This project relocates Cisco’s suburban Chicago office into Class A office space on three floors of a new speculative office building in Rosemont, Illinois, and includes a customer briefing center, field sales office and system engineer’s lab.  To see more, check it out on Flickr…

We’ve all seen the graphs, charts, PowerPoint’s, etc…, regarding how much power is consumed by buildings in the United States, and the numbers are really staggering.  On an annual basis, buildings in the United States (Source: The National Institute of Building Sciences):

• Consume 39% of America’s energy
• Consume 68% of its electricity
• Emit 38% of the carbon dioxide
• Emit 49% of the sulfur dioxide
• Emit 25% of the nitrogen oxides

Pretty sobering, and currently the vast majority of our energy is produced from nonrenewable, fossil fuel resources.  Makes you wonder what you could possibly do to put a dent in those kinds of numbers.  Well, it turns out there’s quite a …

One of the things I love about living in a larger city is the access to other cultures in terms of shopping, cuisine, festivities, etc. This past weekend Alyssa (aka Interior Bakerator) and I took a trip out to Mitsuwa Marketplace in the nearby suburb of Arlington Heights. Mitsuwa is the largest Japanese Grocer in the US. However, there are only a handful of locations in the entire country: several in California, one in New Jersey, and ours here in Chicago.

We had so much fun! We enjoyed noodles and ice cream in the food court, got some really tasty (and really CUTE) treats from the bakery, and stocked up on …

SEOUL, KOREA – Last we heard from Todd and Cagri, they were fresh off their adventures in Cairo. We join the duo this time as they reflect on their adventures in Seoul, Korea.

As the second leg of the Medical Tourism Association’s Todd Fitz, Director of Healthcare Consulting and Cagri Kanver, Advance Strategies Senior Consultant, were able to travel to the East Asian country, the Republic of Korea for the it’s 1st Global Healthcare & Medical Tourism Conference. The conference took place April 13-15.

Todd and Cagri, similar to their experience in Egypt, were invited to …

Every year HOK holds an event (pending copyright, so it’s super official) to celebrate Earth Day. We call it “Go Barefoot Day” and it all revolves around decreasing your environmental footprint. I’m not going to spoil the update from corporate, BUT I will share the cool events that we have planned for “Go Barefoot WEEK” in Chicago. I would like to highlight the effort that we are having on Friday with other design firms in Chicago (Gensler, OWPP / Cannon, Goettsch Partners and Perkins and Will). Competitors on paper, but allies when it comes to the sustainable design movement around Chicago and the world.

Thanks to all the wonderful members of the HOK Chicago sustainable design group that made this upcoming …

Let’s start with a disclaimer: I’m not your true road warrior, but I do travel fairly regularly for my job.  This year, I’ve been on four trips (once to Fort Worth, TX and thrice to Raleigh, NC) – once a month is pretty typical for me.

For the most part, these trips go relatively smoothly.  Once in a while, flight delays will get me.  For example, I once arrived in Abu Dhabi while my clothes were stuck halfway between DC and the UAE (thank goodness I had packed clean socks, undies, & a t-shirt in my carry on).  Another time I got stranded in O’Hare airport due to “bad weather” between …

Workplace specialist Angie Earlywine has worked with many a business whose senior managers are shocked to realize their employees are much more “mobile” than they thought. She likens it to a ’Where’s Waldo?’ scenario.

Angie is a “distributed work” expert, recently co-authoring a research report on distributed work strategies for the International Facility Management Association (IFMA). The landmark study documents the trends and bottom-line impact of 21st century workplaces at Bank of America, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Microsoft, Sprint Nextel and other companies.

During the past several months, Angie has been spreading the word at a series of IFMA conferences, industry gatherings and office events.

We tracked her down (together with co-presenter Tom Polucci) during a March 12 …

As we continue on with our Women of HOK series, we’re staying up north, but jumping from Toronto to Chicago to visit with Sheila Cahnman.

Sheila Cahnman has been with HOK only 5 years, but during her tenure here she has become a major contributor.

Her expertise in healthcare architecture has furthered HOK’s practice in that market and her extensive writing and lecturing has brought a rigor to projects.

One of Chicago’s Group Vice Presidents, Sheila has left an indelible mark on every project she’s been a part of.  Her work revolves around people, their environment, and the role design can play in bettering people’s lives.

Outside of the office, Sheila is …

Next weekend Dining by Design will be here in Chicago! The annual event, benefiting DIFFA, travels across the country every year. Designers team with manufacturers to design innovative tablescapes and dining environments. This year HOK Chicago is paired with Haworth Furniture. The design, led by Alyssa Simons, explores the idea of applying handmade touches to manufactured goods. Last week the interiors team got  crafty in the Haworth showroom. We made a rug out of our leftover Mannington Spectra strike-offs, created yarn wrapped seat cushions, painted acrylic panels, and even made origami! We were very productive! You can check out more photos here. I’ll be sure to share …

Not to be outdone by Chicago, HOK WDC hosted a book-launch party for our own Leigh Stringer and her fabulous book The Green Workplace on Tuesday, October 6.

The event was held on the green roof of 700 Sixth Street, one of DC’s first LEED C&S Platinum buildings (designed by HOK, of course).  The building’s developer, Akridge, gracefully allowed HOK to use the roof deck (and downstairs lobby when the fall wind and a few sprinkles picked up), as well as providing tours of the space on the fourth floor (currently tracking LEED CI Gold!).  Food was …

Our very own HOK author extraordinaire, Leigh Stringer, was in Chicago yesterday for a book-signing. Festivities were held in the HOK-designed Allsteel-Gunlocke showroom. It was a great event with a wonderful turnout. Books flew off the shelf! Check out the photos here.

A post from our HOK Chicago bike team captain, Agatha Wieczorek (3rd from the right), who has done a wonderful job of organizing our team:

We have 10 people on our Chicago bike team, some avid cyclists and some new riders who committed to this challenge.

Some people prefer to take streets, and we strategize about which roads have the best bike lanes and least vehicular congestion while the rest of the group enjoys their morning and evening rides along the arguably less death defying lake trail.

It’s a really great way to start and end your day. You’re not trapped on some mass transit system, sitting with strangers risking a swine flu …

This past weekend, the City of Toronto held its 10th annual ‘Doors Open’ to celebrate the Architecture in the city, especially since May is ‘Architecture and Design Month.’ Unfortunately this year’s selection of buildings for the public to explore was mostly a wide selection of Public Lobbies and Foyers that anyone could go into on any given day. I’m actually surprised retail shops don’t try to partake in the festivities, just to get people to go into their stores.

So with that said, I thought I would share some photos and stories as we trekked across the city.

The first stop, and new to the Doors Open event, was the Canadian …

Cris Fromboluti not only has a really fun name, he’s one of the DC office’s premiere project managers and a fun guy to boot. I sat down with Cris for about an hour to run through our five questions. I knew Cris had a lot of great stories, but was not at all prepared for what was in store. You’ll notice there are only four questions, but I think Cris’s story comes through without the fifth.

Q: How did you come to HOK?
A: When I graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, I originally went to work for S.O.M. in Chicago. After …

Todd Macyk poses that question to Natalie Banaszak, a Life at HOK blogger and interior designer in HOK’s Chicago office.

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 …

We’re almost there!! One week to go! The site is a very exciting place to be right now. Luckily it’s just down the street so we can pop over daily to check things out. Happy to report that we have no major issues. We’ll have the contractor and the furniture dealers working through the weekend to complete the space. A lot of the big exciting millwork pieces will come in so Monday will be fun. Check out some photos taken over the past two weeks to see just how far we’ve come.

With HOK Chicago’s move just one month away, we’re doing a lot of housekeeping and purging around the office. Although the yellow hue that permeates the plastic of our old fax machine belies the many good times that we shared over the past 12 years, we just don’t think the old girl is gonna make the trip with us to the new space. A tribute video is definitely called for. Enjoy. (Thank you Brandon Wojcik for filming and editing – after work hours).

Hello! My apologies I’ve fallen behind on the saga of the HOK Chicago move. I’m going to play a little catch up and do a double post. First off, our new space. As I mentioned last time, we’re moving to the CNA building on the 14th floor. It’s a terrific location in that it’s close to lots amenities, public transportation, and has some great views. Check it out:

60 East Van Buren – 14th Floor

In terms of the actual build-out, we’ve gotten a lot accomplished since I last posted. The space is really starting to take shape. Here we have some photos from a site visit last week. Enjoy!…

I recieved the below message today to post here to the blog from some of our fellow HOK’ers from Atlanta. Thanks Chirag!

“Jeff, Pat, Ami & I are up in the Chicago area for a project and were able to witness history live in Grant Park. The atmosphere and energy among the people was phenomenal. People poured in the streets early in the evening and did not move till after Obama’s speech. Chicago’s prominent Michigan avenue was shut down for traffic as huge waves of people moved through the city. Check out some videos of what we saw…”

Photos here

Well, it’s the night before the election and things are definitely stirring around the Chicago Loop. Barrack Obama will be holding his acceptance / concession speach in Grant Park tomorrow night. I was sent an invite by email at 2:30 pm. By the time that I opened it at 4pm, all 75,000 tickets were SOLD OUT. Here are some images of Grant Park.  Now imagine 1,000,000 people crowded in there.

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley said he expected almost one million people to converge on the parkland and surrounding streets in order to be a part of history. HOK Chicago has been advised to VACATE the loop by 3pm to avoid crowds and street closings.

People have offered to pay as …

For those of you that didn’t read all the way through this week’s installment of HOK Today from Corporate Communications (I know you all read it thoroughly), two of our own Life at HOK folks, Natalie Banaszak and Tom Polucci (one of our fearless leaders) were recently featured in a segment of Interior Design TV discussing the Mannington Create Collection. When you get a chance, go check it out.

There are 115 people in the HOK Chicago office. There are eight working hours in a day. That’s 920 hours of community service potential just waiting to be utilized. Congrats to the HOK Chicago office for making a difference in our community. Too bad that I was in St. Louis helping to launch this blog!! Don’t worry, Community… I owe you one. Consider this post my IOU.

Slideshow of HOK Chicago community service