Imagine going to a lecture hall that automatically transforms into a banquet hall with minimal human effort.
This is truly an option at the The Plenary Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Recently a guest from Australia enlightened me….so I am excited to pass this along. Check out this place out in action at the link below!
Congratulations to the St. Louis Science Center, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the James S. McDonnell Planetarium today! This hyperboloid structure, designed by HOK Founding Partner Gyo Obata, opened on April 16, 1963, in Forest Park.
“The strength comes from the shape,” HOK architect Roger McFarland said in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article. “Think of an egg; it’s tiny but strong. It’s a beautifully simple concept. But once you start looking at the construction photographs, you realize how difficult it is to build something so simple.”
In 1966, architecture students from Washington University in St. Louis unknowingly …
Another successful HOK Structure’s Pi day has come and nearly gone as I write this. As always it was an enjoyable event for all; we brought pie, we ate pie, we recited pi. This was the St. Louis Structural Engineering group’s sixth annual event to celebrate the mathematical constant pi, an irrational and transcendental number represented by the Greek letter “π”.
To celebrate, we hosted an event inviting colleagues in our office to bring in a pie and participate in a “Best In Show” pie contest (and of course to eat pie) in addition to hosting the “most recited digits of pi” contest. Winners were awarded with …
Not only have I been seeing this NYT article (Relax! You’ll Be More Productive) circulating around Facebook lately, but a coworker also just emailed it to our whole group. It seems that many people are yearning for both increased productivity and relaxation – and this article by Tony Schwartz just may be the golden ticket to helping us achieve that magical balance!
It seems a bit counterintuitive at first. Schwartz states that they key to achieving greater productivity is not found through getting swept up in a whirlwind of working/going/doing longer and faster, rather, it is found in quite the opposite state: that of relaxation and rejuvenation.
What do a 5.5 million-square-foot research university in Saudi Arabia and a 6,000-square-foot orphanage in Haiti have in common? Inspired by sustainable architecture on two vastly different scales, their bond will soon help hundreds of children begin their journeys home.
Sal Gimbert, a structural engineering technician in our St. Louis office, posted this photo on Facebook the other day. Shared here, with her permission:
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!
T’was a warm winter day in Houston when the 4th Annual Gingerbread Build-Off took place in Hermann Square. HOK’s team built a holiday version of James Turrell’s Skyspace that was made of green cake covered in parsley, white chocolate, ginger bread, and various candies.
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:
A continuation of the HOK Diversity Quilt posts … today we are featuring “all about me” squares. We’ve found that each square represents the maker in a unique way, and the next two were uniquely made:
Donovan Oliff (Assistant General Council) – “Donovan”
1. Did you have any inspiration in making your square (and what process did you use to make it)?
I wish I could point to something interesting as a source of inspiration. To tell you the truth, I was a little intimated by all the stunningly creative people working in our office. My knowledge of artistic media is limited to what I was taught to use in grade
As part of the HOK Diversity Quilt posts, I’ll be highlighting some squares. I want to share the ideas and talent that have come from this project; I also want to give others inspiration; I mostly want to show you that making a square is easy and fun! Today I’m sharing three squares…each a simple idea basically using blank fabric squares and some fabric markers. Simple says a lot!
Matt Lindsey (ARC Print Shop) – “Tic Tac Toe”
1. Did you have any inspiration in making your square?
I loved playing Tic Tac Toe as a kid and I wanted to put my inner child in to the quilt.
2012 Diversity Week in St. Louis brought some fun activities to the staff, but the one I was (and still am) most excited about is the Diversity Quilt.
The quilt, a scheme brought to life by Penny Malina, represents the “joining of small pieces of fabric as a whole allowing us to see how each individual square is integral to the completed quilt”. The drive for squares began in July. The Interiors group donated old (discontinued) fabric samples, new muslin squares were cut, and notions were provided. It’s been wonderful to see …
HOK has been ranked as the #1 BIM Architecture firm by Building Design + Construction, but what does it take to achieve such wide adoption of new processes and technology? Change management is a paramount concern when a large, multinational firm undergoes such a radical transformation. Back in 2009, our firm decided to officially retire the term “CAD” and proclaimed November 5 as HOK’s BIM Day. For historical reference, Guy Fawkes Day was key to selecting this date.
On the fourth anniversary of our BIM Day, we are embarking on another leg of our journey to buildingSMART. As BIM has become synonymous with a specific software tool (like Revit), we recognize the need to expand …
Hope all you HOKLifers get out there and rock the vote. Today, you can make a difference in your community – whether you live in a swing state and your vote for President really counts, or you have some exciting propositions or amendments on your state ballot.
I was really excited to vote today – lots of cool stuff on the ballot.
I live in Virginia
That’s 13 electoral votes of swing state. I received more phone calls, junk mail, junk
dropped off at the door, and visits from fembot canvassers than I care to remember. I also got invited to victory parties by both Obama and Romney. So glad that my vote is going to
Eat the frog first?! That’s what Fast Company Magazine recommends in Kevin Purdy’s article What Successful People Do With the First Hour of Their Day. I am not one to eat the frog first, for sure. My day usually starts about an hour before others show up at the office. This allows me some time to get my list of things to do together, catch up on email and voicemail, and sart checking a few things off my list. I typically accompany this start up time with a cup of “fancy coffee” and some breakfast (usually greek yogurt).mmm…coffee!I save my frog eating for mid-day. I wondered if …
Greenbuild is finally making its way to San Francisco this November – and those of us in the Bay Area are pretty excited. The conference theme is aptly “@ Greenbuild,” referencing the astounding array of Internet, social media and technology companies headquartered here in the Bay Area. We also have our host of gaming companies, many of whom tap into social networks; gamejobhunter lists over 120 companies nearby, from tiny start-ups to titans like EA and Zynga.
I’m a hard-core Gen Xer. The year I was born falls right in the middle of the “sandwich generation” between the Baby Boomers and their babies. I know that it drives me crazy when people make gross generalizations about Gen Xers – probably because I’m a Gen Xer and want to break the mold. So, when I saw this CNN article about Gen Yers transforming office life, I couldn’t help but reach out to a few of them around HOK to ask for their reactions. What I found was a fascinating range of opinions…
HOK Dallas participated in the 2nd Annual CRE8 Challenge and Fashion Show benefiting Texas CASA. This year’s theme was “fairytales.” The HOK team (Kelsey Berry, Jennifer Cocker, Hoshi Kamiya, Jessica Linn and Elizabeth Locke) stayed true to par by creating an elaborate version of Goldilock’s outfit. The final garment, modeled by Jessica Linn, was marked by deep red hues, gold tints, and textured tiles.
The event was held at eM the Venue and attended by over 500 industry professionals. Congratulations to the HOK Dallas team!
I would like to congratulate chairs Donovan Olliff, Teresa Bridges and the entire St. Louis Diversity Task Force (Rebecca Nolan, David Chassin, Julie Donovan, Dianne Brown, Kelly Heet, Penny Malina, Maddy Reigel, Sherita Brown, Ben Wanichkunwiriya, Heather Lentz, Jeff York, Peter Mosanyi) for planning a phenomenal Diversity Week in St Louis! The STL Diversity Task Force is winding down its 2011-2012 Campaign – “Diversity is You!”
To kick off the event, the team started with one of the HOK’s greatest loves – food. The “Taste of Diversity” event included a variety of favorite dishes, comfort food or desserts brought in by individuals. The event was spiced up by adding a bit of …
Jarek Bieda, ASAI, leader of the Design Visualization Group in HOK’s Washington, DC, office, has received one of the highest honors the architectural illustration profession can bestow. Jarek’s rendering, “Mabarak Center Mall Skylight,” won the “Best Formal Drawing Award” in the American Society of Architectural Illustrators’ 27th annual Architecture in Perspective exhibition. Jarek’s entry was chosen from a field of nearly 400 entries from five continents!
Jarek describes his winning piece:
“The image depicts the skylight over the shopping mall atrium, part of the Mabarak Center, a proposed large scale mixed-use development in Lahore, Pakistan, designed by
HOK is honored to be the architectural design team for the long awaited, state-of-the-art planetarium, science museum and technology center in Austin’s Museum District. Together with Austin Planetarium, a grassroots nonprofit with the goal of building a world-class science and technology museum in Central Texas, and KUD International, a private sector development firm. Executive Director, Torvald Hessel says, “The need, for a science and technology museum, specifically in Central Texas, has been recognized for thirty years.”
This public-private partnership will create a mixed-use development, which includes a residential tower, retail and restaurant facilities, more than a thousand underground parking spaces, and the science and technology museum, home to the largest planetarium in Texas. The Austin Planetarium will enhance Austin’s Museum District, which is …
As you know, it’s Bike to Work month and the DC office is kicking butt. Today is no different, especially because it is national Bike to Work day. I counted 19 bicycles in the office, and that doesn’t include those people who parked outside or used Capital Bikeshare bikes (there is a station right outside the office). BTWD is practically religion in our office. First question everyone asks is, what swag did you get?! This is immediately followed by, “oh, I went to a different pit stop, we didn’t get that!” Today my top swag item was a “Bike Arlington” reflective vest, one-size-fits-giant-people.
So…for those of you who were wondering how our four teams …
Is it really possible that this is the FOURTH annual Design by Designers at HOK Washington, DC? Organized and hosted by fabulous Graphic Design Principal and Guru Jim Doussard (famous for the HOK monograph and salad bar potlucks, among other achievements), Design by Designers is an opportunity for HOK’s talented team to share our outside-the-office design pursuits over a frosty beverage and tasty snacks.
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 …
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces about 4.4 lbs. of garbage every day. That’s 29 lbs. per week or 1,600 lbs. per year. This amount of trash could cover the state of Texas two and half times and also fills enough trucks to form a line to the moon.
So this Earth Day (Sunday April 22),….and every day:
1. REDUCE: Think if you need it, or just want it…and if it comes without all the packaging or if you can get the equivalent USED or refurbished, which also saves $$$$!
2. REUSE: You know the saying, “One person’s trash is another’s treasure.” Donate things you no …
San Francisco has long been one of the world’s great tourist attractions, and this year it will have a great new set of offerings: 20+ tours developed for the Greenbuild Conference and Expo, plus many more that the USGBC Northern California Chapter will be able to offer in the future. The Greenbuild Host Committee recently put out a call for tour proposals – the outpouring of responses showed the embarrassment of riches that San Francisco has to offer for green building …
I think this post’s title has quite a few meanings. It says that two members of the HOK buildingSMART team visited Oslo, Norway recently. It also says that there was a buildingSMART convention happening there that same week. And it also indicates the general state of the construction industry in the region – they are definitely building SMART in Norway!
Greg Schleusner and I were invited to visit Oslo by our new strategic software partners – dRofus. Back in December 2011, it was announced that HOK and dRofus entered a 3-year enterprise license agreement to use their client-server database solution for integrated program management on a majority of HOK’s building projects. While members of the dRofus team have …
Last night, HOK’s own Sheila Cahnman starred in a panel discussion at the National Building Museum. The panel, sponsored by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, was convened to examine how the building industry is responding to the great recession and how it has and will change after the prolonged economic downturn.
Note: my photos are not very good – the only decent one of Sheila is where she is listening to Cathleen speak! Sorry Sheila!! You were beautiful and brilliant.
First, a bit about the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation: Beverly Willis herself is an architect by training (FAIA) and a founding Trustee of the National Bulding Museum (one of the most beautiful spaces in a city full of beautiful buildings …
Here at HOK, we love a good design challenge, and the offices of the Taproot Foundation certainly qualified as one. Mismatched furniture and cramped quarters were hindering the organization’s functionality, so it was time for a refresh!
What does Taproot do? From their website: “Taproot is a nonprofit organization that makes business talent available to organizations working to improve society. We engage the nation’s millions of business professionals in pro bono services both through our award-winning programs and by partnering with companies to develop their pro bono programs.”
It was appropriate, then, that our San Francisco office donated pro bono time toward this good cause. Read on as designer Emily Fettig answers some questions about this cool project.
Leading up to TEDx Atlanta’s ‘Community’ event on March 13th, I’ve decided to ratchet up my posting to get you up to speed on the amazing thought leadership and exciting innovative conversation in the Atlanta community these last few TEDx Events. Mad-props to Unboundary for putting all of this on for so long and truly elevating the conversation around innovation and creativity.
I wont be posting much text, but with that I’ll leave you with the exceptional and beautiful words and talent of India Arie and Idan Raichel.
Yes, that’s right, HOK is Kind of A Big Deal! Why do I say this (other than the obvious fact that I am employed here and might have a vested interest in saying so?). Well, some of you may know, I spent the last week visiting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with some of my favorite HOK people: Bill Hellmuth, Suzette Goldstein, and Colin Greene**. While there, we thought we would swing by a bookstore to see if we could find any cool local architecture books. Lo and behold, what did we find??
Yes, that’s right….several copies of the HOK monograph (as well as several HOK Asia books) located prominently …
Stefana Scinta
“The image depicts the skylight over the shopping mall atrium, part of the 
