After another year filled with inspiring dialogue and fresh ideas across architecture and design, BWBR’s Side of Design podcast is closing out 2025 on a high note. Across 12 conversations and insights from nearly 30 guests, we gathered the most-clicked episodes—spotlighting higher education, healthcare, workplace, sustainability, and more.
Here’s a look at the four episodes listeners loved most:
1. Designing a Career Path
The path to professional fulfillment isn’t always a straight line, and the stories of some of our BWBR team members prove just that.
In the 2025’s top episode of Side of Design, host Matt Gerstner and three BWBR colleagues—Marketing Manager Danielle Hilmo, Knowledge Manager Kari Shonblom, and Sustainability Specialist Rasa Zeltina—share their fascinating journeys of career transformation, revealing how seemingly unrelated experiences can shape unique perspectives and lead to rewarding careers in unexpected places.
Read the full recap here.
2. Athletics Design that Achieves More
Athletic facilities aren’t just about sports anymore. As BWBR’s Architectural Design Manager Kyle Lunke and Principal Craig Peterson discuss in this episode, these spaces drive enrollment, enhance student wellness, and strengthen institutional identity.
Venues that welcome fans on game day help foster an incredible sense of community and energy—but the benefits go on long after the game clock runs out. That’s why we were excited to talk with Kyle and Craig to gain insights into how thoughtful design transforms athletic facilities into dynamic hubs serving entire campus communities.
Read the full recap here.
3. A System-Level Approach to Healthcare
Healthcare executives juggle decisions worth millions of dollars across multiple campuses while trying to predict a future that keeps changing. Aging facilities need updates, new technologies demand space, and patient needs shift faster than anyone can track. For health systems managing everything from rural Critical Access Hospitals to major medical centers, the old method of planning one facility at a time leaves critical gaps.
BWBR Principal Jason Nordling, Senior Planner Jessica Sweeney, and Principal Brian Zabloudil help health systems tackle this complexity through system-level strategic planning. Their work extends well past traditional facility master plans, taking on the task of aligning an entire network of care.
Read the full recap here.
4. Creating a Greener, People-First Office
When the lease on their office space expired, Minneapolis-based engineering firm Loucks sought out a team that could help create their ideal work environment in a new location. With help from BWBR, furniture dealership Henricksen, real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, and some extraordinary luck, Loucks transformed an already promising space into a workplace that supports their culture, enhances well-being, and aligns with today’s technology needs—all while keeping existing furniture out of landfills.
In this episode, BWBR’s Kelly Heatley joins guests from Henricksen and Loucks to talk about the office renovation that supports the firm’s needs into the future—and makes a fantastic case for the powerful impact of reuse.
Read the full recap here.
