GRAND RAPIDS–Officials at the architecture and engineering firm Progressive AE announced that internatinoally renowned architect Vlad Torskiy has joined the firm as health and wellness practice leader.
Torskiy boasts a portfolio of impressive clients in the healthcare field. Notable projects include the 1.38-million-square-foot Manazel Medical City in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; the 1.57-milion-square-foot Ohio State Wexner Medical Center modernization; and integrated planning engagements with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to improve care services and integrate facilities across multiple Veterans Integrated Services Networks and states.
He has also worked on a variety of children’s hospitals, research hospitals, and assisted living facilities. In West Michigan, Torskiy led a project in Grand Rapids to improve Spectrum Health’s downtown campus healthcare operations, medical planning, budgeting, LEAN operations improvements, convert it from a tertiary to quaternary care center, and work on the Butterworth Hospital and Meijer Heart Center reconfiguration.
Before joining Progressive AE, Torskiy worked for SmithGroup, HOK Inc. and HKS in healthcare design management roles.
Torskiy earned a Master of Science in architecture from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology; a Master of Science in architecture and urban design from the Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv, Ukraine; and a Master of Healthcare Administration from Ohio University.
“Vlad’s leadership in healthcare design and the scale and complexity of projects he has completed will allow Progressive AE to expand our offerings and benefit both current and future clients,” said Progressive AE CEO Brad Thomas. “We are looking forward to learning from each other and adding his experience to our growing firm.”
Torskiy is also the recipient of a Design Team Distinction Award from the Healthcare Facilities Symposium for his work on the Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
Torskiy said of healthcare architecture, “If you think about it in healthcare terms, you have diagnosis and you have the treatment,” he said. “When you receive the request for proposal from a client, you are pretty much being asked to conduct an invasive intervention. But does an institution or a system really need a major surgery, or will a minimally invasive incision suffice? It adds value to the client when they realize their architect is capable of thinking way beyond just design and deliverables, and is knowledgeable in their business, understands their financial, programmatic, operational, and clinical needs, and can help them to diagnose the problem properly. We can help our clients to save a significant amount of money, or to actually plan for a different future.” He added: “Brad Thomas and I worked together back in the early 2000’s on a couple of projects at Mercy Health. The partnership and collaborative spirit at Progressive AE I noticed years ago is still here and is evolving and growing. I believe that Progressive tries to reinvent itself so it’s better, more competitive, and adds value to clients. My focus in healthcare is that we can help people as patients because sooner or later, each one of us becomes a patient. That’s what I always like to bring to my work, and I think this is what Progressive values as an organization.”
Progressive AE has provided innovative and sustainable architectural and engineering services for nearly 60 years. The firm is privately held, employee-owned company with offices in Grand Rapids, Mich. and Charlotte, N.C. For more information, visit www.progressiveae.com.