Women-owned Design Space Studios team are architects of learning spaces

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Women-owned Design Space Studios team are architects of learning spaces

While working for some of the larger architecture firms in Rochester, Brenna Thering and Jackie Driscoll spent a good deal of their time creating and designing spaces for area school districts.

Thering’s focus was on furniture, fixtures and equipment (FFA) and large-scale office programming. Driscoll concentrated more on the design and construction side of capital improvement projects.

“We were heavily focused on modern learning,” Thering said. “We were taking the redesigning of the classroom and taking the architecture side and translating that into something that was functional within the space.”

Their work was very much an essential component of projects, but it wasn’t what drove the company bus.

Then the idea hit them: They could turn what they do into the focal point of their own company. The launch of Design Space Studios soon followed.

“We realized everything we were trying to do at that firm was probably something we could do ourselves,” Driscoll said. “We felt we had experience and a found niche that we could take independently.”

Design Space Studios was founded in 2018, with a twofold specialization: K-12 classroom and educational spaces, and commercial interior design projects in the corporate office, health care and senior living sectors.

Two years later, Anne Bezon joined the team, bringing the element of furniture procurement and sales into the equation.

While there was anxiety associated with their leap of faith, they were correct in believing a need existed for the targeted services. A pretty significant need, which is why DSS has expanded from both a real estate perspective — they’re christening a new 3,500-square-foot office in Packett’s Landing in Fairport — and in staff size. Along with Thering, Driscoll and Bezon, the managing partners, there are five other employees.

The Fairport locale is their third office in six years, with growth dictating each move.

(Photo provided by DSS)

“We went from an apartment to a townhouse and now we’re finally in our own home,” Thering joked. “Obviously being in the design industry, we are heavy with materials, samples and furniture, so to show our true dealership side we needed to have a larger space to showcase our furniture, our samples and allow our clients to come in.

“Fairport’s been booming, they have tons of women-owned businesses, so we’re happy to be part of that.”

The expertise provided by Design Space Studios is helping school districts create flexible, inclusive environments that are conducive to learning as classrooms evolve to meet needs.

“K-12 furniture in the last 10 years has come leaps and bounds,” Thering said. “Even when we were in school you still sat in a standard desk and chair.”

“In a row and facing forward,” Driscoll added.

(Photo provided by DSS)

Now, it’s a technology-rich yet relaxed atmosphere, a less-formal setting that better promotes learning and collaboration.

“In the past there was no creativity, there was no personalized learning, there was no ‘Take your education and how you learn into your own hands,’ ” Thering said. “The ability to bring in all these different types of furniture is allowing students the flexibility to learn how they need to.”

That was becoming a trend in some school districts before the COVID-19 pandemic. Post-pandemic, it has become a necessity.

“COVID shut everything down,” Thering said, “but in hindsight, it exemplified the need for all these diverse types of furniture in classrooms. You had all of these children who went from learning in this traditional environment, to whatever was fit for themselves and their family during COVID.

“You had kids that learned the entire time on the floor. You had kids that laid upside down on the couch or were hiding under the dining room table because mom and dad and the siblings were working too and there’s no quiet place in the house.”

(Photo provided by DSS)

Then the schools reopened, and students returned to a static and regulated classroom layout.

“That traditional mold did not work for them anymore,” Thering said.

Educators knew it immediately and realized the need to create an environment that would stimulate learning.

Enter Design Space Studios. While based in Fairport, and before that Pittsford, the firm ironically doesn’t have clients within Monroe County, at least not yet. Most are more rural clients.

“In rural schools or small schools or low-income districts, they don’t have the best resources outside of their homes,” Thering said. “The schools are able to provide them with as much technology, learning incentives and choices when they’re in the building, because that time is so impactful.

“We have some rural schools that have the most amazing, state-of-the-art facilities, because they’ve been able to get the funding and taken these initiatives to change the way students are learning and get them the hopefully successful tools to get a career in the world.”

Adding furniture to the firm’s offerings became a natural extension of services when school districts and commercial clients sought a one-stop shop. The new space in Fairport provides showroom space. Bezon oversees the furniture side of the business.

“Commercial furniture can be a pretty big financial commitment, especially if you’re doing a brand new office space,” Driscoll said. “It adds up pretty quickly. If they can touch it and feel it and understand the quality, it makes it a little easier to understand why something might be more expensive.”

Throughout the entire design and installation process, the client knows exactly who to turn to with questions.

“In the past, it’s very segmented as to who’s role is what in a project,” Thering said of how larger firms operate. “You’re the architect or you’re the designer or you’re the furniture dealership. We wanted to be one point of contact for our clients.

“All the client is looking for is someone to lead them in the direction, take over the project, become an extension of their team and just get the job done. Whatever happens behind the scenes is our chaos to manage. But when we’re working with our clients, all they are seeing is someone handling everything for them, from pre-move conceptual design to putting artwork on your walls.”

That all-inclusive service earned Design Space Studios the Innovation Award earlier this year from the Rochester Chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI). The firm was recognized for creating a new office in Meridian Centre in Brighton for Empire Valuation Consultants.

DSS was in on negotiation with the property manager, created the construction documents, designed the space and even assisted with the move as well as branding and graphics.

“We even helped identify where they’re going to put their plants,” Driscoll said. “So it was everything from before they even knew where they were going to move to ‘Let’s make sure your plants have enough natural light.’ ”

Said Thering: “That is our ideal type of project, someone who is ready to have us fully commit to their team and get them through every step of the process.”

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