Kim Bernheimer knew at a young age that she had a passion for design, so her decision to attend Rochester Institute of Technology for Interior Design was an easy one. After accepting her first design position at PF&A Design in 1999, she found her passion in healthcare design and realized it was the niche where she belonged.

With almost two decades of experience at PF&A Design, Kim found personal gain in building solid client relationships at one firm versus job-hopping across the industry. With such deep client history, she can often offer invaluable insight on issues such as building history, problematic maintenance practices, and client preferences. She is also able to provide a thorough evaluation of projects and products she has specified over time, monitoring their durability, gathering user feedback, and evaluating overall success. Her relationships with general and subcontractors give her credibility for the same reasons and make her a valuable to those looking for honest references. All of these factors ultimately give clients peace of mind so they can place inherent trust in the firm’s abilities. By truly being the clients’ advocate, she effortlessly turns their needs, wants, and ideas into buildable projects that naturally produce repeat business.

Spending such an extensive amount of time in the healthcare design field has allowed Kim to not only master the ins and outs of the interior design but also step into the architecture arena. Her specialty is renovation projects. From concept to closeout, she tackles both sides of the project as one cohesive process, providing greater project control by passing the project through fewer hands, lessening miscommunications, and ultimately leading the team to stronger design concepts. Even with new buildings, clients and colleagues request her involvement from the commencing stages, so she can work closely with architects and consultants to the advantage of the client and project.

Though this approach of integrating the interior designers into all stages of a project isn’t widely practiced within the industry, it has proved successful for PF&A Design and has been a driving factor in her success and the success of her projects. Furthermore, her natural inclination to challenge herself and go above and beyond the job description has pushed her career to where it stands today. By regularly exceeding the expectations of those around her, she has ultimately raised the bar and brought a tremendous amount of respect to the interior design industry.

Awards & Recognition

• 2016 Renovation Competition for Healthcare Design magazine, Top Three Winner, Pediatric Spaces category - Nuss Center Renovation
• 2014 ASID/IIDA Interior Design Excellence Award, Honorable Mention - Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Renovation
• 2013 Remodel/Renovation Competition for Healthcare Design magazine, Best in Category for Nurses' Stations - Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Nurse Station

Publications

• 2016 Nuss Center Renovation, Healthcare Design magazine, Dec. 2016
• 2013 Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Renovation, Healthcare Design magazine, Dec. 2013