Over a year ago, Kristy (HOK Miami) and I decided to book a trip to Peru… fast
forward to June 2013, and we have returned from 10 days of majestic beauty and
historical ruins. The tour included Lima, Chinchero, Sacred Valley of the Incas
(Urubamba and Ollantaytambo), Cusco, and Puno (with a boat ride on Lake
Titicaca and a visit to the floating islands of Uros).
Along the way to Puno we had the opportunity to stop and visit a local elementary
school. Prior to our trip we had collected school supplies which we were able
to hand deliver to the school children. Thanks to all of you that donated items and help put
a smile on these young deserving children’s faces!
“I arrived a few weeks before the stock market crashed,” she says.
In addition to leading the DC interiors group, Heath heads HOK’s law office design specialists firm-wide. She has worked with more than 20 law firms during her career and is currently involved in more than 10 different law office projects across the US and internationally.
How did the DC interiors practice manage to grow during a down economy?
CH: When I started, most of our interior design work was supporting the …
HOK designers in New York, St. Louis and Atlanta are using virtual meetings with their University at Buffalo (UB) client team to improve the design process for UB’s new School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
The seven-story medical school will bring 2,000 UB faculty, staff and students daily to downtown Buffalo and, at more than 500,000 square feet, will be one of the largest buildings constructed in Buffalo in decades.
Three days after Hurricane Sandy barreled into the East Coast last October, HOK’s project team was scheduled to have a meeting …
Whether it’s waking up to a surprise spring snowstorm in Beijing or being served fried baby eel at lunch, what HOK’s Chris Fannin most enjoys about living in Asia is “responding to the unexpected on an almost hourly basis.”
Chris, who moved from St. Louis to Hong Kong in 2010, wears three hats for HOK. He is part of the management team leading the firm’s Asia Pacific practice, he leads the region’s planning practice and, with Suzette Goldstein, he is co-director of HOK’s global planning practice. As Chris moves between these three overlapping roles, he says each enriches the other. “We have …
“Justin is a rare individual whose combination of deep technical knowledge and a sensitive eye uniquely position him as a special professional. His leadership brings visions to reality; his dedication improves the public realm.” – Paul Woolford, Design Principal, HOK in San Francisco
A licensed architect, Justin has been with HOK for five years. In both his personal and professional activities, Justin is motivated by engagement with the physical world. A love of materials and making things drove him to become a successful engineer, and further to …
For 20 weeks this past winter, HOK’s Chicago office was proud to host local high school students from all over the city as part of the Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) Mentor Program, an integral community program that inspires students to pursue careers in design and construction. Beginning last October, HOK mentors, in partnership with Halvorson, Lend Lease and GSA, worked with students once a week for two hours to develop an original design project. The students presented their concept to peers and esteemed members of the community at a special awards ceremony at the UIC Forum (an HOK designed building) earlier this month.
We’re going to find out….. I am immensely honored to be selected by the AIA President as a member of the newly formed Sustainability and Health Advisory Committee. The committee consists of some amazing talent from around the sustainable industry. These individuals have all been my mentors and inspiration for the past 8 years and I am looking forward to the opportunity to work with them on the future of sustainable education and training at the AIA. Although sustainability is becoming more and more of a mainstream design process, as an industry, we are not achieving our goals and we have A LOT of work to do. I know that …
Thanks to Dominick Gallegos in our Chicago office for passing along this guest post on Senior Designer David Genc’s recent speaking engagement at the 4th Annual Bisnow Chicago Multifamily Summit.
Several of HOK Chicago’s interior designers and architects recently attended the 4th Annual Chicago Multifamily Summit, hosted by Bisnow. To kick off the events covering the future of residential development, HOK Chicago’s David Genc, a Senior Designer and Residential thought leader, delivered the opening remarks to more than 450 of the foremost real estate owners, developers, and financiers from Chicago and abroad.
David delivered a message on how residential design will have to adapt to an ever-changing and increasingly diverse demographic while building …
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 …
When he was six years old, Todd Bertsch, AIA, moved with his family to Atlanta from Pocatello, Idaho. Through what he calls “serendipity,” Todd never left. He earned his architecture degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and has spent his entire professional career in Atlanta. In 2008, he joined HOK as design director in our Atlanta office.
Todd and his wife, also an architect, live with their 11-year-old daughter in a house they designed together near Piedmont Park in Atlanta’s vibrant Virginia Highland neighborhood.
“I have seen Atlanta undergo a tremendous transformation over the past 30 years,” says Todd. “It is still young compared to Paris or …
All of this talk about Yahoo, mobility, flexibility in the workplace, and the list goes one, has sparked some interesting dialogue. There are those that see working from home as beneficial not only to an employee’s well-being and job satisfaction, but also to productivity, reduction of churn, greater efficiency, and slimmer real estate costs. However, there are also those that see a lack of innovation, difficulty managing and measuring productivity, and missed opportunities for serendipitous encounters and communication. Accenture’s Survey Results for IWD2013
But we have tasted the freedom that technology offers (as well as the tethering – who checks email before even getting out of bed …
Bill Hellmuth, AIA, who joined HOK in 1991 and ascended to president in 2004, leads design projects worldwide. But he is especially proud of the local architectural contributions of HOK’s Washington practice, which is located in Georgetown’s historic Canal House. Under Bill’s leadership over the past two decades, the DC studio has designed more than 25 buildings across the city.
Why is contributing to Washington’s built environment so important to you?
BH: I am committed to cities. They are my focus. Washington is a high-energy city with great institutions and museums and terrifically interesting things to do. It’s a wonderful place to live.
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.
It has been nearly one thousand days since Earth Day 2010. I’m proud to be part of a firm that celebrates this day as passionately as we do. It means something. Our belief in and commitment to sustainability is unparalleled amongst our competition. Every year we campaign and rally around our messages as if an election was at stake. We’ve turned the lights out. We’ve recharged. We go above and beyond to prove to the world that we care about the world. I like this.
One thousand days ago, it was this passion and commitment that drove me to stop driving. On Earth Day 2010, I sold my car. For many of …
Like a proud father, Kenneth Drucker, FAIA, notes that two of his New York team’s projects that began more than half a decade ago have opened in recent months: Harlem Hospital’s new Mural Pavilion and a replacement hospital for the University Medical Center at Princeton.
While keeping an eye on all of the projects coming out of HOK’s New York studio, Ken is also designing a headquarters for Korean energy company Samchully in Seoul and the Singapore Chancery infill building in Manhattan. He recently began design of a new ambulatory care center for New York-Presbyterian Hospital on a prominent Upper East Side site. Finally, he just returned …
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 …
Thirty-four-year architectural veteran Russ Drinker, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, joined the leadership team in HOK’s San Francisco office on Sept 4. as a new senior vice president and management principal.
As a pre-teen growing up in a 150-year-old Victorian farmhouse surrounded by an apple orchard in Saratoga, California, Russ built tree houses and forts. By the time he began studying architecture at the University of California in Berkeley in 1976, he had graduated to designing and constructing 2,000-square-foot solar homes.
“I had no business doing this, but I designed and built a custom house while an undergraduate at Berkeley,” said Russ. “It taught me about designing buildings from the inside-out and about sustainability. And I …
Twenty-year architectural veteran Stan Chiu, AIA, LEED AP, an industry leader in lean design and integrated project delivery (IPD), joined HOK’s Los Angeles office on Sept. 4 as a new senior vice president and management principal.
After earning his B.A. from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and a master’s degree in architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 1992, Stan was awarded a fellowship to study in Japan, with a focus on comparing traditional and contemporary creative processes. He worked for a black-cape architecture firm in Tokyo and also as a carpenter on an island off Kobe, Japan.
“I have always been interested in the creative process,” said Stan. “Especially how a …
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 …
Senior specifications writer Terry Mattison is celebrating 50 years at HOK – and counting.
Members of the St. Louis office gathered on August 30 to celebrate with Terry, whose 11-page resume includes a staggering 341 HOK projects. That number likely would double if it included the projects he has unofficially touched by providing advice on building materials. Terry, who still arrives at the office by 3:00 a.m. on most days, joins an elite group. HOK’s other two half-century employees are Co-Founder Gyo Obata and Chairman Emeritus Bill Valentine, who retired last spring.
“A lot of things have happened while Terry has been creating great work at HOK,” …
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!
In the United States, HOK offices on the West Coast, East Coast and everywhere in between hired the nation’s top college students to intern in a variety of disciplines such as architecture, engineering, finance, interior design, marketing, sustainability and landscape architecture. Internationally, HOK offices in Canada and India hired local students as well. Each student jumped right into their assigned roles to help out team members and produce high-quality services to clients. When asked, not one intern reported being forced to perform coffee runs or mundane tasks such as copying, filing or picking up dry cleaning.
HOK thanks each intern for their hard work, positive attitude and choosing to spend their summer with us. We wish you all the best …
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 a firm often cited for making a difference. … HOK is recognized for breaking new ground with clear, practical and inspirational leadership. HOK staff is admired for its compelling case studies, engaging thought leadership, and insights that lead to making wise decisions to benefit the planet’s future condition.” James Cramer Co-Chair, Design Futures Council Founding Editor, DesignIntelligence
We owe much of our leadership status to our clients. It is our clients who bring their vision …
Stefana Scinta
“The image depicts the skylight over the shopping mall atrium, part of the 
