The South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations (SDAHO) is excited to introduce our Associate Member Spotlight Article featuring CMBA Architects. Our associate members are a diverse group that includes national and multi-office consulting firms, accounting and law firms, health care suppliers, associations, local firms working with community health providers and others.
CMBA Architects is an Upward Thinking Architecture and Design Firm with a focus on healthcare, higher education and k12 design. The company’s vision is to inspire clients with a fresh way of thinking and a whole new take on excellent design through their first-rate collaborative process. CMBA Architects just celebrated its 60th anniversary with healthcare architecture being part of its program for the past 35 years. Brian Crichton is the CEO/ Principal Architect with CMBA Architects. “We are a firm that does master planning, architecture, and interior design. We do serve Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. We have done full hospitals, new replacement hospitals, all the way down to bathroom remodels, clinics, specialty ambulatory care facilities, and a wide range of healthcare spaces including diagnostic imaging.” Brian Crichton is the CEO/ Principal, CMBA Architects
Angela McCaulley, an architect with CMBA says their approach to healthcare architecture is listening first and asking lots of questions. “It’s our role to take in how your facility best functions, your future needs and help you design in a way that is appropriate for you.” Angela McCaulley, Architect, CMBA Architects.
McCaulley says taking into account how other user groups may utilize a space is very important when looking at a clients needs. “We want to make them feel at home, whatever home means for that group, the patients, residents, visitors and staff.” Angela McCaulley, Architect, CMBA Architects.
CMBA Architects prides itself on serving three areas when it comes to healthcare. “We like to say it’s not what we do, it’s who we do it for. When we think about healthcare architecture it’s truly about the patients, the visitors and the staff who occupy that space and take care of all of us.” Brian Crichton is the CEO/ Principal, CMBA Architects
CMBA Architects uses a collaborative approach when working with clients. McCaulley says there may be examples from other facilities that clients are not familiar with and sharing those ideas with clients is important. Working with clients and community members begins on day one when working on a project Crichton says, “We have a certain knowledge set, but we don’t operate the hospital daily, we need to have that Input from the administration all the way down to the lowest level staff because they are in it, they live it and we want that facility to be their own facility.” Brian Crichton is the CEO/ Principal, CMBA Architects
Building new or remodeling is a big question for healthcare. “Many facilities may not be able to replace a full facility, so we come in and do a master plan with them and think about adjusting their current footprint to be more profitable first, but to also serve their community that has changed over time. Many of our rural communities have done a community needs assessment and we need to respond to that, determine what services they no longer need and which services they need to keep.” Brian Crichton, CEO/ Principal, CMBA Architects.
Flexibility is key when working with healthcare clients, and McCaulley says it’s important to understand the equipment clients are using in their space and how it will function for patients care. “We recognize that trends change and a piece of equipment that is state of the art today may be obsolete in the next few years. We understand that those things may change for a facility, and we want to be there to support our clients and their needs. We have the ability to design a facility to age appropriately, accommodate new trends that we don’t have the foresight to see right now and to be able to grow or shrink with a community as it sees fit.” Angela McCaulley, Architect, CMBA Architects.
CMBA Architects strives to establish personal relationships with the clients they serve while delivering quality services and products. Everyone on the CMBA team brings a broad base of talent, inspiration, and experience to each project. To learn more about, CMBA Architects and how they can serve your architecture or interior design needs, visit their website.
For more info on CMBA Architects watch this video.
