PASLEY COMMERCIAL INTERIORS

Why Your Space Needs Both: The Architect-Designer Partnership

• Robin Pasley, NCIDQ • Season 2 • Episode 8

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Scott Blosser, Principal Architect at Compass Architecture, joins us to discuss the critical importance of early collaboration between architects and interior designers. Effective partnerships between design professionals create spaces that better serve clients' needs while avoiding costly mistakes and delays that occur when designers are brought in too late.

Scott shares his journey from receiving a drafting board as an eighth-grader to becoming a community-focused architect in Colorado Springs. His passion for designing spaces that foster growth aligns perfectly with our philosophy at Pasley Commercial Interiors. We explore the clear distinction between interior designers and decorators – while decorators might select throw pillows, true designers fundamentally shape how people interact with and move through spaces, influencing energy flow and organizational efficiency.

The conversation reveals stunning real-world consequences of poor timing in the design process. One medical office faced a $100,000 expense to add basic sink requirements because they brought designers in too late. Another potential client nearly committed to a mixed-use building without understanding the sprinkler system requirements that would have destroyed their budget. These cautionary tales highlight Scott's wisdom: "A couple hundred bucks upfront will save you thousands down the road."

What emerges most clearly is how collaborative design creates better outcomes for clients. When architects and designers ask complementary questions, they uncover needs clients didn't know to express – like a pediatric clinic's need for a welcoming lobby that puts children at ease. This holistic approach ensures spaces truly support business goals rather than merely housing operations.

Whether you're planning a new commercial space, renovating an existing one, or simply curious about the architectural process, this episode offers valuable insights into creating environments that truly work. Connect with Compass Architecture at compass-arch.com or 719-677-5550 to discover how thoughtful design collaboration can transform your business space.

We welcome your questions! If you would like to learn more about us or connect for a conversation, please visit www.pasleycommercialinteriors.com.

Scott Blosser:

When we're calling you and trying to bring you on, we want you early in that, because you're not a house interior decorator that's picking out what throw pillows land on the couch. You're an interior designer. Part of what you're doing is helping us talk about what is the influence of the space, what's the organization, what does the energy feel like?

Scott Blosser:

There's little things you can do with design that help influence how people interact with and move through a space Absolutely influence how people interact with and move through a space, and us being able to do that together early on helps a lot with the design satisfaction of the client and what that final product is that gets delivered.

Randi Lynn Johnson:

All right, everybody, here we are, another installment of design to help your business grow. I am your host, randy Lynn Johnson, with Pasley Commercial Interiors, here with Robin Pasley, our owner and design principal, and today we have Scott Blosser with Compass Architecture, and you are the principal architect. Correct, principal architect, principal designer. I'm just happy to be here. So, scott, we just want to get to know you a little bit. When did you first discover that you had a knack for architecture, that you liked architecture?

Scott Blosser:

Yeah, so I don't know about being good at it or knack for it Kind of gained interest in middle school I think it was about eighth grade Santa Claus brought me a drafting board Love that guy Right. And I would sit in my bedroom and kind of self-taught myself how to draw, to scale and how to use all the tools for it and just started drawing house floor plans and kind of gained interest. When it came time to apply for colleges I kind of knew I was applying for architecture school. I guess I never really looked back on it.

Randi Lynn Johnson:

And you knew from a young age what you wanted to do, your passions for owning a business and design.

Robin Pasley:

I knew I was always interested in business, the design side of things. It was more aesthetics and art that I was always drawn to. I was an artist when I was little but I would always make my mom change my room because it was all about the way things felt. I remember we had this rattan furniture because it was so big in the 80s and it had these little crisscross things on the side and I wanted to change the color of it and I remember my dad being like that is horrible, because it's all these layers that we had to paint. He was like why? But I remember he loved me so much he set up like a spray paint like tent in the garage so he could spray all those to the right color.

Randi Lynn Johnson:

Shout out to your dad.

Robin Pasley:

I know what a guy.

Randi Lynn Johnson:

That's so fun. Well, tell us a little bit about what does your job entail. What does it look like to be an architect? How do you help business owners solve problems?

Scott Blosser:

Yeah, so, as an architect, there's different ways that we can do things, design things and engage with our clients. As a company, we'll do everything from architectural design so designing the outside of a building to interior design. That's actually part of why Robin and I have a relationship is being able to use her for interior design instead of us having to do it in-house. But we'll even do master planning. So some of the different things we do is we can, like, if we're meeting with a developer, we can talk with the developer up front about what their master plan is. What do they want to do, what's the large vision they're after, and we can create documentation that does everything from a site plan to general building aesthetics to a written plan of attack for how do they want to go through this development process. Sometimes, if you're doing multiple buildings or for, like, a school district, they may be sitting there saying here's how we want and what we want to do over the next 15 to 20 years. Well, you can't just do all that up front here and then just go at it later. You need to understand what the steps are and so we can help work through those steps and help kind of create those goals for what the project is going to be. From that and where people ask a lot about what is it, we do what's different from us, from engineering?

Scott Blosser:

Typically, the architect is creating that design and that vision for what the building's going to look like. So we're creating the aesthetics, but we will make structural decisions on. You know, is the building constructed from steel, Is it wood, is it masonry? And we'll make those kinds of decisions which have aesthetic effects to it as well. Sometimes it affects the outside, sometimes it affects the interiors, and that's something where Robin and I I will work together on what.

Scott Blosser:

What are some of those early decisions and how do those aesthetic things all come together into one package? In working through what that aesthetic is and how we do that, we'll work with our engineers at that point, and so we'll work with a structural engineer and they will design the actual like detail of the structural system, same with mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers. They'll get all those aspects to the fine detail so it can be constructed. But a lot of times the architect and then the interior designer work together on what is the layout of the building, what is the aesthetic we're going for, how do all of these things work together and that helps us dictate and control what happens at the engineering level.

Robin Pasley:

Scott, I really love working with you. One of the reasons is because I remember the first project that we actually did some heavy lifting design on together.

Robin Pasley:

We decided to schedule it at like 4.30, pour a beer and start working in the software together to bring both of our ideas to the table, and I appreciate that so much because sometimes architects hire us kind of at the last minute like, oh crap, we need, you know, materials for this place, where the way that we think about space is different from the way a lot of architects think about space, and so we ask questions of clients when we come in that they've never been asked before, and it changes how the client now feels about the space and what they want to do. And so I appreciate that you love to collaborate and that you know you've been bringing me in with you when projects get started, which is awesome, because then we can have that collaboration and go wait a minute, what if we did so-and-so right here? And I think that makes the process go faster.

Scott Blosser:

Not only does it go faster, I think it goes smoother as well, and I love that. From your end, you notice that it is a collaborative aspect when we're calling you and trying to bring you on. We want you early in that, because you're not a house interior decorator that's picking out what throw pillows, land on the couch. You're an interior designer. Part of what you're doing is helping us talk about what is the influence of the space, what's the organization, what does the energy feel like? There's little things you can do with design that help influence how people interact with and move through a space Absolutely, and us being able to do that together early on helps a lot with the design satisfaction of the client and what that final product is that gets delivered.

Robin Pasley:

You think about client care and client satisfaction. The way I do, like you really want to listen to them that's a big piece of how you do function in your offices with your team is what are they saying to us? Staying in close connection with them and just paying attention where you know it's not always like that, so I really appreciate that.

Scott Blosser:

It just feels really seamless.

Robin Pasley:

You know, I feel so confident to tell people that we really want to bring them a great architect.

Randi Lynn Johnson:

Back to that, the thing about you know timing and when it is beneficial to bring in a designer sooner and that timing piece. Can you think of some examples, like real world examples, where that has been the case?

Robin Pasley:

It was one of those situations where we ended up realizing that the client was not asked what they needed as far as plumbing in this medical office. The architect didn't ask the question, so it wasn't in there. They didn't have any sinks in a medical office and so they had already gone out to bid and it was going to be almost $100,000 to add sinks, and so then the other thing was the architect had put in tons of cabinetry and she was like I didn't ask for all this and like walls were lined with cabinetry. Anyways, we had to pause everything because that was, you know, we were brought in so late and some major elements were missed. But we ended up helping that client get to the finish line by her opening date and we were almost to the dollar on the original bid without going over because of the way that we reappropriated those cabinets.

Scott Blosser:

And you asked about timing and I think that's you know. Hitting on the budget part and talking part about that is relevant too, because it all goes together. The longer that we wait to call you and have you involved in the process, it can throw budget off. And it all depends on what is the contractor's involvement already. Are they already involved? Are they coming later? Do we know what the budget is for the client?

Scott Blosser:

And there's times that you come in and you'll sit there and ask questions and there's something aesthetically more important to the client about finished selections, organization of things that get brought up during some of the questions you generate. Then they say, when we're talking about stuff cause I may be talking with them about the cabinets, about the sinks and then all of a sudden when you come in, they're like oh no, we need this lobby to look like this because it's a pediatric clinic and we need those kids to feel comfortable and welcoming. We need that energy in the space, and sometimes I can't get that out of them. And then you turn around and ask us a very similar question. All of a sudden they're like oh yeah, this is what we need. It's important for us to have that together and early on and be able to collaborate through the whole process, not just late in the process.

Randi Lynn Johnson:

Scott, tell us more about Compass Architecture, and who do you love working with? Who's your ideal client?

Scott Blosser:

So I can build towards a direct answer. As Compass Architecture, our mission is designing better places to live, learn and play that foster community growth through innovative building design and big word in there is fostering community growth. We're about things that try to help build our local community, and that can be anything from your private business to higher education design. So we currently have contracts with Pikes Peak State College and with part of their evolution and things going on for them, they've you know, two years ago they went from being community college to state college. Part of that change for them is being able to offer four-year bachelor programs now, and so for us, from the design standpoint, being able to design better classrooms, lab spaces, just whatever they need, helps with that 20-year-old out there that's trying to explore what do I want to do for the rest of my life?

Scott Blosser:

And that is something that directly affects our community. For what environment are we creating and what education opportunities are we providing for these people to be able to be the next generation that comes into the workforce? And even designing things for for small clients or small private businesses? That's part of our community too. It's not just the big businesses. Those little people help make the community go. They help keep things going.

Randi Lynn Johnson:

So if I hear you it's the, the people who are making a different like right here in the community. Like, hear you, it's the people who are making a different like right here in the community. Like, you just love working with the people that you do life with.

Scott Blosser:

Exactly. Yeah, Yep, we had one. We looked at last summer with a client out in Salida great concept of wanting to do the old school soda pop pharmacy thing and have that whole thing down bottom and then put apartments up above. It's like I love the idea, I love the concept, but you guys don't have a sprinkler system in the building and the building's not already separated. You would have to bring a sprinkler system in the building.

Scott Blosser:

It's required by code for that residential use up top and they're like, well, that's part of the whole thing and it immediately became a budget killer and so they're like, okay, we'll keep playing with the idea. We may do the downstairs first and hold off and do the sprinkler system later, but it's being real with clients and talking through what your real items are and your budget, your code items are. Those are things that can surprise you when you're a small business owner. We don't expect you to know and understand building code and architecture and interior design. That's what you're hiring us to help you do and those are little things that I see that creep up on small business owners when they get excited about moving into that new space and they just haven't properly explored what the implications are, buying the space that they want to move into and properly evaluating it.

Scott Blosser:

A couple hundred bucks up front will save you thousands down the road.

Randi Lynn Johnson:

Absolutely, that's great. If someone needed you and your services, where could they find you?

Scott Blosser:

Yeah, so if you're walking services, where could they find you? Yeah, so, um, if you're walking around, you can always come and knock on our door. Um, we're at one oh one North cascade um, downtown Colorado Springs. You can find our website, compass hyphen a RCHcom, on there. We have a get in contact with this page. Um, you can sit there, plug in some information about your project, who you are, and shoot us an email and we'll get back to you there. You can sit there, plug in some information about your project, who you are, and shoot us an email and we'll get back to you there. You can also call us 719-677-5550.

Randi Lynn Johnson:

Great. Well, Scott, I don't have anything else. Do you have anything else for him? No, just so thankful for you.

Robin Pasley:

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Randi Lynn Johnson:

Yeah, really appreciate that. And you can find these two just moving and shaking and making all kinds of improvements around the city of Colorado Springs. Just moving and shaking and making all kinds of improvements around the city of Colorado Springs and until next time, see you later. In an increasingly competitive market, the merits of using interior design as a strategic growth tool can make all the difference in not just surviving but thriving.

Robin Pasley:

Hasley Commercial Interiors designed to help your business grow.

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Randi Lynn Johnson, Client Experience

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Robin Pasley, NCIDQ, Founder & Design Principal

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