What Design Group does

DesignGroup is a privately held architecture and planning firm founded in 1972 and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with a regional office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The firm provides integrated architectural, interior design, and planning services across five primary verticals: healthcare, higher education, community/civic, science & technology, and commercial. It serves enterprise clients including major health systems and universities, with a portfolio that spans hospital expansions, inpatient towers, medical education buildings, research laboratories, dental schools, and community facilities. Notable long-standing engagements include a continuous planning relationship with Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center dating to 1998, a 20-year partnership with Norton Healthcare, and a 26+ year relationship with Morris Hospital. The firm is currently engaged on the OSU Wexner Medical Center Inpatient Tower — approximately 2 million SF and $2 billion in construction value — the largest project in its history.

DesignGroup's core capabilities are built on specialized healthcare and education planning methodology rather than proprietary technology. Its "Conditions of Satisfaction" framework, Lean planning tools, and "go slow to go fast" approach define project requirements before design commitment. The firm has earned distinctive certifications, including the first LEED Platinum higher education building in Ohio (Hocking College Energy Institute) and one of the first WELL Silver-certified medical education buildings in the country (Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, partnered with Perkins&Will). Underlying technical work is performed in standard architectural tools (BIM, CAD, building performance simulation) without disclosed AI/ML capability.

The firm operates a project-based professional services revenue model with scope-based fees negotiated per engagement and multi-year contract cadence. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales — senior principals and practice leaders engage directly with C-suite and board-level stakeholders at healthcare systems and universities — supplemented by an annual Future of Healthcare Advisory Board event in both Columbus and Pittsburgh, national conference presentations, and thought leadership content publishing. DesignGroup is privately held, management/founder-controlled, with no external PE or VC backing and approximately 101–250 employees firmwide.

Name

Design Group

Legal name

DesignGroup

Website

https://designgroup.us.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1972

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

DesignGroup is a privately held architecture and planning firm founded in 1972, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with a regional office in Pittsburgh. It delivers integrated architectural, interior design, and planning services across healthcare, higher education, science & technology, community, and commercial sectors for enterprise clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architectural Services

NAICS

Architectural Services (54131), Architectural Services (541310), Interior Design Services (54141), Interior Design Services (541410)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB), Space Planning & Workplace Design (BPAHAKAI), Construction Engineering & Constructability Consulting (BPAHAIAN)

Keywords

• Healthcare architecture
• Medical facility design
• Education architecture
• Facility planning services
• Interior design services

Headquarters

HQ city

Columbus

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Architecture and Design Services: Project-based professional services for architecture, interior design, and planning. Revenue is generated through design fees tied to project scope, complexity, and duration. Long-term client relationships drive repeat engagements and multi-phase projects.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

DesignGroup is an architecture and planning firm that provides integrated architectural design, interior design, and planning services across five market sectors: healthcare, higher education, community, science & technology, and commercial. The firm delivers full-service project design from conception through completion, including master planning, space programming, and documentation for complex facilities such as hospitals, medical centers, medical education buildings, and research laboratories.

Product overview

Design Group is a multi-market architecture and planning firm offering integrated architectural, interior design, and planning services. The firm operates as a single unified service offering across five distinct market sectors: Healthcare, Education, Community, Science & Technology, and Commercial. Projects span from healthcare facilities and hospital expansions to higher education buildings, research laboratories, community centers, and commercial developments. The portfolio includes notable projects such as Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center facilities, Norton Healthcare projects, and various university campus developments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Architecture Services Full-service architectural design covering project conception through completion, delivered across all market sectors served by the firm.
• Interior Design Services Interior architecture and design services delivered across all market sectors, focused on how interior environments impact the emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing of occupants.
• Planning Services Strategic facility planning, master planning, and space programming services using specialized methodologies including Conditions of Satisfaction framework and Lean tools to define project requirements before design commitment.
• Healthcare Architecture Comprehensive healthcare facility design including hospitals, medical centers, outpatient facilities, inpatient towers, emergency departments, surgical facilities, brain and spine institutes, cancer centers, and sports medicine facilities.
• Education Architecture Design for higher education facilities, medical education buildings, student housing, classroom buildings, science buildings, dormitories, libraries, anatomy labs, and digital learning spaces.
• Community Architecture Public-serving facilities including community centers, YMCA facilities, museums, libraries, and civic buildings designed to strengthen community connections.
• Science & Technology Architecture Research facilities, laboratories, science centers, and technology-focused building design for academic and institutional clients.
• Commercial Architecture Commercial mixed-use developments, office buildings, and retail environments designed for end-user and tenant engagement.

Quantifiable outcome

• WELL Certification Silver achieved for OU Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine - one of the first medical education buildings in the country to achieve this certification
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Perkins&WillcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesignGroup partnered with Perkins&Will on the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine project, which achieved WELL Certification Silver. Collaboration combined DesignGroup's healthcare expertise with Perkins&Will's capabilities to create a new model for medical education building design.
• Robert A.M. Stern ArchitectscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesignGroup is teamed with Robert A.M. Stern Architects as Design Architect for the Postle Hall Partial Replacement project at Ohio State University College of Dentistry, a 170,000 SF project involving demolition and replacement of portions of the 1950s-era building.
• Perkins+WillcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on The James Outpatient Care Center & Proton Therapy Lab project, where DesignGroup led interior design and documentation while Perkins+Will served as the primary architecture firm for this 398,000 SF cancer treatment and research facility.
• Nationwide Children's HospitalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner in developing the Proton Therapy Center at OSUWMC's James Outpatient Care, representing a $100M investment in next-generation cancer treatment for the region.
• Kahler SlaterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesignGroup worked with Kahler Slater on a 400,000 SF master plan for the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, developing visioning exercises and space programming.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Perkins&Will: Perkins&Will is a major global architecture firm with a leading healthcare practice and is also a documented DesignGroup teaming partner on marquee projects. It is broadly comparable in healthcare design philosophy and client base but at dramatically greater scale.
• SmithGroup: SmithGroup is a national integrated design firm with strong healthcare and higher education practices. It overlaps with DesignGroup's two primary verticals and similar client types (universities and health systems), but operates at much larger scale across multiple US regions.
• CannonDesign: CannonDesign is a national integrated design firm with a substantial healthcare practice serving large academic medical centers and health systems. It overlaps with DesignGroup's healthcare specialization but at significantly larger scale and broader geographic footprint.
• HKS: HKS is a national architecture firm with one of the largest healthcare practices in the US, serving academic medical centers and large hospital systems. It is a relevant comparable for DesignGroup's healthcare ambitions but operates at materially larger scale.
• HDR Architecture: HDR is a large global architecture and engineering firm with a deeply established healthcare design practice serving major US health systems. Comparable to DesignGroup's healthcare focus and academic medical center clients, but at significantly greater scale and geographic reach.

Direct peers

• Array Architects: Array Architects is a privately held architecture firm specializing exclusively in healthcare facility planning and design. It mirrors DesignGroup's deep healthcare-only focus, comparable project scale, and project-based professional services model.
• EwingCole: EwingCole is a Philadelphia-based integrated architecture, engineering, and planning firm with a long-standing focus on healthcare and higher education. It is closely comparable to DesignGroup in scale, vertical specialization, and reliance on long-tenured healthcare clients across the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.
• BHDP Architecture: BHDP is a Cincinnati-based architecture and design firm of comparable size and Midwestern footprint with practice areas spanning healthcare, higher education, and workplace. Closely comparable to DesignGroup in scale, geography, and sector mix.

Regional players

• Moody Nolan: Moody Nolan is a large Ohio-based architecture firm with healthcare, education, and community practices and offices across multiple US regions. It is comparable in Midwestern healthcare/education focus but operates at meaningfully larger scale and broader geographic reach.
• GBBN Architects: GBBN is a Cincinnati-headquartered architecture firm with comparable scale and a healthcare/education/community sector mix similar to DesignGroup. It serves many of the same regional institutional clients in Ohio and the broader Midwest.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/DGArchitecture
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/designgroup
• Instagraminstagram.com/dgarchitecture
• Xx.com/dgarchitecture

Compliance7 records

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 Design Group