Wesley Gross

May 17, 2019

B+H Catalyst Talent Program 2019 Participant

Role: Clinical Planner

Studio: Toronto

How would you describe your role at B+H?

Clinical planner and software guru for the healthcare team.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

The best part of this work is the process of planning: taking a variety of inputs – from engineers, doctors, codes and standards – and synthesizing a spatial solution to the problem. Occasionally the planning falls together elegantly; occasionally it becomes a tortured mess just to meet the requirements.

What inspires you?

A firm belief in one’s values and the vision to manifest them.

What are you passionate about outside of work?

Cooking is the only way I know to create something that’s meaningful and necessary in less than an hour every day.

What is a personal accomplishment you are proud of and why?

It is hard to describe the extent to which immigration can become a full-time hobby; receiving permanent residency in Canada marked an end to the time and expense that the five-year process took on us. We look forward to citizenship.

Who is a person you admire and why?

Bernie Sanders – his nearly five decade career in American politics are remarkable for his unrelenting conviction to his beliefs, the bipartisan admiration of his constituents, and the bipartisan resentment of his political colleagues.

Best place you’ve ever visited?

Prague, the city of a hundred towers – The medieval buildings are beautiful, Pilsner is cheap, and it is the city in which I met my wife.

What do you love about the city where you live now?

Toronto has the largest foreign-born population in the world. I’ve never lived in any other city where so many people from so many backgrounds can meet to live and work together. It defines my friends and it defines my family.

Did you ever have a nickname?

Yes, Wes.

What are some things that make you happy?

Good food and good drinks with good friends.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Uh…um…er…verbally. And the gratuitous use of hyphens to indicate pauses in text.

Who is your favorite fictional character and why?

Fox Mulder; I want to believe.

What is your greatest hidden talent?

Photography, if by hidden we mean neglected.

What talent do you wish you had?

Playing an instrument – preferably the cello.

How would you describe your approach to life?

It’s probably not worth trying to predict the twists and turns.

If you weren’t a designer, what would you be doing?

Forest hermit

Fork or Spoon?

Spoon

Pen or keyboard?

Pen

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Salt and vinegar

Dogs or Cats?

Dogs

What is it that you hope to learn or develop by being part of The Catalyst Program?

I aim to investigate aspects of behavioral healthcare architecture – both to enhance my understanding of such projects and to develop a firmwide sensibility to mental healthcare in all our work.

*Hero image is chosen by Wesley as something he finds beautiful