To further our Women Across HOK series, we’ll next zoom over to St Louis to visit with Valerie Greer, a senior architect, who was one of the major forces behind the inimitable KAUST project. She is a rising star in the St Louis office and, since her trip around the world for the office, has become a company-wide name. A fellow-HOKLife-Blogger, Valerie always has a sensible world, a sharp design eye, and unending patience to lend to a project – and that makes her an inspiring woman at HOK.
Q: How did you decide to become an architect?
I graduated from college with an English major …
Early in 2007, architect (and Life at HOK blogger) Colin Rohlfing, sustainable design director in HOK’s Chicago office, accepted a challenge from long-time HOK St. Louis sustainable design principal Bill Odell.
Odell, one of the lead designers on HOK’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) team, asked Rohlfing to organize the sustainable design effort and to manage the LEED coordination and documentation for the 6.5-million-square-foot KAUST campus and town center projects—arguably the most ambitious delivery effort in the firm’s 54-year history (it was designed and built in just three years).
Two-and-a-half years and a lifetime of experiences later, Rohlfing, 28, recently learned that the team’s hard work on KAUST had …
A group of folks at HOK served as the guest editors for the July issue of Contract Magazine. This hot-off-the-presses issue is “teaming” with great articles. There’s a wonderful piece on collaboration featuring Cirque du Soleil, a write up on the KAUST project, and lots of other great reads. Check out the digital version or grab one from a news stand!
Last week it was our turn to be trained on using the new Advanced Collaboration Room that we’ve watched being built here over the past several weeks. These rooms are sprouting up in HOK offices across the world, but for now the only ones up and running are here in St. Louis and in San Francisco. For our training session they put the Corporate legal and communications teams together. I.T. gurus Jonathan Chung and John Bartolomi joined the videoconference from San Francisco so we could have somebody to collaborate with on the other end.
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Anyone that is associated with HOK is aware of KAUST, and it’s impact the project has had on our firm. It’s the one project that brought all the offices together, working for a common goal. But what many are unaware of is that I am responsible for the design of the most important part of the project. The one piece that connects us all, both employees of HOK, and future students of the University…it kind of sounds pretty monumental doesn’t it?
Although this function can be found in other places throughout the university, it’s the first time that it was standing all on its own and all to judge. It breaks down barriers: race, religion, language and creed, and …
I know. I promised to try and frequently blog and post pictures from Greenbuild. I failed. Not for lack of effort. More like lack of time. Maybe next year.
As I look back on this trip, the most amazing thing about this event is the people – a people inspired by change. Everyone is cordial, welcoming and friendly. Everyone’s looking for answers to the growing questions surrounding sustainable design. Many answers are provided.
With my first trip to Greenbuild in the books, I’d like to walk you through it from my perspective as an exhibitor and not an attendee.
Monday, November 17, 2008
6:20 am – Flight leaves for Boston via DC. Much coffee needed.
11:15 am – Flight lands in Boston. Tim Gaidis and …
