Adam Chahulski, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP knows firsthand that quality healthcare design can transform lives for the better.
As CPL’s North Carolina Healthcare Practice Leader, he attributes personal medical encounters with motivating him to continuously research and implement more effective healthcare design methodologies.
In 2015, his daughter Sadie was diagnosed with a congenital heart disease and underwent emergency surgery at just seven days old. Now a healthy elementary school student, her recovery process helped him develop a better understanding of critical care needs as they relate to patients and their families.
Chahulski and his wife Kelly detail Sadie’s story in this video produced by the American Heart Association.
Day to day, Chahulski works alongside seasoned medical professionals to envision elegant treatment facilities for communities spanning the entire state. Whether he’s renovating a small hospital wing or programming a 500,000 sq. ft. bed tower, he never strays from his goal of promoting health and wellness through proactive design.
“The spaces we create are designed not only to help doctors provide better care to patients, but to offer respite for visitors and staff as well,” he said. “Everyone will be impacted by the healthcare industry at some point. It’s our job to design comfortable and adaptable spaces that enhance those experiences from beginning to end.”
Chahulski has applied the knowledge he gleaned from Sadie’s hospital stays toward advancing CPL’s ongoing healthcare projects, including a new Care Tower at AtriumHealth Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC; an expansion for the Heart and Vascular Care Center at Cone Health Alamance Regional MedicalCenter in Burlington, NC; and a new Cancer Center at FirstHealthof the Carolinas in Pinehurst, NC.
Interior rendering of the Chemotherapy Infusion space at the future FirstHealth Cancer Center (currently under construction).
When he isn’t managing projects, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three children at the beach, barbecuing, or playing wiffle ball. He also volunteers with the American Heart Association (AHA) and, on Sadie’s annual “heart-a-versary,” expresses his gratitude to the doctors who saved her life by bringing them heart-shaped cookies.
“As healthcare architects, we won’t always know what it’s like to stand in a patient’s shoes. But meeting them, hearing their stories, and walking out their experiences―those are the defining moments that renew our passion and underscore the gravity of the work that we do,” he said.
