In 2011, Curran had the pleasure of designing a new building for Dr. Jody Friedman, family dentist and accomplished artist. With Dr. Friedman’s personal eye for design and the our team’s experience, this project was a terrific balance of thoughtful aesthetics and practical functionality that their office could live and grow with. We caught up with them recently to see how the new space has changed the way they’ve worked.
What are some of the major differences between your old space and your new one?
From a functional perspective and aesthetics, it’s been a big change for us. We came from a small area in a strip center with no windows into this space. My old space was narrow and long, which frequently caused traffic jams with patients.
As an artistic person yourself, where do you think aesthetics fit in with functional concerns?
Shawn was great with getting small details taken care of from mostly an aesthetics and construction side. We had a number of design meetings. I gave him the gist of my needs, and he came back with ideas. We made changes and went from there. Shawn was really good with listening. He had a lot to do with the aesthetics, making it look like it wasn’t forced and very natural, and he suggested a number of design aspects to give it a neat, modern look. In this realm, you can get in a situation where you want to make it pretty but it affects the functionality, or you’re so focused on functionality you forget aesthetics. I think Shawn did a great job of balancing the two while also putting my personality into the design, which was important to me personally.
How has the new space improved office life at Friedman?
The new office is designed to have the correct flow for patient care. It’s very convenient and makes the most sense with what we’re trying to accomplish. I wanted the new office to be a circular flow with treatment rooms on the outside, like a merry go round. It’s much more efficient space-wise and is designed for patients to come in and flow through. We don’t have people running into each other anymore, which helps everyone and creates a more pleasant patient experience. Building the new office was a big deal for us—a significant investment of time and money. We wanted it to be right, and we wanted to get out what we put into it, and I think we have. We get compliments on it to this day.
