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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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!
“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 …
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 …
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 …
Ladies and gentlemen of the cyber world… meet the “casting director” of HOK – Marsha Littell! Marsha has a unique role that allows her to touch every part of the firm and the opportunity to meet the cool people that work here regardless of geography, discipline, or position.
What makes Marsha perfect for her role is the many professional hats she wore before joining HOK twelve years ago… teacher, debate coach, management consultant for Fortune 500s. What brought her to HOK was the opportunity to bring learning and development programs to each of our business units.
This mother of three boys, NEW grandmother, and dog lover is truly an advocate for reminding us all that …
It was my earliest electronic device, tapping into my latent ingenuity and desire to create.
LITE-BRITE® occupied many an early morning and rainy day at the Plotnick household. Now Hasbro has ushered this iconic toy into the 2000s by creating a digital version. Although it lacks the tactile satisfaction of pushing those tiny plastic pegs into the paper-backed board, it is a fun diversion that takes me back to much simpler days.
Give it a go yourself.
And for those of you who think LITE-BRITE® is dull and uninspiring, feast your eyes on THIS:
My previous thoughts on The Game of Life®.
HOK London’s new(ish) office at The Qube played host to our 2nd ever pub quiz night last Friday. I’m not sure if you have Quiz Nights in the US, I’m sure you do, but basically what happens over here is usually a local pub has a Quiz Night where customers form teams and play in competition to answer general knowledge questions. These nights can get very competitive, especially if the prize is alcohol, and we found, especially if other teams are colleagues!
So on Friday our ‘Quizmasters’ were schools-designer supremo Stefan Jakobek, justice building king Femi Oresanya and my wonderful Advance Strategies colleague Anna Sigler. These three designed some rather challenging questions for …
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 …
World, meet Marta. She’s our Human Resources Manager in New York, by title, but in practice, she is so much more. As she describes it, her role in a nutshell entails helping make sure we find, hire, support, develop and care for an office of wonderfully talented people. Emphasize that latter part about the wonderfully talented people, because that’s Marta. Born and raised a New Englander, Marta is a blueberry-pie-making-diva, artist and nature lover with a zest for life. In her words, everyone should “Make time for what feeds your heart and awakens your sense of wonder.” Words to live by for sure. Here’s more from her interview.
Q: What made you …
Take comfort, fellow bloggers. Life at HOK is hereby carbon neutral — and will be for the next 50 years.
The fine folks at the “Make it green” programme in Germany conceived of the “My blog is carbon neutral” concept, and they’ve promised to plant a tree to offset the emissions …
Some days, you get hit by a little poo water. Usually “poo water” is figurative (such as Worst Week Ever). Sometimes, not so much.
The HOK WDC office is located in a beautiful historic building (Canal House) in the Georgetown Section of Washington, DC. Located right on the C&O canal, the building was originally industrial (see smokestack), and more recently was a Conrad’s store (now out of business). Today, the lower two floors are occupied by HOK, while the upper levels are residential (pricey condos).
This week, one of our upstairs condo neighbors had a bit of a problem with their plumbing:
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Working at HOK, we’re routinely given the opportunity to get involved with charitable and community organizations. Here in the St. Louis office, we’ve been working pro bono with the City of St. Louis and the Animal House Fund to create a new city animal shelter, dubbed the Animal House. The hope is that a nicer facility, combined with a better location, will promote higher adoption rates. The new facility will offer increased capacity as well as a more modern, humane environment for the animals. The design documents are 95% complete and the only thing standing in the way of constructing this facility is funding.
To …
Ok, I know, a day late and a dollar short. But did you know that yesterday the Burj Khalifa opened in Dubai? This, at 800m/2,625 ft (that’s about half a mile), is now the world’s tallest building. It’s approximately 1,000 feet taller than the closest competition (Taipei 101 and Shanghai Financial Center).
I was in Dubai a couple of years ago and took some construction photos – it was pretty darn high back then…but nothing compared to today! I think I have the scale right – couldn’t find a “today” picture from the same angle I took mine…
I’m pretty sure I will NEVER go to the top of this …
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 …
Here’s another chapter in our ongoing 5 questions series with the women of HOK. Meet Barb Ciesla, Sustainable Design Leader and Vice President in Toronto. Barb has been with HOK almost six years now and we are glad to have her. She is a Scorpio and true to her zodiacal sign, she is “one intense little creature.” Barb is as smart as they come and won’t back down, especially when it comes to sustainability. Read more and you’ll see why.
Q: Why is sustainable design so important to you? – I got to a point in my design career where, although I was loving what I was doing, I didn’t …
In 1987, HOK Co-Founder George Hellmuth, FAIA (1907-1999), who retired in 1980, sat down to reflect on his career. Here are a few clips from the interview:
I like his quote about marketing an architectural practice: “There’s no way in God’s world you can get work in a hurry, on command. Nobody can get it! You’ve got to buy the field, cultivate it, plant your seed, tend it and then go out and pick it – all of which takes years.”
George was a masterful marketer, and in 1944 he wrote a 23-page memorandum on how to create a recession-proof architectural office. In his 1984 book, Architecture in the Real World: The Work of HOK, author Walter McQuade highlighted some …
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 …
In the spring of 1942, HOK co-counder Gyo Obata left Berkeley, California, where he had been a promising young student in Cal’s School of Architecture, and boarded a train east. The next day, his family was taken by bus to an internment camp. Nineteen-year-old Gyo avoided a similar fate by coming to St. Louis to study architecture at Washington University. This week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Kavita Kumar wrote a fascinating story about Gyo and three other Japanese-Americans who found shelter at Washington University. There’s also a video interview with Gyo.
(photo and video by Huy Richard Mach, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Take a look at Gyo’s yearboook photo at …
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.
Leigh Stringer. Green Workplace Maven. HOK Board of Directors Member. Loving Wife and Mother. All Around Great Person. If you don’t know Leigh Stringer, you are missing out. A rising star in HOK’s Advance Strategies practice, Leigh has focused her career on green design and workplace behavior in facility planning projects all over the world. She is author and creator of the The Green Workplace blog and she has also recently published a book of the same name. Even more impressive is that between clients, book signings and star-studded weddings in NYC, she still made time to answer my 5 questions so all of you could get to know her too….
