We reached out to Annalise Baird, Senior Designer in our Healthcare Architecture Studio to help inform our next post in our series on Emerging Professionals at Lionakis. Annalise has been with Lionakis for 2 years now and previously attended California State University, graduating with a BA in Interior Design with a concentration in Interior Architecture.

She recalls how she became interested in architecture when she was about 8 years old. While growing up, she was able to watch her uncle design and build a beautiful million dollar custom home from the ground up. Her mom also took her housing hunting quite frequently. Looking at floor plans and model homes, she enjoyed being able to see what worked and what didn’t and offer her own ideas and critiques. Then, ever since the 6th grade she’s wanted to become an architect. Annalise has been working with AutoCad since middle school as part of the ATS (Academic Talent Search) program, took multiple years of drafting in high school as her elective, and after numerous internships in high school and college, all while learning Revit – she feels she has had a great level of exposure and in-depth learning from a young age, which helped prepare her to be where she is now.

“Designing for the future of healthcare is a daily challenge.”

Annalise works daily to balance all of her time and attention between co-workers, clients, contractors and consultants, while meeting deadlines. She is also steadily involved with the AIA Central Valley EP Committee and the IIDA local committee since college and helps to organize and promote regional events designed to help members learn and connect. She has also served several times as Team Captain for IIDA’s local  MERGE event and has enjoyed presenting a great design with limited materials and time (and of course, winning awards!). She says it’s important within the small architectural and design community to be active within your network and be an advocate for your profession. We asked Annalise to tell us about some of the trends she’s seeing in healthcare:

Improved Patient Experience, Future Flexibility of Spaces, Behavioral Health Services, Hospitality Finishes, Telehealth Availability and use of New Technology in Construction

What she loves most about her career is being able to creatively problem solve on a daily basis – and with her background in both interior design and architecture, she brings  a unique perspective to all her projects. Since there is more complex phasing involved in Healthcare projects that is always an important factor on project timelines in order to keep facility operations going. In the Emerging Professionals program, the Lionakis senior management and mentors expose the participants to the many considerations involved in master planning, phasing, updates in design technology (like DTSS Bootcamp), opportunities to learn about interviews, and the proposal writing process. Annalise has particularly enjoyed access to group study sessions, practice tests and hearing about lessons learned on projects.

At this time, Annalise is working on about 6 different projects and everyday is different! From RFI’s to submittals, space planning, color block plans, meetings, site walks and detailing – she enjoys working with her Behavioral Health team of colleagues who all sit in close proximity to one another, so it is easy to brainstorm on projects together and get or give help quickly. With only three more tests to go before she’s licensed, (2 ARE’s + CSE), Annalise is working steadily at getting to the next certification milestone while simultaneously working on what is now her 7th Behavioral Health project here at Lionakis.

Thanks for taking time to share your profession with us Annalise, we’re all wishing you lots of luck on your next exam!