Using my grandfather’s (Alexander F. Newlands) slide rule this afternoon to get some work done from home. My mother and my grandmother passed it on to me as a Christmas gift this year. He was a civil engineer and ambidextrous. I never knew him, as he passed when my mother was two years old, but I feel influenced by him daily. Beauty in the smallest things. Powerful moment for me. Happy Holidays all!

There’s an intrinsic dilemma that all architects and designers carry with them: the struggle with the idea of control. We lose precious sleep over the often unknowable outcomes of our projects.

An ever-present but less contemplated thought is the impact of those outcomes. While this also can be “unknowable,” designers can draw on evidence and research to predict the impacts of projects with more accuracy. From a business culture standpoint, we crave predictability. Yet, it rarely leaves room for growth, evolution or interpretation of the agile, creative problem-solving that opens the doors to new opportunities.

Designers often design to completion, leaving no detail unknown. We struggle with leaving things unfinished and open-ended. Can we challenge this notion of perfection in physical objects, including space? Throughout time, industrial designers have pondered this thought, which provides evidence of projecting themselves onto the objects and their imperfections as rational, endearing and personable.

The reality is that design is never complete because truly good and bad design is a mostly time-specific manifestation of ideals. That time can be five or 500 years, depending on the ideal, but every design is rooted in the time in which it was created.

With workplace culture, a company should always be evolving, some at a faster pace than others. Workplace designers should be thinking ahead of the current culture to improve and evolve the perspectives of those who work there. Employees should grow within – and sometimes beyond – that context.

Can building space be much the same way? How do you create silence and unfinished space that feels like a book with blank pages? Brands beget culture, and culture begets behavior, but how do we design to create a cycle of behavior begetting culture again?

I think about these long-standing philosophies of perfection and utopia to better connect with our surroundings, creating objects and space for that quiet simplicity that leaves room for thought, contemplation and growth.

John Cantrell is a senior designer at HOK in Atlanta. 

Thanks to our builders and strategists:

Builders:
Jasmine Brown, Deinte Dan-Princewill, Alex Lara and Leming Yang.

Candy Strategists: Lauren Flemister, Ashley Craig and Sara Bullington

…and those who came to support and vote!

Follow the link below to explore more on the built pavilion:

http://www.architectmagazine.com/lighting/a-skyspace-in-houston.aspx

A Skyspace in Houston – Lighting – Architect Magazine Page 1 of 3

James Turrell’s latest project is an architectural pavilion that frames an artwork—and an artwork that accomplishes an architectural feat.

I think you could fit two to three of me in this...and I'm a pretty average height/weight American gal.

So…for those of you who were wondering how our four teams of BTW racers make it into the office, I’ve included a quick photo gallery of “the bikes of washington, DC.” Yes, they are scattered all over the office. (We do have nice bike racks in our loading dock, but had a little security issue earlier this year - thus, very few people actually park there!).

Great day, great event.  I especially love this day because I’m not the slowest biker on the trails.  Usually I get passed by twice as many people as I pass. Today was the exact opposite. I know it’s a fluke, but it made me feel really fit   Happy cycling to everyone.

As you might expect, there were quite a few drawings and paintings, a few home improvements, but also a couple of “outside the box” design pursuits. Colin Benson, visualization specialist by trade, industrial designer by education, and bicycle-restorer by night brought in two amazing restored bicycles, including a bicycle built for two.  (Yes, many of the folks in the office took a spin on the bike outside the office the next day). Office manager Deadra Barnett shared her hidden talent as a makeup artist. Giving live demonstrations of makeup application, Deadra shared her talents along with some very helpful tips for applying our own makeup.

Jelena Lustica shared an amazing photo display – check out her set below:

Sean Quinn’s contributions were also of the photography variety:

Click here to view the embedded slideshow.

The rest of 2012′s fabulous design class included:

Donna Sharpe: Enamel Metalwork

Kyle Bendle: Photography and a drawing

Jim Doussard: Painting and Silhouettes

Azeez Bakare: Multimedia Presi presentation

Esher Wang: Paintings

Walter Urbanek: Painting

Izumi Mills: Jewelry design

Kerry Aucamp: Painting

Mallory McKenzie: Landscaping/Deck project

Nishu Sinha: Stone Sculpture

Sara Streeter: Painting and Graphic Design

Jarek Bieda: Illustration

Carl Mukri: Photography (roller coasters)

Check out last year’s fabulous designs in Sean Quinn’s post (3rd Annual) Design by Designers and those from 2010 in Yiselle Santos’ post, Design by Designers First Friday at WDC.

Photo credits: Jim Doussard, Kyle Bendle, Sean Quinn, and Jelena Lustica

I was curiously Google-image searching the term “female architect” one afternoon and the results were stereotypical as expected; hard hats inside finished buildings, abundant rolls of paper, every face with a huge smile and the occasional Zaha head shot (go girl!). Another observation was that every female is young and attractive; this made me wonder where that portrayal was conceived?

Soon after, I came across an article in February’s “Architect” magazine (p.29) stating that “Only about 3% of executives in major American corporations – including architecture firms- are women (according to McKinsey & Co.).”

I wasn’t so shocked; it’s a man’s world we’re infiltrating, and only for the last few generations. However, the article continued to inform me that “studies show that fully half of women in S&T fields leave their profession between the ages of 35 and 40.” So, was the stereotype correct?

I am only 30 and taking licensing exams… what about me, am I destined to an abbreviated architectural career!?  I asked, “How many state licensed female architects are at HOK? “

Drum roll please…… unofficially, nearly a quarter of state licensed architects at HOK are female- YAY!

The upcoming discussions at the National Convention (5/17 – 5/19 in Washington, D.C.), will continue this topic in a session titled, “Labyrinth to the Top: Women in Design Firm Leadership” by organizer Rena Klein, FAIA.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The other submission books and videos are up as well, so check those out too!

The team included !melk., Urban Lab, Terry Guen Design Associates, Thirst, Zoe Ryan, Conservation Design Forum, HR&A Advisors, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Sam Schwartz Engineering, Leni Schwendinger LIGHT projects, CMS Fountain Consultants, and Karin Bacon Enterprises.

We always see (and drool over) these competition entries, but very rarely do you get to peel back the covers and see what really goes into the preparation of these submissions, so we thought we’d give you all the HOK-eye-view of how this all went down.

1 – HEY!  We like Navy Pier, we should help to redesign it!  Upon the announcement of the competition we knew we were interested.  With an office in Chicago since 1995 we like to consider ourselves hometowners.  Of course, with any great project, we wanted some great collaboration partners, and found that in !melk and UrbanLab.  We decided to do this thing.

2 – When the shortlist came out (WOW, 52 firms submitted!!) and we were on the list of 11 we were beyond thrilled.  When, finally, the list of 5 finalist teams were announced, we couldn’t have been more pleased, or excited to get started!

3 – Now down to work:  A bit into concept development and after an initial site-visit, a charrette was held in New York in the offices of !melk.  The fluid collaboration of the team was evident from day one, but very helpful during that crucial charette.  The views from the office were inspiring to the team and the constant flow of inspiration and teamwork quickly led to a very solid set of guiding principles.  How did the teamwork happen so seamlessly when so often teams of this size and with designers of this caliber can go so wrong so quick?  First, everyone knew their roles and were in it for equal credit.  This can be so tricky – I mean, we’re all tied to design concepts, and the letting go and the open development can be the hardest part.  Perhaps this was so seamless because of the second reason:  there was strong mutual respect between partners.  Each participant knew their strengths and weaknesses and knew that to move the project forward they needed to do the right thing at the right time.  And lastly, but most importantly, there were strong shared values and shared aesthetic sense.  These three things  guided the process and are visible in the unity of the final scheme.

4 – The concept was presented to the public by  Jerry van Eyck from !melk with the other team members available for questions afterwards.  The idea was delivered to the public on January 31^st to a standing room only crowd, and, frankly, we’re very proud of it!  The decision of the selected team or teams will be made later this month.

October: Wellness Fair: We kicked off the festivities this fall with a health fair to make sure we were all medically certified to have a good time. Practitioners from the Pure Wellness Intl Team, Kaiser and Concentra were at hand to answer questions, along with posture and stress screening, chiropractic advice and healthy snack samples.

The HOK San Francisco Wellness Fair

October: Pumpkin Carving Contest: HOK SF then flexed its creative muscles with a pumpkin carving contest. Look below for the winners!

November: Thanksgiving Potluck: Every year we get together to share home-cooked goodies before Thanksgiving. It’s a beloved tradition as we HOKers enjoy socializing and eating!

 This year’s potluck had a theme of ‘Local and Green’, apart from our running theme of ‘Eat yourselves silly’.

 

Luckily, we recovered from the food coma just in time for our …

December: Arts & Craft Exhibit: The brainchild of the HOK Diversity + Impact teams, this year we began what we hope is the first of many such events: the Arts + Craft exhibit. The event  highlighted the diversity of interests that make up this dynamic studio and reflected the colorful personalities and wide-range of talent which included woodworking, pottery, paintings, sketches, jewelry, quilts and many other interests..

HOK Arts and Craft Fair

Susie Becker brought in her quilt made of discontinued fabric samples!

 

Other exhibits included artwork, sketches and photographs.

The Seattle Studio created a group submission that was displayed through a QR Code (Quick Response Code) that could only be displayed through a smart phone and featured videos of each of their team members and their families.

 And the grand finale to our fall revelries:

December: HOK SF Holiday Party: This year’s holiday party was held at the Bubble Lounge, with a ‘Roaring 20s’ theme.

Say Cheese..!

Dames dressed up in their best flapper dresses and hats, and elegantly juggled their giggle-water and cigarette holders, while old boys had the 20s vibe down pat with waistcoats, suspenders and bow ties. All in all – we had a swell time and the party was the cat’s meow! (Fine. I’ll stop with the 20s slang now.)

Merry Revelers!

Watch this space for more exciting HOK news!

(Thanks to Kayo, Jasmine and Marissa for the pictures)

The reason I say Oprah is smart today is (once again) due to an article I ran across on CNN: “The New Rules for Succeeding at Your First Job.”  There are some great ones in here (like “never stop taking notes”), but there were a couple that REALLY stuck out to me:

“Think About Presentation” – Oprah suggests that you format everything beautifully.  I agree.  For starters, do not EVER give your boss something that hasn’t been spell checked and read to make sure you didn’t say “panty” instead of “pantry.”  She doesn’t want to see it, and she wants to have confidence that you will not send something like that to a client. The rest, is always appreciated – it shows you put some thought into the work.  That said, beautiful format does not mask lack of content, so don’t waste your time if you didn’t put the effort in to making a good piece in the first place.

“No. Tiny. Tanktops.” – Amen, sista!  To this day, we still talk about the intern from summer of 2005 that used to dress in tiny tanktops, short shorts, and high, high heels.  No, we do not remember her in the way she would probably like (i.e., “darn, that girl was really smart, talented, hard working, whatever.”). 

“Remember Your Boss’s Plate.” Oprah is 100% right.  If I give one of my teammates something to do, I want her to take full responsibility for it (yes, I still want to see it before it goes to the client), but I do not want to nag her about it. That makes me feel like a pest, and also makes me feel like she’s not up to the task.  So, if your boss gives you something to do, own it. Make her confident that you’re going to get it done on time. If you have questions, ask them.  If you don’t understand, let her know.  The sooner the better.  Not five minutes before the final is due. If you think you need more time, let her know.  The sooner the better.

What other advice would you give to newbies in the office?