Over 80 years ago we started our architectural firm focusing around education and healthcare industries. Today, the same stands true with the expansion into Indigenous design as well as many other sectors. DSGW designs for you and your community.
When you start a project from a Cultural perspective, you will get a Cultural result.
Every week, thousands of patients across the Midwest receive care in facilities designed by DSGW. They are more than just buildings, they are healing spaces.
Our team works with the communities to design schools that retain their unique identities while also enriching the neighborhoods around them.
DSGW is one of the few architecture firms in the upper midwest with deep cultural understanding of indigenous peoples and tribes. We believe that every tribe and every tribal project is unique. Honoring differing cultures requires the humility of listening and recognizing other ways of knowing. These are core values for us.
DSGW’s Native American practice group is led by Michael Laverdure, AIA — an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, based in North Dakota. Since joining DSGW in 2008, he and our firm have worked on over 400 projects with 40 tribes across 14 states.
We build spaces that heal. Every week, thousands of patients across the Midwest receive care in facilities designed by DSGW. Our team of experts helped to develop quality healthcare architecture codes on a national level that are now industry standards. We believe they are more than just buildings, they are healing spaces.
Our focus around rural healthcare campuses and clinic design has allowed us to become experts in current trends and national guidelines. Rural healthcare has unique challenges – such as how to best create the clinical campus that meets the needs of patients as well as staffing.
The steps we take with you on planning your facility will shape your community for years to come. Contact our Healthcare team today, led by two ACHA-certified Architects; Ryan Turner, who is EDAC accredited and sits on the ACHA Exam Committee and Rebecca Lewis, who is a member of the Facilities Guidelines Institute Health Guidelines Revision Committee and 2026 Vice Chair as well as serving on the Executive Committee FGI Emergency Conditions Committee. By staying involved in the industry, we believe we can bring the best practices of medical architecture to any corner of the world.
We understand the pride that communities have in their schools. The community supports and pays for these facilities and has high expectations for sound, practical solutions, but this must also be met with longevity in mind.
Our collaborative approach allows for community engagement, which ultimately creates community buy in. We believe that listening and interpreting the needs of the community will have a positive impact on a project.
DSGWs design process combines the practicality and expertise needed to address the challenges and embrace the future for Next Century Learning concepts. Contact John Erickson, who leads our Educational Team and is a member of AIA, NCARB and LEED AP certified.