I recently read a book whose subject matter typically would not hold my attention. The writing style of the author however was fluid, satirical and warm. After a few paragraphs of this curious read regarding web analytics, I found myself making connections between the microcosm of binary coding and the macrocosm of human culture. I readily concede that a good portion of this book’s content would be perplexing for most. One of the author’s topics worth communicating is in regards to the benefits of aggregating small bits of data. After compiling and analyzing these billions of tiny bits of data, the information can be used to cultivate and maintain better web environments. …

I met Abbey on my first day at HOK.  She sat across the [low] wall from me and…had just a few months earlier swiped the job I’d been coveting for about a year!  Turns out, Abbey was a much better candidate for that particular position  and I ended up in a position that was perfect for me.  Gold star to HOK!  Anyway, you should know that Abbey’s a superstar urban planner for the HOK Planning Group.  Not too long ago, she and her hubby abandoned DC for her home state of Texas    A  fantastic mom to her newborn baby (and also her not-so-newborn kitty), and all around great person, Abbey is a  fabulous,  funny, brilliant colleague – the DC crew misses her tremendously …

Meet John Wilganowski and Louie Vargas, IT super heroes. Their shirts say everything. The duo is half the IT team in Houston. They are our first line of defense when technology magically goes awry. Louie and John save the day.

These two enjoy making things work faster, better and more efficient for the office so everyone else can perform faster, better and more efficient. Also, they like to do fun stuff like coordinating their costumes. I just had to snap a picture of this “cute” moment.

They have helped and fixed my share of technical difficulties. Thanks. And from everyone who has needed an software update, deleted something on accident, crashed a computer, …

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 …

Just this week The Williams Tower property management decided to strategically block out the windows on one face of the building from the inside allowing the interior light shine through at night. The result is above, the building spelled out the word T E X A N S. The effort was created to show support for the NFL’s Houston Texans playing on a rare Monday Night Football. Each letter ended up about 65 feet tall and 35 feet wide.  

The Williams Tower, formerly known as the Transco Tower, is a 64 story tall skyscraper landmark in the Houston Galleria area which houses the HOK Houston offices, topped off with a revolving spotlight at the top. The …

Well, most mornings we are fighting ourselves to get into the car and on the freeway system and to the office… this morning we had a serious battle with Nature! Most of us woke up very surprised earlier today to find our parking lots and roads replaced with a reflective surface… water. It is 10:47 and I have been at work for about fifteen minutes and our office is still only half here! For many people today it will be physically impossible to get to work with freeway systems being closed for rescue operations and surface roads being completely jammed at each flooded intersection. What …

This is the second annual Houston Lights Out event. Last year HOK was invited to participate by involving our building manager, Hines, and creating a poster design for the poster competition and for all of our assigned buildings that were participating in the event. So we were asked again this year and we have put out another hopefully winning poster. Last year we got second place and this year we would really like to sink first! So please follow the link below and vote for HOK!

Vote here: http://www.houston.org/lights-out-houston/

our poster is number 7 and it is also on the this post ; )

Certain HOK-ers (ahem, John Gilmore ) have been bragging about HOK’s very cool new collaboration technology: the Advanced Collaboration Room, which combines Cisco Telepresence Technology and Polyvision Thunder Express.  Well, John, you are no longer the only cool kid in town!  The WDC office became the fourth HOK office to open it’s ACR for business.  St. Louis, San Francisco, and Toronto already had them…next on the list are Houston, Los Angeles, and London.

After a few solid weeks of construction, the ACR was ready for …

Every year the Houston HOK office competes in the local AIA Sandcastle Competition. A big part of the event is our inside office design competition, where concepts are thrown around until one sticks right with everyone and our designated office concept renderer, Jim Smith, brings the idea to life with a presentation sketch that gets sent around the office. This year our winning concept was by Erika Mack!

And now thanks to HOK Life you will get to be a part of this action!! Here is what we’re going to town with and I look forward to bringing you all the rich content of the event soon after …

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 …

And reporting somewhat live with the official head coordinator of the event… Lisa Marker

“The Thanksgiving Luncheon is a 20+ year tradition here at the HOK Houston office. The pot luck style of the lunch allows the 246 Houston employees to come together and share a home cooked meal. With 31 different nationalities represented within this diverse office there are plenty of wonderful dishes to choose from.”

All in all, this is always a wonderful event (my second) and everyone gets to find out what great of cooks we have working with us. It’s also nice to just get to enjoy lunch with literally… everyone! This is put on by the Houston Employee Involvement Committee (EIC) and I love …