Fellowship Provides Opportunity for Graduates Interested in Health Care Design
HOUSTON – Starting this fall, WHR Architects Inc. (WHR) will begin accepting applications from graduates of accredited architectural schools for the Tradewell Fellowship, due on or before January 24, 2011. The year-long Fellowship begins and ends in July, and includes employment at WHR Architects.
The Tradewell Fellowship was created to help build careers of aspiring health care architects. The Tradewell Fellow is involved with clients in early master planning and design stages, with particular focus on healing environments and collaborative design methods.
“This fellowship offers a very unique opportunity for someone interested in health care facility planning and design,” says Charles Cadenhead, FAIA, FACHA, senior principal, senior medical planner and Tradewell Fellow mentor. “The Fellows gain broad experience during their year at WHR and many have stayed with the firm. All have achieved great things.”
In addition to working directly with senior medical planners on design projects, Fellows receive career guidance from leaders at WHR and a network of past Tradewell Fellows. Upon the completion of the Fellowship, participants have begun to develop the skills and experiences to become leaders and mentors themselves.
The Tradewell Fellow is someone who wants to be a lifelong learner and teacher. In order to develop expertise and explore an area of his or her interest, the Fellow chooses a topic related to the design of healing spaces, and explores that topic in a way that is suitable for publication. The Fellow also receives a scholarship to attend a health care architecture conference, and the opportunity to attend many in-house educational presentations. Other educational opportunities include: assisting with teaching a graduate level course on health facility planning, design and construction; participating in evidence-based design activities; and assisting members of the firm in authoring speeches, articles or books.
Stephanie Schwindel, the current Tradewell Fellow, notes, “Through the Tradewell Fellowship, I will develop skills necessary to be a great designer and have the opportunity to collaborate with people making a difference in the health care industry.”
WHR Architects is a full service architecture, interior design and technology planning firm. The firm’s commitment to critical thinking is balanced by an ingrained empathy that results in both improved project outcomes and positive working experiences for their clients. With more than 160 people in Houston and Dallas, Texas, Washington D.C., and Lake Como, New Jersey, the 30-year-old firm is working on projects throughout the United States for top–tier public and private education and medical institutions. WHR was named the 2008 AIA Houston Firm of the Year.
To learn more about the Tradewell Fellowship and to read the Tradewell Blog, visit
WHR’s website: www.whrarchitects.com/tradewell.