Celebrating 60 Years by Looking Ahead

Wilmot Sanz’s legacy is best experienced by spending time in any of the hundreds of healthcare spaces the firm has designed across the country. Environments that empower healthcare workers, support patient comfort, and reflect a thoughtful commitment to our end-users, sixty years in the making.

It’s this level of experience, care, and craft that has helped us grow into the largest specialized healthcare design firm in the Mid-Atlantic. As we celebrate this milestone anniversary and six decades of commitment to the patient experience, the Wilmot Sanz team gathered to reflect on past designs and to celebrate the future of healthcare design taking shape within our office.

As we celebrate 60 years, our designers continue to look to the future. Through new research, evolving technology, and innovative strategies, our spaces continue to create better experiences for caregivers, patients, and their families. There’s no better way to celebrate Wilmot Sanz and our identity than by looking to what’s next. This spirit was captured in the 60th anniversary T-shirt created for the celebration, by Architectural Designer Luis Andres.

The shirt showcases three of our current projects: the Mandy & Dennis Weinman Cancer Building at Sinai Hospital, the Horizon Tower at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, and Luminis Health’s new women’s health pavilion at Doctors Community Medical Center.

In choosing these designs, Luis aimed to highlight how Wilmot Sanz continues to evolve to meet patient and provider needs and represent the future of care.

“I wanted to show some of the biggest projects from our recent portfolio,” Luis said. From the six designs he considered, he believed these projects best represented the work Wilmot Sanz does to push healthcare design forward.

The celebration, which took place on the last day of his spring-semester internship, gave Luis the chance to be recognized for his winning design and enjoy time with colleagues, refreshments, and being outdoors in beautiful weather.

Joining the celebration was Rick Sasaki, AIA, cLSGB, who has been with the firm since 1995, more than half of our history. The celebration offered Sasaki the opportunity to reflect on how the firm has evolved over the decades, and what has driven our strong reputation in healthcare design.

“Looking around at the party, I enjoyed the diversity that we now have represented. When I started at the firm more than 30 years ago, there were 26 people, with little diversity. Today, we have far more backgrounds and perspectives among our designers, which makes the team stronger overall.”

Rick also noted how the firm’s approach to design has developed over time, from a primarily functional focus to one that equally emphasizes aesthetics and experience. He credits Jim Curran, the firm’s design director, for taking us to the next level, creating beautiful spaces that retain the functional, evidence-based designs that Wilmot Sanz is known for.

For newer employees, the celebration served as a window into the firm’s culture. Finn Shamieh, who joined in February, experienced it as an introduction to what defines Wilmot Sanz.

“It was a great company bonding opportunity. People were getting to know each other outside of a serious tone,” Finn says. “Healthcare architecture is more impactful than the commercial projects I’ve worked on in the past.”

We are grateful for our team, clients, colleagues, and friends who have shaped our firm and been part of our story. This milestone reflects the strength of our relationships, the attention and service we deliver to every client, and our commitment to excellence and innovation in healthcare design. Here’s to another 60 years of great client service in healthcare design!