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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

The week ahead will mark the start of a monumental process here in St. Louis as Stage One results are announced for the International Design Competition on Gateway Arch.  For those of you familiar with St. Louis, you know that as astonishing as the Eero Saarinen designed Arch is, its connection with the city and the river is largely fragmented.  You currently have to play frogger over an interstate in order to get the Arch grounds.  And so for the first time in 50 years the National Park Service is revisiting the design with a competition, intending to award “the best from the best” with a commission to build an intervention that …

It was recently announced that  the Salvador Dali Museum has received the Novum Design Excellence Award within the Specialty Clad Structure Category.

A design objective was to protect the most significant collection of Salvador Dali’s art while creating a new museum with iconic presence. The museum is currently under construction and has more than 900 triangular shaped pieces of glass that make up what is called “the Igloo” at about 45′ tall and “the Enigma”  which is more than 75″ tall.  Each piece of glass is different within the Novum structure that overlooks the water at the St. Petersburg, Florida site.

So I’m finally jumping on the bandwagon…

I saw Avatar.

It was awesome.  I’m not typically one for sci-fi-ish fantastical wonderful-ness, but this really rocked.  The 3d glasses and all.  Yes, we all know that it has grossed an absurd amount of money, that audiences have been deeply affected by it, that the plot has been disected from every angle, that the technology utilized was ground-breaking… but for me, it was interesting walking out afterwards to discuss with the architect/boyfriend about the differences between what he saw and what I saw. 

What did I see? An amazing reimagining of our environment.  The inspiration drawn from so many of …

One week ago today, on January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti.  We’ve seen the news reports and heard about the devastation and aid headed to those in need.

So here we are, wondering what we can do and how this happened.

What Can We Do?  I’ve seen a lot of caring people lately.  HOK showed that we care by making a donation to the American Red Cross, friends I know have donated money to an array of organizations, and I have even made a small personal donation to Direct Relief International.  Here’s where you can go to donate: popular donation sites.  How about donating services or goods?  Perhaps …

Checking out the new feature on Pecha Kucha website, through an interesting presentation on nationality by Akira Uchimura, I learnt about the 100% Hapa Project by an ‘American’ photographer, spoken word performer, and slam poet Kip Fulbeck. His mixed race ethnic background (Cantonese, English, Irish, and Welsh) and personal experience of being constantly asked ‘What are you?’ has inspired him to photograph the hapas he easily found in different cities in US and let them express themselves in writing or sketches.

For those of you in Los Angeles, there is an upcoming exhibition at Japanese American Museum on “Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids by Kip Fulbeck“.

Is it too extreme to …

Yes, it’s 2010, hurray. It’s no mystery that technology is moving quickly these days. This speed of change is causing us to become increasingly excited, yet perhaps a bit more critical of our interactions with computers in our day to day lives and as they relate to our field of architecture and planning. As the rate of computing power increases ever more quickly for a set unit of time, we have grown to expect technology to be able to do anything. This leads us to ask the technological gods such mundane questions as, “why do we need to launch twenty different software applications to realize the design of a building?” …

The Jean Canfield Government of Canada Building, designed by HOK in joint venture with Bergmark Guimond Hammarlund Jones in PEI, delivers on the federal government’s pledge to embrace new technologies, methodologies, partners, and means of delivering service to Canadians. Thoughtfully planned, the JC building has revitalized an underused neighbourhood, uses design to reflect the local flavour of the community, encourages employees and residents alike to use the space and sets the standard for environmentally-progressive government buildings.

The following video explores how the design team successfully met the federal government’s objectives of sustainability, supportive work environments, and connectivity, and highlights HOK’s integrated design approach to the project.

Click to …

Three weeks ago to the day I was on an airplane, headed back from my three month stint working with the Planning Group in Hong Kong. Upon returning it was already time for the holidays… which was great because it left me with time to reflect about what a great experience my time in Asia had been. In what will likely be my last post about my time there I thought I would create a Best Of / Favorites / Top Ten / Craziest / Worst List…

Favorite New Food: Szechuan Style Chinese (check out Shui Hu Tau or Chile Figaro)

Best Holiday Party: …

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@HOK blogstar team 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, …

This holiday season, we are drawn to the uplifting stories of individuals whose resilience is an inspiration.

Our 2009 holiday e-card honors the creative spirit of Andrew Reach, an HOK architect whose career took an unexpected turn when he was diagnosed with a debilitating spine disease. Today, Andrew is an accomplished digital artist whose work inspires all of us.

Sometimes, adversity illuminates a new path.

Here’s to the new decade…

What do planners and designers read? Just in time to provide us all with some desperately needed last-minute holiday gift ideas, we asked our Life at HOK bloggers to tell us the books they most enjoyed in 2009. In return we got nothing resembling a trend, unless you can spot one amid the detective novels, cult classics, modern fables, philosophy, math, sustainability, science, business and Ayn Rand.

Though a couple respondents reported that they read on Kindles — one frequent traveler lavished “best thing in the world” praise on her new e-reader — and another loads audiobooks onto his iPod, most are still reading good, old-fashioned books. “The older, the better,” wrote Michelle. “I like …

Always a leader in sustainable design, today HOK announced development of a new green building rating system (look out USGBC!): Checklist for Gingerbread Green Homes (CGGH).

Developed by an interdisciplinary team of HOK’s finest (John Cantrell, Weronika Cichosz, JoAnn Brookes, Lori Selcer, and Julian Tablada), CGGH helps gingerbread artists create the greenest ginger-person homes. This effort was inspired by Toronto’s LEED Platinum house developed for Habitat for Humanity last year (featured on Treehugger, Inhabitat, and Notcot).

Toronto’s delicious creation followed green building principles found in the USGBC’s LEED rating system. HOK’s new CGGH takes green ginger construction a step further, examining the total process from ingredient …

The Houston Chapter of the AIA recognized a legend in the architecture community for his contribution to, and uncompromising support of, the profession. Of course, I am writing about William M. Pena, FAIA, known to many of us here in Houston as just ‘Willie.’ Willie defined the practice of architectural programming, co-authoring four books on the topic. The process of problem seeking evolved over many years and involved many architects working with clients to reach programming decisions that support good design. The passing of years has not affected the process – it still holds fast. The tools have improved, thanks to technology, but the fundamental principals have remained …

Last Friday, the Tampa Bay AIA held its annual holiday party and Gallery AIA exhibition showcasing the Annual Thumbnail (napkin) Sketch juried competition. For those that don’t know, a “napkin sketch” is a thought or idea that is graphically communicated onto a physical napkin.

The competition displayed napkins that captured a great moment or idea on the fly, a cool diagram, or a mini manifesto, all hung on the wall for the jury to choose their favorites.  A few of us here in the studio happily shared in the competition, and our very own Tommy Sinclair won honorable mention!

Tommy’s concept:

Inspiration for the napkin sketch comes from the idea that the holidays always …

Megan Holder is my cohort.  That’s right. We have a gang. 

Okay, so it’s not quite a gang, but we do have long phone conversations and plans to take over the world. (Wow, guess I’m a little prone to exaggeration…) 

Megan is the life of every situation – her love for life just bubbles out without her even knowing.  She has been with the HOK Planning Group for five years.  She resides in the Atlanta office, where she is constantly being recruited for extra-curricular-work-activities, but is a Texas girl at heart. 

There are so many great things about Megan (including the fact that her traditionally-stoic work photo features some outrageously large earrings) but there’s one …

I recently had the opportunity to meet Jan Harmon from HOK Los Angeles.  I was immediately struck by her thoughtful demeanor and kindness.  She has a fantastic sense of humor and an amazing smile to match it.  I’d love to kidnap her and have her around all the time!  Needless to say, she has a place to stay/visit any time she’s in DC!

Here is your opportunity to learn about Jan Harmon, beautiful, inspiring woman of HOK:

1. What is your role at HOK?

I am Human Resource Manager of the LA office and a member of the LA Management Committee.

2. How did you come to HOK and why have …

Last Wednesday was the first time I spoke at a conference – Autodesk University 2009. As I mingled in the crowd I suddenly realized that about one out of 25 of the 6,000+ attendees of the conference came to our 1.5-hour session. This is definitely minor compared to the fascinating keynote speeches highlighting new technologies and industry trends. Besides, there are also over 600 classes, labs, and virtual sessions. Nonetheless I’m glad that we were part of the event, not with the sole intention to promote HOK, but to demonstrate our ability to lead the industry trend in both design and technology.

A little about our class:

We …

If your holiday travel plans will take you through the city of Indianapolis, you’re in for an uncharacteristically uplifting experience. The Col. H. Weir Cook Terminal at Indianapolis International Airport (the first from-the-ground-up terminal constructed in the U.S. since 9/11) is light, airy, dramatic, fun – and a showcase of sustainability.

During a recent visit to Indy, I brought along my camcorder and recorded some perspectives of the building and its occupants.
http://www.vimeo.com/7938311
If this is the future of air travel, I’m encouraged.

Lately we’ve all been reading about the state of working women in the 21st century.  The Shriver Report was recently released, validating the fact that, for the first time in our history, half of all US workers are women.  Time Magazine also broached the topic, revisiting their story from 1972 in which they studied the state of the women in “the throes of women’s lib.”  These, and many other confirming reports, are bringing the issues of the modern-day working woman to the forefront. 

We’ve decided to add to this cultural discussion by introducing several of the Inspiring Women of HOK.  We hope to bring forth some dialog as to these women’s …