A Conversation with Keagan Pope, AIA, LEED AP, Associate Principal

At CJMW Architecture, every market sector carries its own kind of weight. But few carry it quite the way healthcare and laboratory/life science design does. These are spaces about how people heal, how researchers discover, and how institutions fulfill their deepest obligations to the communities they serve.

Keagan Pope, AIA, LEED AP, Associate Principal and Architect, is one of the leaders of CJMW’s Healthcare + Life Sciences practice. She brings a rare combination of licensed architecture and deep interior design expertise to projects that demand both. And when you ask her what draws her to this work, her answer is straightforward: “I find a lot of joy in designing a space that’s in need.” That instinct, to go toward the hard problems and outcomes that are vital, is at the core of how CJMW approaches this sector.

Designing for the People and the Purpose

What makes healthcare and laboratory design genuinely different from other project types is the dual obligation. Every design decision must serve two masters at once: the people who occupy the space, whether patients, clinicians, or researchers, and the very specific purpose that space exists to fulfill. Get one right and neglect the other, and the project falls short.

For Keagan and the CJMW team, the starting point is always understanding the function first. “We really try to celebrate the functional aspects of the space,” she says. That means immersing in the clinical workflows, the research protocols, the patient journeys, and the staff realities before a single design concept takes shape. In a clinical setting, for example, that translates to making sure providers have what they need to do their jobs with precision and efficiency, while at the same time creating an environment that does not make patients feel anxious or out of place.

The second layer is the human one. Healthcare spaces carry an enormous emotional aspect for the people who move through them. CJMW takes seriously the idea that design can reduce that anxiety, that the right materials, light, color, and spatial arrangement can make people feel calmer, more confident, more cared for. “We want to make patients as comfortable as possible,” Keagan explains, “while still meeting all the clinical requirements that the staff needs to do their job.” That balance is not easy. It is also what separates a well-designed healthcare environment from one that simply functions.

Keagan’s background gives her a particular vantage point on this work. She holds a license in architecture and brings deep interior design expertise, working in an integrated hybrid role on CJMW projects. That means she is involved from the earliest planning conversations through the selection of every finish, fixture, and furniture piece. In healthcare and laboratory settings, where the quality of materials and the precision of detail matters enormously, that continuity of vision from the outside in makes a real difference.

Recent Projects: Where This Approach Comes to Life

One of the most energizing arenas for CJMW right now is the Winston-Salem Innovation Quarter, a growing life sciences and research hub located in the heart of Winston-Salem and near Wake Forest School of Medicine. The Innovation Quarter has become a focal point for biotech start-ups, research institutions, and academic medicine.

A current project at One Technology Place captures the complexity of this work well. CJMW is leading a phased renovation of the third and fourth floors of a building within this space in the Quarter, creating biological research laboratory space for an organization expanding its life sciences footprint. The third floor involved a carefully sequenced, occupied renovation, meaning the team had to design and build while active research continued in the building. That required precise planning and deep coordination. The result is a series of well-designed laboratory and common spaces, with the fourth floor now in construction, bringing additional private offices, conferencing space, and collaborative areas that will serve researchers from across the institution.

On the healthcare side, a significant ongoing project involves a major clinic renovation for Forsyth County Department of Public Health. Three previously separate clinic operations are being consolidated into a single, larger facility, a project that requires the team to carefully understand the operational needs of each group and design a unified environment that serves all of them. Existing conditions always add complexity, and renovation work in active healthcare settings demands a level of care and sequencing that goes well beyond new construction.

Across these projects, from public health facilities, and urgent care departments to life sciences lab space, CJMW has built a portfolio that reflects both breadth and depth. Keagan estimates the current mix leans somewhat toward life sciences, reflecting the momentum of the research economy in the firm’s home region, though healthcare work remains a cornerstone of the practice.

Trends Shaping the Sectors and Where CJMW is Leading

The life sciences and laboratory design world is moving fast, and the driving force is competition. Research institutions and biotech companies are increasingly aware that the quality of the physical environment attracts talent. Researchers, especially early-career scientists and the entrepreneurial types drawn to start-up lab environments, have choices. They are drawn to spaces that feel alive, collaborative, and inspiring, not sterile corridors lined with closed lab doors.

CJMW is forward-thinking about this shift. The firm’s work in the Innovation Quarter reflects an understanding that lab design today is as much or more about community as it is about bench space. Shared common areas, informal gathering zones, and spaces that encourage spontaneous conversation between researchers across different projects are becoming as important as the technical specifications of the labs themselves. “There is so much energy happening in this space,” Keagan notes, describing the Innovation Quarter environment. Designing to capture and amplify that energy is a real design challenge, and one the firm takes seriously.

In healthcare, CJMW was an early adopter of the movement toward hospitality-informed design. The old clinical impersonal aesthetic has been giving way to something more intentional. Patients today arrive at healthcare facilities with higher expectations for their experience. Designers who understand hospitality, like CJMW, who know how to use material warmth, natural light, biophilic elements, and thoughtful wayfinding to make a space feel welcoming, are bringing that knowledge into clinical environments with real results. “We are seeing a lot of that,” Keagan says of the hospitality influence, “bringing that level of comfort and those design principles into healthcare spaces.”

Wellness and sustainability are woven into this shift as well. Durable, healthy materials that hold up in demanding clinical environments while also supporting occupant wellbeing are now expected. Biophilic design, which draws on natural light, natural materials, and connections to the outdoors, has moved from a nice-to-have to an evidence-based design strategy with measurable impact on patient outcomes and staff performance.

CJMW’s position at the intersection of healthcare, life sciences, interior design, and architecture means the firm is well-situated to lead these trends rather than follow them. It is not just about knowing the codes and clinical standards, though that expertise is essential. It is about bringing a genuine design sensibility and a commitment to the people who will live and work in these spaces every day. As Keagan puts it, design in this sector must serve both “the people and the purpose.” At CJMW, that is our passion behind our work.

To learn more about CJMW’s Healthcare + Life Sciences practice, visit cjmw.com/healthcare-lab.