the natural surroundings. We also wanted to take a look at what materials and kind of finishes we're using, kind of with that air. Depending on, we're trying to use a lot of the low VOC type of products for finishing, so that off-gassing when the building's complete is not, is very low to kind of help bring that. And that kind of helps promote a healthier building.

(Skyler): Right.

(Brent): And those spaces are comfortable, making them welcoming so that the people in the building want to kind of integrate with each other or get to know each other, and that connection that they can form to their.

Also, I think that kind of integration is, like I said, working on a lot of higher ed campuses. There's usually several buildings already on campus and if we're adding to one or maybe remodeling one, trying to help it kind of fit into the campus is another thing that's, you know, could fit under that integration principle. So, just, you know, maybe taking similar materials or similar colors to some of the adjacent facilities might be a way to do that. So.

(Skyler): Kind of maintain that marketing and the branding and everything like that to the buildings, but also make sure it feels cohesive, right?

(Brent): Yep.

(Skyler): You don't want one blue building, and everything else is kind of like that nice brick red and kind of stands out weirdly. I mean, unless there's a reason for it. So this concept of integration really brings in a lot of those really fine details to make sure that everything fits together.

(Brent): Yeah, it really is. You know, these 10 concepts that they have, it is, you're thinking about a lot of different aspects of you, down to like very high-level type of design elements to very small details.

And I think it's kind of one of the things I like about it. It really gets you to start designing a lot of different things and, you know, just trying to pay attention to a lot more of the details than maybe you would on a, that we haven't had in the past. I guess it's trying to, you know, just maybe a small detail, but how is that detail going to affect the experience of the building to somebody in the future?

(Skyler): Yeah, absolutely. How do we do that? Because, you know, all things considered, you know, you go design one facility and there's going to be things that you'll learn there. But how do we sort of notice those finer details that we're trying to integrate in, right? How do we, how do we even catch those?

(Brent); I think a lot about, and that goes back to kind of those initial meetings with the owner, you know, maybe in the early stages of design, you know, we may not be looking at that detail for a while through that design process, but that early on connection, getting to know the owner, what their, you know, what's the reason? Why are they meeting at this facility? What problem are they looking at?

So we want to get to understand their views on why they're doing this project, what they need. And then as we're going through a lot of times, those initial meetings will develop some concepts or goals for the building, what they own, and, you know, a lot of times when we get to some of those maybe small details, we'll try and look back to some of those goals, see what they said and the meaning behind them. And that helps answer some of those questions as we go.

They do come in very beneficial to answering some of those, you know, some of those smaller details, even in not only small ones, but those large details to train them, those concepts. So some of you will go back and look at it often.

(Skyler): Yeah. I mean, obviously, you've got to always keep the goal in mind and then use that goal as an opportunity of help you find solutions along the way. So very cool, very cool.

Obviously, you know, we're going to be designing for the people. Are there any specific aspects of this framework that are kind of geared towards the people who are designed? I mean, obviously, all of it kind of ends up coming together for the people.

(Brent): Well, I think one of the, well, two of them, and we kind of already talked about that integration and that well-being, not, you know, we touched on them. But the other thing I kind of want to mention is that especially on maybe higher-ed campus and we do a lot of healthcare, so it's applicable there too is some of the spaces, some of the more public spaces, those interactions where we can provide some space in a building that has that they can use for interaction, kind of those chance meetings.

You mean, especially on higher-ed campuses, you know, you're waiting for a class to start, you're out in a lounge, and you always see a friend walk by and, you know, it leads to completing the plans later on. But just having those spaces, making those spaces, inviting, again, maybe those spaces or connection to the outdoors, but a place for people to interact with each other, just to have that sense of community. And that, again, goes back to the well-being, the mental health, just that feeling of belonging.

(Skyler): Right.

(Brent): We try to incorporate that, especially in higher-ed, just, you know, when the student feels like they belong to an institution or they belong in that place that they're at, and getting connected with people and the connection to the place, they have a higher chance of finishing their degree, a higher chance of success.

(Skyler): Yeah, absolutely.

I know, and we've talked about this too before on previous episodes that we had done together, where you mentioned that, you know, there were times where you guys would find like these just long hallways and it was just an empty hallway to get you from point A to point B and like, how can we repurpose this hallway to open up those opportunities for community, right, to bring some people together, whether it be studying together in a little kind of nook space that's along this hallway or maybe some sort of like presentation-type thing where there's a TV and sort of a lounge situation that you could hook up to.

(Brent): Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, even like that corridor example that we had, I think we did up at NCC, we had a long corridor and we were doing a renovation and we opened up some windows into an auto lab so you can see what was going on in there, that learning on display.

It could, let's say, you're a perspective student, you're not exactly sure what you want to just study, but you feel like you want to make a change in your life, so you're taking a tour and you know, walk by, maybe there's a chance that, oh, that has some interest, maybe I would like to try that and so.

(Skyler): And I know Courtney's kind of said the same thing about K-12 spaces, too, right? You got students from maybe some of the earlier grades, but they get to walk through that same space as the higher grades and see what they're working on in real time, and that's kind of a cool opportunity as well, so.

We had talked about the idea of like kind of biophilic design, integrating nature into the space. So, what about where the space sits and how that involves the nature around it or the space around it? When it comes to ecology or any of those kinds of the natural resources around there.

(Brent): Well, there are a lot of things we typically like, when you're talking, maybe just where that building wants to sit on campus, type of thing. So sometimes an institution will have an idea where they want it to go; otherwise, they will look to us to tell, place it. And we want to take a look at, you know, their campus as a whole. Where are most of the kids living, you know, where are they coming from? Is it a campus full of a lot of commuters, or they're on campus, most of the kids are on campus, and just see, you know, what kind of traffic it is there.

The one we're working on now, we kind of wanted to have a close to where the students will be, but they also want to bring in the outside community into some of the spaces. So that's, you know, we located it kind of on the edge of campus, so students can get there as well as the community. And so, which is actually kind of two main entrances into this facility that kind of come together in the middle. So just having that integration, again, that interaction between campus and community.

(Skyler): Absolutely.

(Brent): But yeah, we want to, you know, it's not just looking at where it wants to be, I guess, but you know, there's also some limitations on those types of things.

(Skyler): Absolutely.

(Brent): Sometimes the ideal site may have a lot of utilities that are in there, which would increase the cost of the project, and for the owner, that may not be seen, but you know, if we had to move some utilities in order to put a building there. So, maybe we'll have to take a look at that, the pros and cons and the cost of that.

(Skyler): That's true. I was going to say, I know one of our projects that we've worked on sits on top of a hill, and like right at the peak. And so, yeah, it's just not a whole lot of space that you can kind of build outwards to as well, or it's not quite as easy to kind of maneuver that. But we've made it work.

(Brent): And also, just again, what facilities are around at the other buildings on campus? And you know, some of them have some of the campuses around here that we work on have some historic buildings that, you know, we don't want to take away the view of those buildings to the right, maybe that leaves a spot out of. So yeah, there are a lot of things to consider when trying to locate one.

(Skyler): Absolutely. This is the puzzle everybody talks about, right? Trying to fit everything where it needs to go. And you've got a limited amount of space to work with. And yeah, it's just the big challenges of architecture, I suppose, for sure. So.

What about when it comes to, I mean, obviously, you would mention before, right, if you have one building on campus that's getting renovated, how are we doing it in such a way that still fits in with the rest of campus that exists? So when it comes to the concept of like change, which is another one that's that we've got listed here, how are we designing things for that? Because that's, you know, at any point when we jump in and we start changing the projects, things are going to be happening, right?

(Brent); That one can be tricky sometimes. So if it's an existing building on a campus, a lot of times if it's, you know, that 1950s, '96s, there's a, you know, they designed, you know, very durable buildings, let's say, back then.

But sometimes we really got to take a look at the construction, you know, how that building was built to make sure we're, you know, load bearing walls, you know, what's, what may be a firewall or, you know, just how that building was constructed initially and take a look at the needs of what the owner has now for that change to see how we can integrate that, you know, how flexible will that building be to maybe incorporate a different type of function into it?

(Skyler): Okay.

(Brent): So, yeah, that can lead to some issues and unexpected costs. So we got to try and do our due diligence up front to try and make sure we're seeing some potential problems or negatives and trying to avoid, right, tearing down something that shouldn't be or ingrating it.

But that design for change principle, as well, is also when we're designing a new facility, trying to make it flexible. So, you know, the owners we work with around here usually use a building for 50, 70 years. I mean, there's a substantial time frame that the building will be in use. And so we want to make it flexible because education changes, you know, healthcare, whatever we may be working on, we want to try and make that as flexible as we can. So the owner can adapt to maybe changes in a curriculum or healthcare, or bring a new function into a building.

(Skyler): Yeah, absolutely. Technology is always changing. The way we do things is always changing.

(Brent): So, yeah, that design for change is, yeah, technology is a big one. Trying to make sure that we can adapt to that.

(Skyler): And that's a tricky one too, because, yeah, it is very literally like changing almost daily, right? Like what exists and what can be used and how it's used and all this other stuff. And, yeah, that can definitely be frustrating.

It's like, you know, even looking at like charging cables as an obscure example, right? And like, we don't use the same ones that we were using 10 years ago. And so, yeah, it feels like they're just constantly changing.

(Brent): So that's another thing, providing power everywhere. So, right, especially for students to charge everything.

(Skyler): More plug-ins, more plug-ins. Awesome.

And then I think one of the last points that we have on here is designing for discovery. What does that mean? What are we looking for? What are we hoping to find?

(Brent): Well, I think that's another one. And that's probably a good one to kind of end on.

(Skyler): Yes.

(Brent): Because there are a couple of ways to look at that one. One thing that we, as architects, should look at is learning from our previous projects. So, you know, design for discovery, to me, and the sense of that would be what did we take out of it? What are we on, or five years into the future? Are we going back and talking with the owner to see how that building is working for you?

Yeah, I'll get back in contact in front of them to see what they like about it, or maybe what they don't like about it, and, you know, adapting our designs from there to include all that. So kind of discovering that way is looking for us. It's also when we finish a project, making sure the owner knows how to take care of the building.

(Skyler): Oh, sure, sure.

(Brent): Getting to know what clean products are. This is a flooring product, maybe. We want to make sure they know how to take care of it.

It's also discovery, as when we're going through the design process, talking to their facilities manager or director and seeing, okay, what kind of scrubbers do you use? Can we use this type of thing for it? Does your maintenance staff have experience with this type of for it?

Especially, it's big to talk to them, discover what they need during the process on like the HVAC systems. What's their level of comfort with, you know, are they looking to try something new, or how many of the sort of types of boilers or whatever may be on campus that they have experience with?

(Skyler): Yeah, absolutely. Lots of fine detail. I like that you brought up... kind of at the beginning there, right?

Like, once again, we've talked about this before, but we don't do cookie-cutter buildings. So yeah, that idea that we go back and we check with them and say, "Hey, how are things going? How can we improve our designs?" And then take that with us as the future ones, right?

We're not just saying, "This is the way that we design buildings. If you don't like it, then so be it." You know, we're going to slap this on every campus that'll let us. We very specifically make them for the specific clients that we're working for, and we always learn from each project that we do. And also obviously going back and talking to the clients and saying, "Hey, what did you guys think about this? How do you like it? What else you got going on?"

(Brent): And that discovery starts at the very beginning, getting to know the client and then working all the way through.

(Skyler): Absolutely.

(Brent): And at the end, five years after the project, we're still discovering how that project impacted them with how they're using it.

(Skyler): And how can we take that knowledge into the next project, which is awesome. So, taking all of these concepts together of sort of these key points of design excellence, how can we kind of sum it all up? How can we define what design excellence means?

Because I know somebody who's from the outside, somebody who might not be familiar with architecture, might look at it and say, "Design excellence. Well, obviously, we're going to try to design something excellent, right? But what does this all kind of come together and mean?"

(Brent): I think if you just say design excellence or an excellent design, you probably think, "How does that building look?" Just the way it looks, yeah, it's a stunning building, or it may win some awards or something if we apply for the summer.

But the 10 principles really go much deeper beyond that. It's really to make that building functional, pleasing to the users that will be inside the building, using the building, making that just to give them a good experience and not just what the building looks like.

It's really how the building feels, how the building functions, how the building uses energy, how the building is going to function 50 years from now, or how durable it is. It's many, many layers and not just on how the building is going to look.

(Skyler): Absolutely. And it's frustrating that some people might never get to see a lot of those key details that are in there. But at the same time, those who are using it will experience those and hopefully appreciate them every day. That's awesome.

(Brent): And hopefully enhance their...

(Skyler): Yes, exactly. Make their lives easier, make their jobs easier, or more enjoyable. And the students, of course, too.

(Brent): Absolutely.

(Skyler): Awesome. Well, perfect. Thank you so much, Brent, for taking the time to chat with me about design excellence. Again, same thing here. I hear the term and I'm like, "Okay, cool. Something we're designing to be excellent." But what does that mean? So I'm glad that you were able to walk me through what all goes into that.

This would have been a really good early episode for the whole podcast as a whole because it really dives into that concept of all the many, many, many, many details that we start to look into or at least kind of highlighting a few to showcase just how far we have to go into when it comes to design and all the little bits and pieces that have to come together. So seriously, thank you so much for chatting with me, Brent.

(Brent): Thank you.

(Skyler): Absolutely.

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