Pulse Design Group

What Pulse Design Group does

Pulse Design Group is a privately held, Kansas City-based architectural design firm founded in 1980 that has operated exclusively in the healthcare vertical for 45 years. The firm provides integrated architecture, interior design, medical equipment planning, and virtual reality (VR) design visualization services to hospitals, health systems, ambulatory surgery centers, behavioral health facilities, children's hospitals, clinical laboratories, military healthcare facilities, and employer-sponsored clinics. Its core technology stack includes in-house VR modeling for pre-construction design review, comprehensive equipment planning (drawings, specifications, inventory, procurement, transition, and move management), and Lean design facilitation. The firm's client base spans 50+ healthcare systems and more than 2,000 completed projects, with recent marquee engagements including a 164,000 SF patient tower for CHRISTUS Health in Texas, a 243,000 SF ambulatory campus for LMH Health in Kansas, and a 96,000 SF BSL-2 clinical laboratory conversion for Eurofins Viracor.

The firm's revenue model is professional-services based, with fees generated on a project-by-project basis for architectural, interior design, equipment planning, and VR visualization engagements. Pricing is project-based and determined by scope, scale, and complexity; no public pricing exists. Pulse wins work primarily through direct enterprise engagement with healthcare C-suite and facilities leadership, supplemented by referrals and competitive procurement. Its go-to-market is sales-led and relationship-driven, supported by a portfolio-anchored website, the annual Healthcare Design Expo & Conference, regional earned media (Kansas City Business Journal, Ingram's Magazine), and social media. Geographic footprint is concentrated in the Midwest, with active expansion into the Mountain West, Southeast (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina), and Southwest (Texas).

Pulse is principal-led with no disclosed external investors or private-equity backing. Leadership includes President Dennis Burns, Vice President of Growth and Strategy Mary Moore, and multiple Principals and Directors overseeing architecture, interior design, equipment planning, marketing, and operations. The firm employs approximately 25-50 professionals, including architects, interior designers, equipment planners, VR developers, and administrative staff, many holding specialty credentials such as AIA, LEED AP, NCIDQ, CHID, EDAC, and ACHA. Strategic direction is captured in recent moves into clinical laboratory design (2025), deepened behavioral health vertical (Children's Mercy, 2025), geographic diversification into the Southeast and Southwest, and operational investments including a 2020 headquarters relocation to the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City.

Name

Pulse Design Group

Legal name

Pulse Design Group

Website

https://pulsedesigngroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Pulse Design Group is a 45-year-old, Kansas City-based architectural firm specializing exclusively in healthcare facility design, offering architecture, interior design, medical equipment planning, and virtual reality visualization to 50+ health systems across the U.S.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Architecture Services

NAICS

Interior Design Services (54141)

akta.pro primary industry

Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB)

Keywords

• Healthcare architecture
• Interior design services
• Medical equipment planning
• Virtual reality visualization
• Facility design consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Kansas City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Architectural and Design Services: Revenue is generated through professional fees for architectural design, interior design, medical equipment planning, and virtual reality design services on a project-by-project basis for healthcare clients. Projects range from new ground-up facilities to renovations and expansions of existing healthcare infrastructure.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Pulse Design Group provides full-service architectural and interior design services exclusively for healthcare facilities, including new construction, renovation, expansion, and modernization projects. The firm delivers integrated capabilities spanning architecture, interior design, medical equipment planning, virtual reality design visualization, and Lean design facilitation, serving hospitals, health systems, behavioral health facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, and government healthcare facilities across the United States.

Product overview

Pulse Design Group is a full-service architectural design firm with 40+ years of experience specializing exclusively in healthcare architecture. The company offers an integrated suite of services including Healthcare Architecture, Interior Design, Medical Equipment Planning, and Virtual Reality Design Services. Their core offering is end-to-end healthcare facility design spanning new construction, renovation, and modernization projects. The firm has worked with more than 50 healthcare systems on over 2,000 projects. Their specialized capabilities include Hybrid Operating Room design, Ambulatory Surgery Center design, Behavioral Health Facility design, and Clinical Laboratory design. The company operates primarily in the Midwestern United States with projects extending to other regions. As a services firm rather than a software product company, Pulse Design Group does not offer APIs, integrations with third-party software platforms, or AI/ML capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Kansas City's largest hybrid operating room delivered at AdventHealth Shawnee Mission (3,550 SF)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers21 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor, notable and core.

• J+J FlooringminorOthers · 1 December 2025Pulse Design Group partnered with J+J Flooring on the Holiday Heroes program, participating in the Helping Hands initiative by decorating a holiday tree with a Harry Potter theme for a patient room at Children's Mercy Hospital.
• KVC Health SystemsnotableStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025Pulse Design Group volunteered through the KVC Health Systems Holiday Heroes program, providing gifts for 12 children across the state, and has also completed multiple design projects for KVC including the KVC Hospital Youth Psychiatric Facility (30,906 SF, 54-bed behavioral health facility in Wichita) and the Camber Children's Mental Health Hays facility.
• Cannon DesigncoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 February 2025Pulse Design Group's equipment planning team worked in conjunction with Cannon Design to transform a 6,500 SF storage space into a state-of-the-art microbiology laboratory at The University of Kansas Health System's Strawberry Hill campus. The partnership combined architectural and equipment planning expertise.
• Compass Surgical Partners / Bon Secours St. Francis Health SystemnotableStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2024Compass Surgical Partners and Bon Secours St. Francis Health System collaborated with Pulse Design Group to establish the Millennium Ambulatory Surgery Center on the Bon Secours campus in Greenville, South Carolina. Pulse Design Group provided architectural and interior design services for this 22,000 SF ground-up facility.
• MedDevelopmentnotableStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2023Pulse Design Group worked with MedDevelopment alongside Treasure Valley Hospital leadership to determine project goals and maximize the lot footprint for the 33,000 SF Surgical Center of Treasure Valley project in Boise, Idaho.
• DIRTT (Modular Wall Systems)notableTechnology or Integration · 1 March 2023DIRTT's modular wall systems were incorporated into the Corbin Park Clinic project (The University of Kansas Health System), allowing maximum flexibility to remain responsive to the community's evolving needs and dynamic healthcare landscape.
• McCownGordon ConstructionnotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerMcCownGordon Construction collaborated with Pulse Design Group and The University of Kansas Health System to bring the Friendship Inn hospitality house vision to life. Pulse Design Group provided interior design services in this partnership.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• EwingCole: Mid-sized architecture and engineering firm with healthcare as a core vertical, including complex clinical environments. Directly comparable in size, vertical mix, and project types (hospitals, ambulatory, specialty).
• Array Architects: Healthcare-specialized architecture firm focused on acute, ambulatory, and behavioral health facilities. Similar scale and vertical purity to Pulse Design Group.
• HGA Architects and Engineers: Multi-discipline design firm with a substantial healthcare practice, comparable to Pulse in scale and project mix (acute care, behavioral health, ambulatory, research).
• E4H Environments for Health Architecture: Dedicated healthcare-only architecture and engineering firm with comparable vertical specialization in clinical facility design. Most direct comparable to Pulse in single-vertical focus and mid-market project scale.

Broad incumbents

• SmithGroup: Integrated design firm with a dedicated healthcare practice, including complex clinical and research facilities. Larger-scale competitor for major healthcare systems.
• Perkins&Will: Large global architecture practice with a dedicated healthcare studio. Competes for large academic medical center and health system work at the higher end of Pulse's addressable market.
• CannonDesign: Large multi-discipline design firm with substantial healthcare practice. Pulse's Strawberry Hill Microbiology Lab was a joint project with CannonDesign, confirming direct overlap in healthcare facility design and equipment planning.
• HKS Architects: Major national healthcare architecture practice with deep hospital planning expertise. Pulse has co-presented healthcare VR webinars with HKS, and HKS is the dominant scaled competitor for large healthcare systems.
• HDR Architects: Global architecture/engineering firm with one of the largest healthcare design practices. Competes with Pulse for hospital master planning and large healthcare system engagements.

Regional players

• LS3P: Southeast/Mid-Atlantic-based architecture firm with healthcare practice overlap, including medical office buildings and acute care. Comparable in size; competes in overlapping geographies where Pulse has expanded (e.g., South Carolina, Florida).

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/PulseDesignGroup
• Instagraminstagram.com/pulsedesigngroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pulse-design-group
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCxfUAaKkHeMNQ4xFZF3XW_Q
• Xx.com/PulseDG

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pulse Design Group