Congratulations to Veronica Kunkemueller in Corporate Human Resources, as she recently celebrated 25 years with HOK!

I had heard that Veronica was one of HOK’s pioneers for flexible work hours, and I was curious to know more.  Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Veronica and Jerry Sincoff, who served as the President and CEO of HOK from 1990-2001, and got the scoop on how it came about.

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Hey there Chirayu! He and lots of other Life at HOK bloggers show up in this new video:

I’ve mentioned HOK’s commitment to Design Resilience in the past, and it is with this in mind that I’d like to recommend a quick view of the commencement address given by a landscape architecture student to the Graduate School of Design at Harvard this spring.  He gives a spirited talk entitled “The Harvard Elm Crisis” in which the loss of the school’s historic elms is woven into a parable about why we must strive for biodiversity and design resilience into our beloved places.  Seems …

There is no doubt about the fact that Michael Jackson was a creative genius.  Upon reflecting on his untimely demise last week, I began to think about the impact that he has had on the entertainment industry and pop culture around the globe.  Without taking into consideration his infamous Neverland Ranch (MJ was not a designer), I would like to pose the question, “What would the architecture of Michael Jackson’s music look like?

These are the factors that I might consider when developing my theories about the answer(s) to this question:

1. His incredible talent and ability to literally move people all over the world.
2. His perfectionist nature.
3. His eccentricity.
4. His electricity.
5. His expressed encouragement …

You’ve read all about it - on ArchNewsNow it got top billing, of course it’s been all over the St Louis Post Dispatch, it’s been blogged about, youtube’d, etc etc.  And now it’s open! 

No, we in the Planning Group didn’t work on the new sculpture park, Citygarden, in downtown St Louis. It was designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz, a landscape architecture firm based in New York and Charlottesville, but I’m a big enough person to check out a non-HOK project (please don’t let me be struck by lightning) and even enjoy it immensely!

We got the opportunity to walk through the garden before it opened - most of the …

 We’re pretty lucky here in Chicago because we have a resident baker. Alyssa Simons, a designer in our interiors group, loves to bake and we love her for it. She regularly brings us tasty treats ranging from “Birthday Marshmallow Crisp Bars” to “Chocolate Haystack Surprises” (my personal favorite). She’s gaining quite the reputation as folks from all corners of the office meander over to where she sits just seconds after the seal on the tupperware is broken. Lucky for me I sit right next to her, first dibs! What’s really cool is that Alyssa blogs about her adventures in baking on her site, Interior Bakerator. Check it out for some great …

On Monday Tony Barnard, HOK London Historic Buildings Consultant, received the ‘Gold Green Apple Award’ and was also the ‘Green Champion’ winner for its category for a project HOK London was involved in: Clarkencombe Lodge at Ashton Court in Bristol.

The ‘Green Apple Awards for the Built Environment and Architectural Heritage’ were organised by The Green Organisation and held in beautiful Hampton Court Palace.

Clarkencombe Lodge is one of Ashton Court’s five lodges, each of which were designed as gateways into the estate. It dates from c1840 and prior to the completed work was in a derelict state and in urgent need of repair. It is constructed mostly of limestone with sandstone turrets in

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Today is a big day at HOK. It’s the day we celebrate our offices to the north: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Toronto, as we celebrate Canada Day. If you’re new to the office or visiting today, you would have noticed the Canadian flag displayed outside of the various HOK offices, and the reason why everyone is wearing red and white — it is customary to wish anyone wearing red a Happy Canada Day. As we at HOK celebrate all of our offices, and the wide range of locales they may be in, I myself can’t wait for the American Independence Day. Especially because we have been granted the day off to …

I don’t know if the construction company should be scolded for building insufficient foundations or rewarded for building a building that won’t collapse – even if you knock it over. This 13-story building fell on its side while under construction. Read more….

Blog readers recently got to meet HOK Planning Group landscape architect and urban planner Mark Vogl. After that post, one in particular – you know who you are – came running over to tell me that instead of just a talking head she’d like to actually see some of Mark’s work. So here it is, an amazing St. Louis success story: The Great Rivers Greenway District project.

While twittering away, an artist friend sent a link my way of a very cool project I can only wish to have been involved!  It’s called dArt St. Louis!

The project consisted of a group of artists throwing darts at a map of St. Louis, and then going to their darted location with cameras in hand (yes, darted can be used in this way, consult the special edition of my dictionary, not yet on bookshelves).  Each artist took photographs of what they saw at their location.  Ultimately, the combination of the photos can give anyone a true portrait of St. Louis.

I have to admit that looking at the photos …

Last friday afternoon I tuned into the Waxman-Markey debates on the House floor to hear the final death throes of republican opposition to a climate bill.  CSPAN has never been so entertaining!  There was a lot of melodrama and even props (!), but at the end of the day, the bill passed.  I was personally invested because of the provisions for new U.S. standards for higher performance buildings (which hung in there, but with some meddling by NAR, NAHB, NAIOP, etc) as well as the utility and transportation stuff you would expect.  The bill is not as stringent as it needs to be, but like the Clean Air Act of 1963, can …

I never can quite pinpoint exactly what it was in my childhood that has led me to my professional obsession with designy-type goodness. 

Was it the constant coloring? 

Was it Play-Doh overload (perhaps ingested one time too many)? 

Was it the massive Lego collection we amassed as children that was only too eagerly egged on by my engineer of a father?

Or was it the hours I spent in front of a screen fitting oddly shaped blocks together as a muscial theme moves quicker and quicker in the background?

Okay, it was probably a combination of all three, but I’m still quite drawn to any of these things.  It …

So you all might have read my earlier post of excitement about the localities of the TED talks (called TEDx) and now I have a bit more details for the Atlanta event which is just a couple months away. (September 15th, 2009)

Unboundary will be curating and hosting the talks and so far they have some exciting stuff posted up on the TEDx Atlanta website. It looks like Eric Lewis, Dr. Carl Hodges, and Dr. Richard Farson are already up for slated performers/speakers. You can watch Eric Lewis perform and Ray Anderson speak at …

Washington, D.C. is like Disneyland. I was there one day and all I saw for the first hour and a half was two attractions (Union Station, U.S. Capitol), a bunch of concession stands, and a whole lot of grass in-between. No one ever told me that it took two hours to walk from one end of the ‘Mall’ to the other. On TV, it always looks so inviting and small. But when you get there it’s the complete opposite. It was the hottest day of the year (so far), and they blocked off anywhere that might have a little bit of shade to walk under. So imagine me, walking up-hill, both ways, …

Haileybury Almaty

Huge congratulations go to Stefan Jakobek, Yi Ting Yau, Nilesh Patel and Bruce MacGillivray who earlier this week picked up the  major achievement of winning the 2009 Best International School Award for Haileybury Almaty School in Kazakhstan.

Haileybury is the first British Independent School in Kazakhstan. Located on a green field site on the bank of a river, the school prepares 640 students for IGCSE and the International Baccalaureate.

HOK London’s design of the school responded to four major challenges: A fast delivery programme (20 months from design commissioning to the school opening); the provision of adaptable learning space; high seismic risk and wide climatic ranges.

Here is the link to more images and information about the …

The Gateway to the West now has a breathtaking view from the East.

The newly christened Mississippi River Overlook in East St. Louis, Illinois, reveals a fresh new perspective of Eero Saarinen’s masterful Gateway Arch.

Designed by HOK, the 43-foot-tall viewing structure is located at Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park. A contemporary of Saarinen, Martin shared the architect’s vision of creating parks on both sides of the river. Unfortunately, neither visionary lived to see his dream fulfilled.

I asked Gyo Obata (the “O” in HOK) to share his thoughts about the overlook’s design and its significance to the region. Gyo, who studied under Eero’s dad Eliel at Cranbrook Academy …

My heroes!

I have the incredible fortune to be in Montana right now with a unique ensemble of biomimicrists, a planner, an architect and an engineer, all of which despite their diverse backgrounds, are birds of a feather. As part of HOK’s alliance with the Biomimicry Guild, we’re here cooking up some big ideas for our clients today and tomorrow. It is so exciting to be a part of this convergence that is forging a new path, based on some very old principles, for a more sustainable future. One thought for the day which came from Gerry Faubert “…designing uni-functional buildings is like designing …

The expressway is a constant feature in our environment no matter how big or small the city is. The path dedicated to cars traveling at speeds which are prohibited elsewhere is incorporated into its surroundings with only destinations in mind. In Tampa, it has segmented the city, divided historical neighborhoods in half, and created a “waste-land” in between. A similar issue was addressed  in a recent post by Justin in Toronto named “that thing in the middle.”

What is this waste-land? Is it really a waste of land sheltered by a lifted highway, or can it be more. Anna Vasquez (another designer here in the Tampa office) and I plan to investigate this topic  with the …

Ever thought of Architecture + Ice cream = Coolhaus?

Architecture inspired ice cream sandwiches, run based on the popular Kogi Taco Truck model, was designed and founded by Natasha Case and Freya Estreller in Los Angeles. You may have already caught them proffering their wares at various events around town — Barnsdall Park, Venice First Fridays, Stories Books — in their pink, chrome-rimmed converted postal jeep.

Image Courtesy of Rosalio Arellanes

Check out the product specification that offers selection of  Frank Behry (sugar cookie with strawberry ice cream), Mintimalism (chocolate cookie and mint chip ice cream), Mies Vanilla …