EPISODE 43: Barbara Best-Santos, Principal of ForrestPerkins--a Perkins Eastman company

Hotel Design Podcast

In today’s episode, Cheryl speaks with Barbara Best-Santos, Principal of ForrestPerkins--a Perkins Eastman company. During their conversation, Cheryl asks Barbara the question, “How does having the kind of design expertise and experience in hospitality help you in your healthcare design projects?” To give you a little background, for 20 years Barbara Best-Santos has led the design of boutique and large-scale hotels, spas, restaurants, and resorts! Barbara’s answer was inspiring. She shares, “Hospitality can bring the focus to the guest experience and to the guest journey. We can be a little disruptive in the tried and true healthcare interiors focused arena and at the same time we get to collaborate with our partners who are really deep experts in healthcare. So the clients are getting the best of both worlds.” Learn more about the changing face of healthcare and senior living design from someone with decades of experience and understanding of how hospitality design can influence and improve the patient, family, staff and community experience. Lean more about Barbara Best-Santos and Forrest/Perkins by visiting https://forrestperkins.com/. In Cheryl’s conversation with Barbara Best-Santos they discuss:

• With over 20 years leading the design of boutique and large-scale hotels, spas, restaurants, and resorts, how has Barbara worked on breaking down the borders between hospitality and healthcare design, and hospitality and senior living design?
• How does Barbara’s design expertise and experience in hospitality inform her current work?
• What was Barbara’s role in the MarinHealth hospital project in Marin, California?
• Barbara’s work with a new senior living project with a Zen aesthetic in Healdsburg, California called Enso Village. This project is a collaboration between The Buddhist Center in San Francisco with the senior living group Kendal Corporation whose philosophy of design is based on Quaker ideals. Learn more about Enso Village by visiting: https://enso.kendal.org/.
• What will healthcare and senior living look like in 30 years from Barbara’s perspective?
• Barbara’s advice to interior design students who are interested in healthcare design but are afraid to specialize in it.