Based in Hamilton, New Jersey, Spiezle Architectural Group is a firm that provides architecture, interior design, construction, furniture procurement, engineering and landscape design services.
Seniors Housing Business spoke with Steve Leone, a principal at the firm, to hear about Spiezle, its approach to acute healthcare and senior living projects and Cathedral Village, a project in Philadelphia.
SHB: When was Spiezle founded, and how many employees does the firm have?
Leone: Spiezle was founded in 1954. With 120 employee-owners, the firm operates out of five offices and offers design services nationwide and internationally.
SHB: Your firm’s website makes clear that Spiezle provides a variety of services including architecture, interior design, construction services, furniture procurement, engineering, landscaping and more. On the design side of the house, is the focus more heavily weighted toward architecture or interior design? Or is it an even split?
Leone: Spiezle’s services include architecture, interior design, construction services, furniture procurement, engineering, and landscape design. The firm focuses slightly more on architecture, which comprises roughly 60 percent of the firm’s business.
SHB: Within the healthcare sector, Spiezle specializes in acute healthcare and senior living properties, according to the website. Can you give us a sense of how extensive Spiezle’s design experience is in those respective spaces and the types of projects the firm has undertaken?
Leone: Spiezle has over 40 years of experience — spanning the entire continuum of care from independent living and personal care to memory care, skilled nursing facilities and assisted living — in the senior living sector. Within acute healthcare, Spiezle’s expertise covers every project type within a hospital setting, including primary care, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, women’s centers, cancer centers and more. Spiezle also designs these facilities as standalone environments, in addition to within hospital settings.
SHB: Spiezle is also active in other markets including the education, community and commercial sectors. How is designing in the acute healthcare and senior living space fundamentally different from the other sectors?
Leone: Designing for acute healthcare and senior living is fundamentally more rooted in institutional (healthcare-specific) codes prioritizing safety, health and privacy, making the process more stringent compared to other sectors. However, Spiezle approaches all projects with a focus on creating environments that support human health and enhance the human experience, recognizing the power of architecture to impact lives positively. What sets us apart is that our collective team works in markets beyond senior living and healthcare, including government, education, residential, mixed-use and commercial projects. This convergence of practice areas allows us to challenge the limits of what is traditional while testing innovation against our broader depth of experience.
SHB: Cathedral Village is a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) operated by Presbyterian Senior Living in Philadelphia. Spiezle served as the master planner, architect and interior designer for Phase III, a renovation project. Why was Cathedral Village in need of a facelift? In what ways was the CCRC showing its age?
Leone: Like many established campuses, Cathedral Village needed a facelift to remain competitive with newer facilities offering more contemporary amenities and services. Although well-maintained, the community was beginning to show its age. Spiezle’s master plan provided a strategic, methodical roadmap to help Presbyterian Senior Living prioritize renovations and enhance the campus to meet evolving market expectations.
SHB: What unique challenges and opportunities did this phase of the CCRC present for Spiezle?
Leone: Phase III of the Cathedral Village project presented significant challenges and valuable opportunities. Structurally, addressing and correcting critical failures became a top priority. Additionally, the renovations were strategically phased to minimize disruption for residents.
A key opportunity arose in rerouting how older adults moved throughout the community, enhancing residents’ safety and ease of movement. Resident feedback in the programming phase was crucial in shaping the project and ensured that the improvements reflected their needs and expectations.
SHB: Was Spiezle involved in Phases I and II, and if so — in what capacity?
Leone: Presbyterian Senior Living served as the project developer, and Spiezle was involved in all phases, providing master planning services and serving as the architect and interior designer for all of the projects.
SHB: We know that the project encompassed 180 apartment units and 133 skilled nursing beds, aiming to provide a cohesive, secure, and aesthetically pleasing environment for all residents. Are there other buildings on the campus? Can you give us the size and scope of the entire campus?
Leone: The community is approximately 40 acres. There are 252 units in the community, including independent living, personal care, and skilled care. No resident apartments have been included in our scope of work.
SHB: Spiezle has said that “the latest phase focuses on promoting outdoor living and leisure activities, reflecting a commitment to creating an environment that fosters health, well-being, and community engagement.”
Average Joe might ask, “Hasn’t the connection between the outdoors and the well-being of residents been well known for at least a generation? Why is the industry just now coming to realize this connection?” Your thoughts?
Leone: It’s true that the connection between outdoor environments and well-being has been well-understood in the industry for decades. At Cathedral Village, this connection is enhanced by the campus’s abundant landscaping, which is curated by a highly experienced horticultural team. The project goes beyond simply providing daylight and outdoor access — it incorporates operable walls (to efficiently reconfigure spaces for their best use), interior gardens and open-air walkways. Residents can enjoy covered, open-air paths that allow them to remain connected to nature on their way to central amenities and facilities.
SHB: Aside from this focus on promoting outdoor living and leisure activities, can you point to one or two compelling trends that you observe unfolding in the seniors housing industry today from an architecture/interior design perspective?
Two key trends shaping the senior housing industry today are the growing focus on staff engagement and the shift toward more authentic, hospitality-style amenities.
Communities are enhancing staff spaces and well-being initiatives to improve engagement and retention. At the same time, there’s a push for amenities — such as bars, full theaters and diverse dining options — that create vibrant, resort-like experiences. For example, Spiezle recently completed the Royal Oaks project in Sun City, Arizona, which included a transformative renovation of the dining space at the property, with the goal of fostering community, encouraging social engagement and elevating residents’ quality of life.
Additionally, the introduction of artificial intelligence is transforming senior living, improving operations, enhancing resident safety and personalizing care.
— Interview by Matt Valley