Healthcare Design - May 2020 - 64

Time

AMY SICKELER

Design principal, Perkins and Will, Atlanta

M O R NING P ER SO N
O R NIG H T O W L?

Driven by a passion for design and medicine, Sickeler's
career started in industrial design before she landed a job
at an architecture firm and worked on her first healthcare
design project. Thirty-five years later, she's still devoted to this
sector, while also finding time to practice French cooking, explore alternative
medicine, and raise four chickens and two dogs.-Anne DiNardo
W H AT S PA R K E D Y O U R
INTEREST IN DESIGN?
My parents' house was an 1890s nursing home,
which overlooked the bluffs and marshes of rural
Wisconsin. My brother and I had our very own
wards as bedrooms after the house was remodeled
to be our family home. These surroundings sparked
a connection to nature and a passion for design.

Y O U S TA R T E D I N M E D I C A L
I L L U S T R AT I O N B U T E N D E D
UP STUDYING INDUSTRIAL
DESIGN?
I grew up with a love of art and also the desire to be
in the medical field, but quickly learned that I wasn't
cut out for medicine. I decided to blend my passions
with medical illustrating, but taking basic anatomy
wasn't easy for me. An instructor asked if I'd ever
thought about industrial design. I fell in love with the
artistic and evidence-based curriculum.

W H AT D O Y O U L I K E B E S T
ABOUT WORKING IN
H E A LT H C A R E D E S I G N ?
Working with our clients who support all that
touches a person in need. In the end, they have one
uniting goal: to save lives. It's an honor to play a
part in that activity.

THREE UNEXPECTED ITEMS ON
YOUR DESK

1 a sumo orange. Their funny

shape lends to easy peeling and they
smell so good.

2 jury duty summons
3 Mrs. Meyers Clean Day hand
sanitizer (my new normal)

DOG OR CAT? I have two Golden Doodle dogs,
Indie and Owen. All my animals have been named after
famous celebrities. Owen is blonde and is named after
Owen Wilson, and Indie is the black one and is named
after Indiana Jones.

Painting a mural on the
window at the local Big
Bob's café with my dad.
It was a winter scene for
the holiday season.

YO UR H ID D EN
TA LENT ?
Reiki Level 1 First
Degree (Shoden).
I love to learn new
methodologies that have
to do with healing or
helping people.

C O C KTA IL O F
C H O IC E?
Negroni

GUI LTY PL EASURE Movies, lots of movies
B OOK "Dinner in French-My Recipes by Way of
France: A Cookbook," by Melissa Clark
WEEKEN D ACTI VI TY I have four chickens and
a coop, so they get more attention and treats on the
weekend.
M OVI E CH ARACTER Bambi. Still makes me cry.
B AN D/M USI CAL ARTI ST Alicia Keys
APP/WEB SI TE Khan Academy. I'm always learning.

1
2
3

Piedmont Healthcare System, Piedmont Wellness
Center, Fayetteville, Ga., interior design principal
University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience
Institute, Cincinnati, interior design principal

Mayo Clinic, Mangurian Building, Jacksonville,
Fla., interior design principal

MAY 2020

H O W D ID YO U
M A KE YO UR F IR ST
D O LLA R ?

F AV O R I T E ...

N A M E T H R E E H E A LT H C A R E
DESIGN PROJECTS YOU'VE
WORKED ON IN THE LAST YEAR
AND YOUR ROLE ON THEM

64

Morning person. I'm
just built that way. I get
up at 6 a.m. with or
without an alarm.

HCDMAGAZINE.COM

YO UR G O -T O
KA R A O KE SO NG ?
"Ain't No Mountain
High Enough" by
Marvin Gaye and
Tammi Terrell. It's easy
to sing and to sing
loudly, and just a fun
song that's especially
appropriate today.

IF YO U W ER EN'T
A N INT ER IO R
D ESIG NER , YO U
W O ULD BE ...
An art camp director/
owner. Every summer
during college, I
worked as a director in
the art department at a
camp in Maine. It was
quite a fulfilling job.

MARK HERBOTH

fac e
http://www.HCDMAGAZINE.COM
Healthcare Design - May 2020

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