We’re back with the next installment of our ongoing series: Women Across HOK. There is no better woman to launch us into our spring season than this statuesque, accomplished, deep thinker and just all around impeccable lady… LaRee DeFreece. The consummate professional, LaRee has more than 20 years of corporate and real estate experience, both as an attorney and in day-to-day corporate operations. Yet for someone who is a Vice President and Business Director of Global Sustainability Consulting Services here at HOK, as well as a recently appointed Commissioner for the State of Missouri Environmental Improvement and Energy Resource Authority, LaRee is extremely down-to-earth and …

Opening this Friday at Washington University in St. Louis School of Architecture will be an exhibition on the process of designing KAUST.  This display of drawings and models will be free and open to the public through the end of April at Steinberg Hall.  Panels designed by HOK Environmental Graphic Designer Derek Prior organize images, text and drawings in a timeline concept.  For those of you in town, hope you get a chance to see the show and hope to see some of you at the opening reception! Here’s all the event information.

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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 …

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!

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

To start the day, the group decided to visit The Corner Suite for brunch, which is a new endeavour from Anthony Sedlak of the Food Network’s The Main. According to Tiera Robinson, “the food was absolutely delicious and I’m going back soon for dinner!”

Next on their to-do list was shopping on Robson Street for Olympic gear; you can never have enough! After some damage to their wallets and a quick trip to Starbuck’s as recovery, the group still had 3 hrs until the big game.

Finally it was time to head to the UBC campus to watch Finland duke it out with Russia. Linda, …

A few months ago (yeah I know I’m slacking on my HOK Life blogging), Inhabitat hosted a 1-hour talk/interactive q+a with San Francisco’s green Mayor, Gavin Newson. I was lucky enough to be selected to ask the mayor a question and got a little cameo in their video that they  now have posted on their YouTube site. The mayor passionately answered questions for the new sustainable generation on everything from maditory recycling & composting to renewable energy & carbon neutrality as well as how to make your city and politics greener. It’s a 4-part series and worth watching, especially if you are a San Franciscan, but if you just wanna check me out roll to Part 3 below, and skip …

http://stateofgreenbusiness.com/

Highlights:

1) Radical Transparency Goes Mainstream -  everyone’s telling the world how green they are
2) Green Marketing Gets Even Murkier – everyone’s not as green as they say they are
3) Green Innovation Becomes a Great Idea – innovative green is good, for the environment, society and global economy

Lots more and tons of great commentary and statistics in this very readable 65 page report. You have to sort of sign up (free) for greenbiz.com in order to gain access to the report (or if you are an HOK employee just check my public parking ).

In honor of Valentine’s Day yesterday, I thought I should tell a little love story… one about an aspiring landscape architect, a busy auditor, and the two global corporations at the center of their marriage. This love story is in fact mine!

Designing projects across the globe and the opportunity to experience these places and cultures is one of my favorite job perks and was a big factor in my decision to join HOK. That being said, sometimes it takes you away from the people you love more than you like. My better half, Dan Chandler, also happens to work for a global company, KPMG, that has him exploring the planet, too.
It is funny that no matter how far apart we are… the …

Everyone loves holidays and we’re no exception here in the Chicago interiors studio. Amazingly, two great holidays fall on February 14th this year! Happy Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year! We couldn’t pass up the chance to celebrate this 2-for with a small shindig. We ordered tasty Chinese food, polished it off with Valentine’s themed treats (several supplied by our Bakerator), and added some fun accessories for good measure. It’s always nice to do something fun together as a group and take a break from our daily routine. We got to catch up and chat about weekend plans, new projects, and even started to make plans for next lunch celebration… President’s Day is on …