The HOK Design Board recently held its annual meeting at the San Francisco office from April 26th – 28th. The weekend kicked off with dinner at the home of HOK San Francisco Design Principal Paul Woolford. Sessions Saturday morning covered topics such as HOK Product Design, Genius of the Biome, Living Building Initiative, and Mass Timber Construction. During the afternoon, each Design Board member and guest gave a 10 minute TED-like presentation on a particular project. The design board then took a tour of the California Academy of Sciences and its 2.5 acre living roof before having dinner at the famed Original Joe’s in North Beach. Sunday morning concluded …
“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 …
It was a little more than one year ago that I wrote about kicking off the 2012 session of ACE Mentor. The clock ticked, seasons changed, calendars were flipped …and here we are in 2013, with an exciting new year for ACE! A lot has changed over the last one year for us ACErs. Olive and Andy, ACE Team 3 leaders from years past have moved onto bigger things (Olive is now Regional Leader for SF, while Andy’s helping build a hospital!)
Which means there are big shoes to fill – and trying our best to do that are Jose (HOK), Jamie (Flack and Kurtz) and myself (HOK)… the three new leaders for ACE Team 3. Also new this …
It all started with a phone call and a deadline. It was May 2012. Active Voice was moving into their new office space in the SOMA district of San Francisco within a month, and would HOK SF help them create an optimal space “so Active Voice can thrive, grow and make the world a better place”?
It was a challenge right up our alley, so of course we said yes! But then – what does Active Voice do? From their website : Leveraging the unique power of documentaries, feature films and digital media, Active Voice creates opportunities for people to connect and take action around shared values – strengthening community ties, …
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 …
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.
It was a night to remember – after 15 weeks of diligence, teamwork and just plain ol’ fun, the ACEMentorship Team 3 (2012 Program) ended with a bang on May 15!
HOK has been a leader for one of the three Bay Area ACE groups for over 4 years now. This year, 8 students from 3 high schools, and 16 mentors representing 6 different Architecture, Construction and Engineering firms worked together in three teams to pursue mock redevelopment projects for existing buildings at San Francisco’s Pier 70. Each team selected a different reuse project type, including a restaurant, a bicycle retail and manufacturing shop, and an artists’ lofts and gallery building.
Over 8 weeks, students (assisted by mentors) developed flow …
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 …
Greenbuild, the international green building conference and expo hosted annually by the US Green Building Council, will finally make its way to San Francisco this November. Greenbuild has been drawing 20,000-30,000 people for the last few years, and we expect that San Francisco will be the largest ever – depending on who you listen to, there may be upwards of 45,000 people. (Yikes!)
The conference theme this year is “@Greenbuild”, making reference to the mindboggling array of internet and technology companies headquartered in the Bay Area. The …
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.
2011 has been a great year for HOK’s competitive spirit – what with amajor competition win in the Metropolis Net Zero competition followed by our latest award:
HOK’s Entry Board for the Architecture at Zero Competition (Click to enlarge)
The project brief was to create a mixed-use building or set of buildings that includes housing, retail space and a new library branch on an industrial urban infill site in Emeryville, California. More importantly, the crux of the competition was the mandate that the …
Around this time last year I posted a blog entry about the Mid Market Revitalization Charette that was hosted by HOK San Francisco. In a nutshell, a group of HOK designers teamed up with three other organizations to brainstorm ideas for reviving the neglected Mid-Market District of SF.
One of the ideas revolved around housing a free bike repair station in one of the unused newspaper kiosks at a busy corner in the Mid Market area, in conjunction with a local bike store – Huckleberry Bikes. Well – it took one year, a lot of elbow grease, and perseverance but the Mid-Market Revitalization team is proud to announce the opening of the Mid-Market …
Lots of HOK news stories flashed across my screen last week. Every time I saw one I thought, “I should blog about that.” And then another story would come and I’d think the same thing. Time to catch up.
Top Rankings
In the July issue of Building Design and Construction, HOK placed as North America’s #1 Architecture/Engineering Firm and the #1 BIM Firm (good to see recognition for the BIM efforts being spearheaded by Carl Galioto, James Vandezande and others!). Story…
Also this summer, DesignIntelligence ranked HOK as the #1 role model for sustainable and high-performance design. It has been a big year for Mary Ann Lazarus. …
On Saturday, April 2nd, 2011, Paul Woolford, the design director at HOK San Francisco, presented one of most striking projects of this office – the restoration and greening of the San Francisco Mint, at the TED-x Presidio event. Paul spoke about the need for preserving national historic treasures, and discussed the importance of creating the most environmentally innovative National Historic Landmark in the United States, The Old San Francisco Mint, and the sustainable lessons learned that can be applied to all existing buildings.
Watch Paul’s presentation:
Guest blog post from HOK San Francisco’s Justin Kelly:
Leaders, visionaries, artists, and thinkers gathered on April 2nd at the Palace of Fine Arts …
HOK San Francisco, like all HOK offices worldwide, is committed to being an active role player in uplifting, energizing and reshaping its community for the better. One of our notable efforts in recent months, as part of the Architecture and the City Festival held in September 2010, has been to examine the slow deterioration and eventual blight of the Mid Market region of the city of San Francisco, and to identify possible small-scale solutions for this malaise.
Identified as the stretch of Market Street bounded by 5th and 10th streets, Mid Market is presently characterized by the downed shutters of failed businesses, a large homeless population, litter on the streets, …
Summer is a fun time here in HOK San Francisco, what with the farmer’s markets, the street festivals, the kooky (read: foggy) weather, and most importantly, the summer interns! 2010 was a high-yield year for the internship program: We received 876 applications from across the globe, from both Graduate and Undergraduate degree candidates, from which five were selected. Who were the chosen few, you ask? This year’s interns are an engaging and diverse bunch, and since we consider our interns to be an essential part of “Life at HOK”, I bring you 5 for 5 2010: five questions for five interns!
It’s my third day here, and my body is just starting to adjust to the time zone and high summer humidity. You wouldn’t think so, but the long lines of people entering the Shanghai Expo grounds are actually cooled by a water spray beneath the metal canopy. I suggested to Paul Woolford and Kelly …
Let me start by saying this is not your mother’s clean plate club. August Table is the brainchild of my friend Cherry Chaicharn who I met during my stint in Hong Kong. She has created a series of tabletop items and textiles to bring out the designer in all of us. This Chicago native and former transportation planner (who also admits to having a serious crush on San Francisco) is truly inspired by “place”. Her current “urban”ware series includes these great cities: San Francisco, Bangkok, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
My own obsession with the dishes led to this interview for HOK Life with Cherry. One of the most interesting things about …
Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, HOK’s chief executive officer, has a unique vision for the future of the building industry. He believes that today’s buildings cost too much to build, don’t work as well as they could and don’t last long enough. In this five-part video series, Patrick explains why he believes this to be true and offers a solution for creating better buildings at much more affordable prices.
Patrick’s story begins with A Tale of Three Domes, inwhich he chronicles the gradual separation of designer and builder and suggests that Integrated Project Delivery is an idea whose time has come again:
Part 2 –Team Organization: Owner-architect-contractor teams should be reorganized into a single-contract buildingSMART organizational model that mandates teamwork and thus leads
Another installment in our series about the inspiring women of HOK (not to say that our men aren’t inspiring, too!): Meet Jeannette Thompson, Business Communications Specialist in the HOK Planning Group. While Jeannette calls St. Louis her home, she supports the HOK network throughout the world. You also know her as one of the Life@HOKblogstarteam and future American Idol judge! Jeannette is a true superstar and I hope you enjoy getting to know her a bit better.
Q: What’s a typical day in the life of Jeannette Thompson?
A typical day involves a morning routine that is anything but typical, …
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m in Portland, Oregon attending the 44th annual SCUP conference. There are 14 HOKers here from across the U.S. and Canada, and not only are we learning lots and meeting great people, we’re also sharing HOK greatness with the world.
To be specific, HOK greatness includes:
2009 National SCUP Campus Planning Award – District Category for the University of Alabama Science and Engineering Precinct Master Plan (Tuscaloosa, Alabama). Accepted by Crystal Barriscale and Paul Woolford (San Francisco) and our University of Alabama Clients, this award recognizes the University’s new precinct which focuses on science and engineering and creates a new pedestrian
One of the comments we hear a lot is, “HOK’s such a big firm. Don’t you feel lost there?”
Coming from a very small firm (I was one of eight there; here I am one of 2,400 or so), I ’ll admit I was a little intimidated…but I’ve found the size issue is a misconception; HOK truly does provide great opportunities for collaboration that you wouldn’t find in a small firm. In addition to having outstanding resources to help with project work (like the Denver project that used staff from San Francisco, St. Louis, and Washington, DC or the KAUST project that involved up to 400 HOK’ers at one point in time), it …
Certain HOK-ers (ahem, John Gilmore ) have been bragging about HOK’s very cool new collaboration technology: the Advanced Collaboration Room, which combines Cisco Telepresence Technology and Polyvision Thunder Express. Well, John, you are no longer the only cool kid in town! The WDC office became the fourth HOK office to open it’s ACR for business. St. Louis, San Francisco, and Toronto already had them…next on the list are Houston, Los Angeles, and London.
After a few solid weeks of construction, the ACR was ready for …
As a DC/mid-Atlantic native, I was sure happy to get the heck out of town in the middle of January…temperatures here have been pretty frigid (despite that this happens pretty much every year, I’m always shocked at just how cold it gets). Anyway, I had the opportunity to head off to the lovely town of San Francisco (in the 70s during the day) for a meeting and a day of work in the HOK SF office.
I was definitely disappointed to miss the inauguration and associated events (especially the free concert), but I did see some great stuff in San Francisco, beginning with my airplane ride (not nearly as interesting …
I think a lot of people know that I am quite the sports fan. It’s really the only positive that many of us have right now, and being that we have offices all over the continental United States and Canada. I thought it would be an appropriate time to take a look at how they are doing. Especially since most are at the half way point in there seasons, or almost at the end.
Atlanta Hawks (NBA) – Dreaming of the days of Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb Atlanta Falcons (NFL) – Did better then expected, but can’t seem to get out of the shadow of a former player. Atlanta Thrashers (NHL) – The owner is a crook, and the fans don’t know they exist. Atlanta …
