Dan Killebrew’s resume reads like a human resource manager’s dream: he has extensive experience in healthcare facility design across the US; he has served on multiple AIA chapter boards and healthcare councils; colleagues have submitted glowing recommendations on LinkedIn and he has a compelling story about a childhood influence on his choice of profession.
Dan has always been keenly aware of the challenges that the built infrastructure can pose for those who are differently abled. His younger brother Gary was one of the famous “Jerry’s Kids” who were the reason for the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association Labor Day telethon. As an architect, he brings that perspective to his work on healthcare projects ranging from master planning and pre-design through implementation and contract administration.
By his own admission, Dan is a collector of information whether he is conscious of it occurring or not. Being an avid reader helps him gather information, ideas, and concepts from a wide variety of resources that allow him to recognize patterns among separate occurrences. On multiple occasions, this has helped him facilitate team-generated solutions for to clients’ specific challenges. One such example is the bed tower and bridge that was added to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas in 2008.
This required the creation of a new “front door” to the facility – but one that had to have a drivable connection from the entry drop off to the parking structure across Medical District Drive. The solution resulted in structural arches craned into place to complete the bridge connection painted in a cheerful purple. The remaining green space outside the building was repurposed into an interactive garden and nature zone for patients and family, which also refreshed that part of the city.
He is quick to talk about his other passion: his family. Already a grandfather, Dan is also pleased to share that one of his children is a designer as well and he refers to family gatherings as “the simple joy of being together”. Another pleasurable activity is membership in yet another organization – the local chapter of the international Urban Sketchers group that gathers for monthly “sketchcrawls” to record what they see in the community with sketch pads, easels, paints and cameras. Their manifesto is “We show the world, one drawing at a time” while Dan’s might be, “We improve the world, one design at a time.”
