The Austin Central Library was recognized by the Urban Land Institute's Austin chapter with a 2018 Impact Award for Best Project Design. This category honors a completed project that has demonstrated excellence in design for architecture,...
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#AskFinch: Creating a self-sustaining knowledge sharing process
Like any company, the whole of Shepley Bulfinch knows significantly more than any single member of the firm. Buildings are complicated, and we need to be able to leverage our collective experience on every project. In 2015, we identified that we had a problem: “We...
The relationship between empathy and design
by Carole WedgeTen years ago, in a project interview, I was asked a question by Rob, CEO of a large healthcare organization: “How can design improve empathy in our organization?” The question has stayed with me, and continues to profoundly shape my work as a designer...
Bake in digital visualization
by Matthew GiffordVisual outputs have become less like stand-alone works of art and more like sketches of yore. Through the use of new architectural technologies, we’ve been able to reconfigure our design process to incorporate space visualization in real time, adding...
Cultivating a learning-based culture
by Michelle MantegnaThe ability to quickly access information and identify who knows what—and who needs to know what—can mean the difference between life and death in medical situations. To this point, the healthcare industry relies on patient records and charts to...
Re-designing market assessments in a consumer economy
by Matt Cybulsky & Lauren JanneyOur creative consulting studio, Lens Strategy, teamed up with IONIA Behavioral Insights to re-design market assessments for healthcare, reducing the executive’s risk by offering a picture of the market from the customer’s perspective....
Creating customized education
by Jonathan BaronThe Gottesman Libraries at Teachers College, Columbia University, asked us to help them think about how to repurpose the fourth floor to create a space that could support research into new methods of teaching. The underlying idea was that an immersive...
The new edge for town-and-gown relationships
by Joe HerzogThe traditional perimeter between an academic institution and its surrounding urban environment is no longer a defined line, but a blurred edge. As colleges shift from being introverted environments to becoming more integrated within their surrounding...
Finding your 90-second stories
by Cathleen LangeI recently attended a discussion led by Steve Slifka of Steelcase, entitled “The Art of Storytelling.” With great presentation style that was neither showy or dull, Steve shared the importance of telling your audience a story. Rather than spewing...
Making the case for sustainable design
by Carole WedgeUpdated July 2025 by Matthew Gifford. In the years since Carole shared her insights, we have made significant progress towards creating sustainably minded buildings. However, as we approach the year 2030, there is still a long way to go. Today, our...
Material witnesses: Natural selection
by Carole WedgeOne of my first architectural impressions as a child was Buckminster Fuller’s dome in Montreal. Having always had a soft spot for it, I was drawn to a video of students conducting a laboratory experiment to see if silkworms could be used as biological...
Creating joy through biophilic design
by Sonja BochartClose your eyes and picture your happy place. Contemplate how your body and your state of mind might feel there: calm, relaxed, peaceful, energized? Is there a breeze, or a particular scent you may experience in this setting? Imagine all of your senses...