Math nerds around the world celebrated a little known, but widely growing holiday called Pi Day.  The St. Louis Structures Group celebrated our 3rd Annual Pi Day on Monday, March 15.

This year’s events included two awards: 1 for the “Best In Show Pie”; 1 for the most recited digits of Pi.

Each recipient recieved a $30 gift card to Pi Pizzera in St. Louis courtesy of the Structures Group!

And the winners were:

Lemonade Pie by Jason Wandersee (of the Justice Group) (recipe below)!

111 digits (including the 3) – Yong Yu (of the Strurctures Group)(Erich Friesen from the Healthcare Group was a very …

It is customary in the London office to bring in some sweet treats when it’s your birthday. Last month it was my birthday so I thought I’d raid the store cupboard and try the ‘homemade’ approach instead of going to the supermarket.

I’ve now had so many requests for more homemade goodies that I have made this a monthly tradition. So in February there were HOK-themed cupcakes…

… and this month I went for lemon traybakes (see recipe below). I love to bake but usually end up stuffing my face, so it’s really nice to be able to share the calories with others

It is such a simple idea and yet it gets brilliant results: it boosts staff moral as well …

Tampa residents have long awaited the re-opening of Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park which is situated between the new Tampa Museum of  Art and the overly manucured Kiley Garden (design by the renouned Dan Kiley and stripped of nearly all vegetation!). Curtis Hixon is the closest thing to a central park the city has and is hosting a number of events to keep the people coming  downtown on the weekends.  The city DOT was tasked with finding bike paths to the park, however a sign declaring park rules clearly prohibits bikes in the park and it is being enforced. Furthermore, the park  is connected to the Tampa Riverwalk which is a pedestrian thoroughfare that  allows bikes, but there are only 4 …

Karen (Kassabaum) Ivory, the youngest daughter of HOK co-founder George Kassabaum, recently came across an HOK YouTube video tribute to her father and sent us a nice note along with this fantastic snapshot of her dad wearing his HOK T-shirt and characteristic infectious smile. Thanks Karen!

As the Chicago, New York, and DC offices start to emerge from there winter slumbers talk around the office turns to who is going to bike to work and how are they are going to do it? What kind of bike? Clothing? Best routes to take? Well that last question just to easier for the newbie to answer thanks to Google Maps Bicycling.

Over the past few months Google has been scouting and documenting bike lanes in partnership with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to provide biking directions in major cities across the US.  It can even recommend routes to avoid big hills and heavily congested streets.

I know we all have our …

There is so much that can be said about the Idiotarod that it just won’t fit in this space.  So, I’ve decided to give you the condensed version.  Here, you’ll have, the who, what, when, where, and why of the St. Louis Idiotarod! [--Video (my team 27 secs in) --]

IDIOTAROD: Idiotarod pays homage to the Alaskan tradition of the Iditarod (going on right now) in which dogs pull a sled and musher across the Iditarod Trail. Idiotarod is similar, except replace the dogs with people and the sled with a shopping cart, put it in a downtown city, and add a heavy dose of weirdness. [This sounds exactly like my kind of …

We jokingly say that the myriad nationalities we have working at HOK should form support groups.  You know “Chileans of HOK,” or “Canadians of HOK,”  or “Puerto Ricans of HOK.”  (You get the picture…)  One nationality with some representation at HOK is taking an awe-inspiring step forward as their home country held their parliamentary elections this weekend.  The Iraqi elections have been in the news a lot, and there has been much political turmoil to get the country to a point where the people will have a say – but have a say they will.  And among them was HOK St Louis’ own Soran Sulaiman.  Soran is an …

“While it is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time, it is even more important to make sure they point in a commendable direction.”
- James Branch Cabell (1879-1958), Author

Kassabaum, Obata + Hellmuth campaign for their earlier selves at HOK’s 25th anniversary celebration in 1980.

Landscape Architect Bob Belden soaks up studio life in the 1960s.

Hong Kong employees burn the midnight oil to celebrate HOK’s silver anniversary in 2005.

For the past several months, HOK people – current and past – have spent considerable time reflecting on our firm’s 55-year …

Here’s my new minimalist start page. Somehow Life at HOK isn’t one of the choices, but you can pick from a list of popular sites and make your own at Fav4.org.

Last week a few HOKers took part in a great initiative benefiting Youth Outreach Services (YOS), an organization dedicated to caring for some of Chicago’s most vulnerable youth. Hosted at the AIA Chicago office, the event was titled, “Reaching out with Design for Youth Outreach Services: Fun with our Facade.” Architects and designers participated in a collaborative session geared towards generating facade concepts for the renovation of the YOS facility in the Austin neighborhood. Our very own Dominick Gallegos (pictured above) donated his talent and quick sketching skills to create some very cool concepts. Also participating were BickVanh Cam and fellow blogger Mike McKeown. Craig Pierson, Chicago’s Interiors …

On the eve of New York City’s third major blizzard of the season, HOK hosted the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) 2010 Mentor Program Kick-Off Event: Perspective, Process, Performance: The Architect’s Challenge.

Despite the snow and sleet, the AIA New York Center for Architecture filled up with a diverse group of Real Estate Professionals gathering to network and listen to the evening’s panel discussion – Perspective, Process, Performance: The Architect’s Challenge.  HOK panel participants included Kenneth Drucker, Carl Galioto, Eli Hoisington and Anthony Spagnolo, who all shared their insight about the building design process through the exploration of several key projects.  The featured projects ranged from large to small and included HOK’s innovative new …

I thought with all of the recent Earthly activity, I’d give a small lecture on earthquakes via the blog.  I’d like to make it clear that I am no seismologist.  I simply went to the Unites States Geological Survey (USGS) to get some info to share with you!  It’s a great resource of information!

Some Interesting Things To Look At…
This “animation” map shows where earthquakes are happening over a period of time, worldwide. 
The USA Earthquake map shows earthquakes in (you guessed it) the US.
By going to the USGS site, you can find out about earthquake myths, like “earthquake weather” and “California falling into the ocean”.
You can even …

I reported back in March 2009 that our London staff have moved to a new location in the heart of Fitzrovia. Well now I am now very excited to report that HOK’s London office is now officially the 16th HOK office to become LEED Certified. HOK’s London office has been awarded a Gold certification – a first for a UK commercial interior project.

Shashi Narayanan, Head of Sustainable Architecture in the London office (and whom I’m lucky enough to sit next to!) said, “the design team were set the challenge of achieving a high LEED rating within normal budgetary constraints for a commercial office interior. An examination of recycled content of …

Robert Frost’s classic poem about the choices that we make in life says it all:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Having received an HOK All Staff email from Bill Valentine on Wednesday evening entitled, “HOK Sustainable Roadmap”, I assumed that our “Bill Valentine Presentation on Sustainable Design” scheduled for the following day (Thursday, February 25th) would be more or less the same discussion.  The content of the email message articulated HOK’s commitment to our new Sustainable Roadmap which establishes sustainability goals, actions and metrics, integrating them into a clear framework to be employed throughout the firm.  Bill’s email made it …

Last weekend was the big global Pecha Kucha event for Haiti, and St. Louis’ second PK night.  It was a tall order for a new group of volunteer organizers to turn around our second-ever event, 3 weeks after our inauguration into the world of PK, but by all accounts we managed to pull it off, raising over $1000 for Architecture for Humanity.

A mix of Haiti-related and other thought-provoking, inspirational stories made their way to the stage, as you can read in the Beacon’s coverage of the night.  Perhaps even more telling than the descriptions are the amazing photographs taken by one of our super talented Toky friends, Geoff Story.

My favorite part, and the piece that …

HOUSTON, TEXAS – The Green Workplace Booksigning Tour made its long awaited stop in the Lone Star State, after multiple stops in St. Louis, NY, WDC and Chicago. HOK along with Hines and Knoll sponsored the one night booksigning event which proved to be a lively yet intimate green evening. The event took place Wednesday, February 17, 2010, in the KNOLL showroom and in the lobby of the recently certified LEED Gold Williams Tower.

Leigh Stringer from Advance Strategies Washington DC, was the special guest to present findings and sign her book, The Green Workplace: Sustainable Strategies that Benefit Employees, the Environment and …

Mark Cannata, MA RIBA, AABC, joined HOK’s London office in December 2008 as Head of Culture + Heritage.

Mark grew up in Italy, where he studied Architectural Engineering at the University of Catania before returning to the UK to study Architecture at Leeds Metropolitan University and the Architectural Association. Prior to joining HOK, he worked in the UK and Italy, spending five years as head of the Historic Buildings Unit at John McAsian + Partners in London. Here he worked on transformation projects for some of the most important 20th century buildings, including Erich Mendelsohn’s De La Warr Pavilion and James Stirling’s History Faculty Library.

One of HOK’s fastest-growing markets …

This is a little advertising that IBM does at the end of some of the sponsored TED talks, but it’s absolutely inspring on a number of different levels.

1. The Big Idea: I’ll start of with the quote in the beginning. “US traffic accounts for 45% of the worlds air pollution.” That in itself is staggering, but not surprising. The big idea behind IBM’s technology is that they have developed a way to charge (toll-booth free & convenient for the driver) a “congestion charge” for Stockholm, Sweden. This is to ensure that those who drive are paying for the convenience (and pollution) that they account for. It’s like sub-metering energy or water consumption. Once people realize that others aren’t …

Every semester the Washington Architectural Foundation joins several schools in the DC Metro for an Architecture Outreach program called Architecture in the Schools.

“Architecture in the Schools (AIS) matches volunteer architects with public school teachers to enrich the learning experience of children. AIS reinforces core academic skills. AIS teaches children how to exercise their analytical and creative skills through the architectural design process. AIS fosters a heightened civic consciousness, bridging the gap between what is learned in school and everyday life.”  (http://www.wafonline.org/programs/ais.html)

The WAF asked us HOK’ers if we would be interested in teaching an Art class at Tyler Elementary School, at the area Eastern Market of South East DC, with teacher Norva …

This month’s First Friday Event (which is usually not on a Friday nor the first week of the month – we like to keep things following organically)  took place at the DC office on Thursday, February 18th. The event, Design by Designers, besides being a resounding hit, showcased the design projects our talented HOK’ers work on when they are not at their 9-5.

I must confess I wasn’t able to exhibit at the event, so I’m putting my 2 cents in by showcasing my writting “flair” through the blog, and I’m very happy to say I will gladly participate in the next exhibition!

You …

This is my first time posting to HOK Life – hello to all!

I thought I’d dive in (ha) by sharing an update on the condition of our oceans in just the century since the invention of plastic (the history of plastic can be found here)…

The picture above shows an actual sample of the ocean near an area of the ocean affectionally called “The Garbage Patch.”  Many think that this is like a floating garbage pile – a physical location of trash. Instead, it’s more like a rich depository, a sample of the incredible concentrations of plastic that now pervade our entire planet. Natural waste has collected here since there was a here …

Ever wonder how people get to work in your city?  Planetizen sent me to a fabulous graphic representation of commuting patterns by graphic designer Martha Kang McGill.  Tufte would be proud!

I’m a red or light pink girl, depending on the weather.  What color are you?

See original article in the Infrastructurist.

TED. That’s all that needs to be said. It’s been such a big part of my personal development over the last few years and it’s something that has grown to be so beloved for its accessible brilliance that it’s permeated even the most prominent of new sources today including all over CNN. (it’s about time “good” became mainstream)

Well a lesser known “baby TED” is home right here in my own backyard, and its called TEDx Atlanta. Some of you may have read my earlier posts about the September TEDx, interviews and more, and for others I hope you will read them soon. Even if you don’t really read …

In the fussy, fickle world of air travel, the HOK-designed terminal at Indianapolis International Airport soars above the competition.

J.D. Power Associates has given the Col. H. Weir Cook Terminal its highest marks in passenger satisfaction in a survey of 64 major U.S. airports.

The $1.2 billion terminal earned 777 points – the most of any airport surveyed – in airport accessibility, baggage claim, check-in and baggage check-in process, terminal facilities, ease of security checks, and food and retail services. 

The terminal, which opened in November 2008, is the first “greenfield” U.S. airport terminal designed and constructed since 9/11. It’s also a showcase of sustainability, a dramatic …

That’s right… today is National Drink Wine Day! I’m sitting at home celebrating appropriately with a glass of one of my favorite red wines from Adams Bench Winery in Woodinville, Washington (outside Seattle).

Adams Bench is a fantastic winery started by Tim & Erica Blue that I discovered on vacation last summer when exploring Seattle and the San Juan Islands. While many of us are familiar with the popularity of California’s wine country, before taking this trip I had no idea that Washington ranked second nationally in premium wine production. What makes this spot great for grape growing is the rain shadows of the Olympic Mountains to the west of Puget Sound. This creates …