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 …

HOUSTON, TEXAS – The Green Workplace Booksigning Tour made its long awaited stop in the Lone Star State, after multiple stops in St. Louis, NY, WDC and Chicago. HOK along with Hines and Knoll sponsored the one night booksigning event which proved to be a lively yet intimate green evening. The event took place Wednesday, February 17, 2010, in the KNOLL showroom and in the lobby of the recently certified LEED Gold Williams Tower.

Leigh Stringer from Advance Strategies Washington DC, was the special guest to present findings and sign her book, The Green Workplace: Sustainable Strategies that Benefit Employees, the Environment and …

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 …

I’ve got to say – sometimes I’m super proud to be a rural-grown Iowa gal….

I’m proud when I bite into a particularly tasty porkchop, I’m proud when I hear about ethanol, I’m proud of anything sculpted out of butter, I’m proud when the government makes strongly progressive decisions, and I’m proud when I think back to my education.  I went to Iowa State.   My brother went to Iowa State.  My parents went to Iowa State in the 1970’s.   My grandparents went to Iowa State in the 1930’s. My sister went elsewhere, but we still love her…

Today I’m very proud to be a Cyclone…Introducing the newest addition to the Iowa State University College …

Please allow me to break the news here on the Life at HOK blog that HOK’s Hong Kong office has just been awarded LEED Gold certification!

That means that ALL of HOK’s four Asia Pacific design offices are now LEED certified – two Silver and two Gold (Singapore, Shanghai, HK and Beijing). I believe HOK Singapore was the first LEED certified project in that country, and the HK office is the second in all of Hong Kong. For HK, I believe shout outs are in order for designers Gary Lai and Rika Lam, project manager Wilson Mak and sustainable design guru Peggy Chu!

I wanted to take an opportunity to say …