Once Upon a Project

When SmithGroup submitted a crazy idea for a design competition from the City of San Francisco, they never thought their futuristic public toilet kiosks and street furniture would be selected, let alone that they would need to be realized. Working with the City of San Francisco and JC Decaux, principals Bill Katz and Tyler Krehlik turned the stigma of public toilets being dirty, unsanitary, and da...

Amy Mays, Interior Design Director at HDR, describes the eye-opening experience of working on the NYU Oral Health Center for People with Disabilities. With spaces that provide quality care for people with physical and cognitive disabilities lacking, the HDR team created an environment that goes beyond ADA standards, providing patients and their families with choice, control, and accessibility—expe...

Sequoyah Hunter-Cuyjet, Vice President of Determined by Design, describes the impact that design equity standards can have on marginalized communities. Working with their development partner, Dantes Partner, Sequoyah, and her team tackled two large affordable housing projects in Washington, DC. Intent on serving the communities that will call these buildings home, the team drew from history and a...

David Levo, Principal at ZGF Architects, describes his experience collaborating on a redesign of General Electric’s global leadership training location in Crotonville, New York, during his time with Perkins Eastman. In a project that was at the intersection of workplace, education, and hospitality design, the teams worked together to ensure that the built spaces were an extension of the global str...

Taruan Mabry, former Senior Designer with iCrave, talks about the thrilling opportunity the team was given to work on Scores, an adult entertainment venue in Atlantic City. Listen in as Mabry discusses the unique challenges of designing a high-end strip club—from strange material applications to the moral and ethical question of tackling this kind of project. Once Upon a Project is a member of the...

While at Perkins&Will’s New York studio, Meena Krenek and the team were hungry for Columbia Property Trust’s project, The Edge, in New York City. Listen in as Krenek describes the out-of-the-box approach the Perkins and Will’s team used to win the Request for Proposal (RFP), and how their experiential approach to design provided the building’s future tenants with unique amenities and more. Thi...

Betsy Vohs of Studio BV cultivated a unique relationship with client Evereve that evolved into designing not only their office but the co-CEO’s home and then redefining what their retail brand looked like post-pandemic. Listen in as Vohs discusses how good design can empower everyone that it touches—from her team to her clients and her client’s clients—across retail, workplace,...

When Dan Menchions and Keith Rushbrook of II BY IV DESIGN, the Toronto-based luxury hospitality interior design firm, were asked to design the hospitality spaces in the new Yankee Stadium, they knew it had to be a home-run. Listen in as Menchions and Rushbrook talk about the enormous task of designing 37,000 square feet of restaurants, private clubs, and public space for fans of the New York Yanke...

Introducing Once Upon a Project, a new podcast from SANDOW Design Group. This season, we'll hear the from designers and architects around the world as they tell their stories behind their finished projects. From hospitality spaces in Yankee Stadium to adult entertainment venues, design - and designers - have a hand and a story behind the project. Follow the show so you never miss an episode. Once...