Wikoff wraps up hospital project in Brazil

Most of the time, the four-hour time difference between Reno and the Brazilian city of Barretos was only a mild inconvenience for Marie Wikoff as she designed the interiors of a children’s hospital.

But things got more challenging during the winter — summer in the Southern Hemisphere — when Brazil goes onto Daylight Savings Time and the time difference widens to six hours.

Wikoff’s firm, Wikoff Design Studio LLC, just wrapped up a 20-month project at Hospital de Cancer de Barretos.

A specialist in interior design for medical facilities, Wikoff won the contract after Brazilian hospital executives saw online photos of her work at Renown Children’s Hospital in Reno.

Her portfolio also includes work at The Smile Shop, Reno Oncology Consultants, Carson Medical Group and Yuba City Advanced Imaging.

Designing the interiors of the 100,000-square-foot facility, Wikoff learned to think in metric measurements and overcame language barriers in the Portugese-speaking city of 112,000 in Brazil’s interior.

Three visits, each at least a week, helped cement relationships. Wikoff was invited back for festivities in March at which former Brazilian President Lula da Silva toured the hospital with Wikoff.

Among the northern Nevada companies contracted to provide furniture, lighting and artwork for the hospital were Via Seating, Reno Business Interiors, Nevada Lighting, SI Legacy and Nevada Fine Arts.

Wikoff says the project brought the Reno design firm into the spotlight for other international projects.

And in the meantime, the firm is starting work on work at the Stanislaus County Psychiatric Health Facility in Ceres, Calif.