Healthcare Design - February 2018 - 64

fac e

Time

W H AT D R E W Y O U T O A C A R E E R
I N H E A LT H C A R E D E S I G N ?
Interest from a young age in urban design helped lead
me to healthcare. Most healthcare facilities are like
microcosms of a city. They have a variety of areas with
varied requirements that all come together and work in an
interconnected way on multiple levels.

F AV O R I T E W E E K E N D A C T I V I T Y
Spending time outdoors with my wife and son, or solo.
Biking, hiking, walking the dog ... it's all good.

W H AT W I L L Y O U D O W I T H
T H E $ 1 0 , 0 0 0 C A S H G I V E A W AY
P R I Z E Y O U W O N AT T H E 2 0 1 7
HCD EXPO?
The money sure
came at a great
time based on
some recent
major expenses,
including my
cancer treatment. That was
followed by an
unexpected renovation project
at our home last
November that
included replacing all the old lead pipes in the upstairs bathroom of
our 90-year-old house, which triggered a full gutting
of the room, followed by all-new fixtures and finishes.
The money will help with the financial challenge both
events brought on.

F AV O R I T E ...
Q U O T E "We shape our buildings; thereafter they
shape us."-Winston Churchill
MOVIE CHARACTER
Andy Dufresne in "The
Shawshank Redemption."
I admire his strength of
spirit and attention to detail.
G U I LT Y P L E A S U R E
Dark chocolate. Recent
research on its health
benefits makes moderate
intake not so guilty.
I C E C R E A M F L AV O R
Chocolate. Is there such a thing as too much
chocolate?

DANIEL DIMARCO

Associate principal, healthcare
studio manager, AECOM,
Roanoke, Va.

TWENTY-THREE-YEAR healthcare
design veteran Daniel DiMarco was
diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in fall 2016 and next underwent
six months of chemotherapy. Although he had
always been driven by a mission to create places
for healing, the experience brought new perspective to his work-particularly in how to improve the patient experience (for example, the
importance of providing patients with views to
nature or positive distractions). With his cancer
now in remission, he's bringing that knowledge
to the table as he continues to lead a variety of
specialty projects at AECOM, including the Virginia Tech Carilion Biomedical Research Expansion Project and the Carilion Clinic Simulation
Center, both in Roanoke, Va. An added bonus
came this past November when DiMarco won
the $10,000 cash giveaway at the 2017 Healthcare Design Expo & Conference in Orlando, Fla.
What did that moment feel like? "It was surreal,
followed by a rush of euphoria," he says. -Anne
DiNardo

W H AT WA S Y O U R F I R S T
H E A LT H C A R E P R O J E C T L I K E ?
Working at H+L Architecture in Denver, one of my first
projects was a large medical center on the western slope
of the Rockies. For over a year, I would drive to Denver
International Airport every other Wednesday and take
a one-hour flight over the Rockies to spend a full day in
design meetings, then take the last flight back to Denver.
That commute will never be topped.

W H AT D I D Y O U L E A R N O N T H AT
P R O J E C T T H AT S T I L L I N F L U E N C E S
Y O U R W O R K T O D AY ?
That healthcare facilities are a place of constant change.
When doing renovation work or tying into existing buildings,
you can never fully rely on original or as-built drawings to
tell you the story of what you're working with. You must do
field work to discover the real conditions that will affect planning opportunities and new design.

THREE ITEMS ON YOUR DESK

1 Jason Werth
bobblehead

2 my son's early artwork
3 limestone rock
fragments from a
previous project

COFFEE OR TEA?

H O B B Y Currently renovating our old house. I
also taught ceramics in grad school at Virginia Tech
and would like to circle back to a ceramics studio
at some point.

Coffee with some cream, no sugar.

MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT
OWL?
Morning person.

T H R E E W O R D S T H AT D E S C R I B E
YOUR DESIGN AESTHETIC

64

FEBRUARY 2018

Window.

D O G O R C AT ?

-Will Rogers

DIMARCO SERVED AS PROJECT ARCHITECT ON THE 116,000- S QUARE FOOT INSTITUTE FOR ORTHOPAEDICS AND NEUROS CIENCES FOR
CARILION CLINIC IN ROANOKE, VA.

HCDMAGAZINE.COM

One of each. Both are rescues, but our cat, Rocky, came
first. Lexi, our dog, was rescued from a farm outside of
Lynchburg, Va., and she's a city dog now. On long walks
with her some mornings, our cat follows. It's always an
adventure to see the neighborhood with these two along.

AECOM (CARILION CLINIC)

1 functional
2 contextual
3 simple

W I N D O W O R A I S L E S E AT ?
http://www.HCDMAGAZINE.COM
Healthcare Design - February 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - February 2018
