As Blake reminded us, May is bike to work month.  Hopefully you’ve all pulled out your cycles and gotten moving – HOK certainly has!  Based on our success last year, we’ve again joined the Cascade Bicycle Club Community Health Challenge.

With 10 teams and 78 riders at the time of this post, we’ve logged over 2,800 miles, putting us in the top 20 companies participating (again)….and if some of our regular riders remember to log their miles, we’ll be even higher!

Anyway, the point of this post is not to brag about how awesome HOK is (or specifically about the WDC teams) – it’s to reach out to you to see …

As a final hurrah for our Architecture in Schools Students, we took a “green tour” of the Washington Nationals Baseball Stadium.  It was a fantastic way to get the kids excited about design, and about green.  The tour focused on the history of “green,” green design of the stadium, green operations at the stadium, and also included a few fun bits for the kids: a visit to the press box, the Nats Clubhouse (aka locker room), and the dugout.  Check out some pix from the event:

A few notes on the show:

• Upside down sticker on the dual flush toilet – oops!
• The final picture in this set shows me (black shirt & jeans) with the girl who

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So one of the perks of working at HOK is that we get to see all kinds of cool spaces. Frequently we’re touring for the purposes of our own project (for example, when we went on a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing as part of a pre-bid meeting); sometimes we get to tour completed HOK facilities.

This week, Walter Urbanek and Frank Etro of the DC office organized a fantastic field trip to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) – Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport.  HOK is currently doing construction administration on the second …

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 …

I’ll be honest, I was a bit intimidated by Rosa when I first met her.  She’s only a few years my senior, but she has the confidence (and the goods to back it up) of someone with several times her experience.  Plus, she hangs out with the cool people.  Over the years, I’ve learned that Rosa is not only extremely talented and motivated; she’s nice, funny, and supremely helpful too.  I had a great time with our questions session (and every time we work together) – hope you enjoy Rosa as much as I do:

I have been at HOK for slightly over 12 years.  HOK has been a big part of my life …

You might remember a few months back when you heard that sometimes people mistake me and my Advance Strategies colleagues for telemarketers.  Well, today, they would be spot-on!

A while back, I signed up as a member of the communications committee for the U.S. Green Building Council’s National Capital Region (USGBC-NCR).  I haven’t done too much besides go to a couple of meetings and sit in on some conference calls.  All that changed last week when the new chair contacted me and got me involved in marketing the RealGreen conference.

RealGreen is the chapter’s conference that fouses on “real progress and solutions to environmental concerns” and highlights “the region’s unique …

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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Jodi Williams is another member of the DC Advance Strategies crew.  She has been working with Leigh in that office for four years, during which time she has made quite a name for herself.  She has a mixed background of sociology and urban planning that always gives her a different take on clients’ needs.  Her questions quickly reveal her love for solving complex problems, kicking some butt on the soccer field, and snuggling with her pets.  Along with this interview, she was highlighted in a podcast when this blog turned one year old – so be sure to have a listen for more information!

Q: You play a lot …

About a year ago, I gave you an update of what was going on in my work life.  Looking back over the last year of Life@HOK, I thought it might be fun to revisit that post,and let you know what’s going on now!  You’ll see from the list below that some things have stayed the same, but lots of cool new things have come up too!

Revisiting old news:

• GSA Unit Cost Study: just about wrapped up!
• U.S. Capitol Complex Master Plan (still going, and I still can’t tell you more or I’d have to shoot you)
• Blogging on The Green Workplace
• Blogging on Life@HOK

Sharing new news:

• NeoCon East presentation

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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 …

A lot of HOKers are involved in athletic endeavors of all sorts (cycling, tennis, real estate games, picnic games, etc)…but two of our very own just competed in one of the most extreme running competitions out there: a Ragnar Relay.

What is a Ragnar Relay?  Well, basically, it’s you and your 11 closest pals running 200 miles through the wilderness over a 24-hour period.

It’s really quite simple. Get a bunch of friends together (or we can help you find team members who’ll quickly become your friends) and start running. Okay, there’s a little more to it. Your relay team will

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I love this town. I really, really do.  I am not even a bicycle owner or rider myself, but the fact that we’re launching this awesome transit center for cyclists in front of Union Station is just impressing the heck out of me.  “The Bike Transit Center, paid for by the U.S. Department of Transportation and DDOT, will offer secure bike parking, a changing room, lockers, bike rentals, repairs and a small retail shop selling bike accessories, for about $1 a day. The facility will be the first of its kind on the East Coast, and cyclists all over the metro area have been anticipating the opening of the …

Each year, the DC Building Industry Association pulls together volunteers from across the building industry to undertake a major project to benefit the community.  Using the expertise of its members, DCBIA has been able to make major improvements throughout the community.

This year’s DCBIA Community Improvement Day (the 17th!) was held at Fort Mahan Park in Northeast Washington, DC.  Fort Mahan was originally constructed as a Union stronghold to protect Benning’s Bridge from the Confederate Army.  The 40-acre site was developed into a park that includes hiking/biking trails, an …

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m in Portland, Oregon attending the 44th annual SCUP conference.  There are 14 HOKers here from across the U.S. and Canada, and not only are we learning lots and meeting great people, we’re also sharing HOK greatness with the world.

To be specific, HOK greatness includes:

• 2009 National SCUP Campus Planning Award – District Category for the University of Alabama Science and Engineering Precinct Master Plan (Tuscaloosa, Alabama). Accepted by Crystal Barriscale and Paul Woolford (San Francisco) and our University of Alabama Clients, this award recognizes the University’s new precinct which focuses on science and engineering and creates a new pedestrian

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Washington, D.C. is like Disneyland. I was there one day and all I saw for the first hour and a half was two attractions (Union Station, U.S. Capitol), a bunch of concession stands, and a whole lot of grass in-between. No one ever told me that it took two hours to walk from one end of the ‘Mall’ to the other. On TV, it always looks so inviting and small. But when you get there it’s the complete opposite. It was the hottest day of the year (so far), and they blocked off anywhere that might have a little bit of shade to walk under. So imagine me, walking up-hill, both ways, …

Remember back in elementary school when you had field day?  For me, that was always one of the best days of the year (I was a 3-legged race champ)!  This year, HOK participated in field day for grown ups, the JDRF Real Estate Games.

This event is an annual fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  This year’s event raised over $400K for the cause…and had over 2,000 participants.

The 2009 games were HOK’s first, and we had 10 participants in three events.

• Tennis singles (women’s) – Jelena Lustica
• Tennis doubles (men’s) – Todd Pedersen and Edmund Velasco
• 5K – Vincent Ng, Jennifer King, Claire Whitehill, Colleen Knapp, Daphne Kiplinger, Amy Fabry, and

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It’s no lie, I am a hot mess when I get to work after my 14-mile bike ride.  Fortunately for me and anyone who has to interact with me during the day, HOK has a shower (and my gym is right next to the office and has an even nicer shower).

One thing I struggle with is how to dress appropriately for work on cycling days.  One solution is to drive in the day before and leave a bag of clothes.  The other is to cram everything in a backpack and roll on in.  Either way, there are two major risks: 1. forgetting a critical wardrobe element (from recent experience, I …

One of the comments we hear a lot is, “HOK’s such a big firm.  Don’t you feel lost there?” 

Coming from a very small firm (I was one of eight there; here I am one of 2,400 or so), I ’ll admit I was a little intimidated…but I’ve found the size issue is a misconception; HOK truly does provide great opportunities for collaboration that you wouldn’t find in a small firm.  In addition to having outstanding resources to help with project work (like the Denver project that used staff from San Francisco, St. Louis, and Washington, DC or the KAUST project that involved up to 400 HOK’ers at one point in time), it …

As you’ve read, HOK is big into sustainability, and part of our committment is personal – we’ve signed up numerous teams to compete in national bike-to-work month, sponsored by the cascade bicycle club (see Blake’s posts on HOK vs. Copenhagen and Calling all HOKers).  Tim O’Connell cooerced me into signing up using fear of public humiliation as his primary tactic. 

It’s a bit of a long ride for me (13.824 miles each way, according to Gmaps Pedometer) and I’m not much of a cyclist, but what the heck!  My route takes me along Cameron Run in …

As Blake told you, the WDC team is kicking butt in the bike-to-work challenge.  Today we had over 20 riders for National Bike to Work Day:

Front row, l-r: Jack Baker, Claire Whitehill, Pamela Sams, Jodi Williams, Julie Steele

Middle row, l-r: Daphne Kiplinger, Bokki Son, Jacalyn Chnowski, Vincent Ng

Back row, l-r: Pierre Lee, Chris Ryan, Bill Hellmuth, Bill Stinger, Walter Urbanek, Aaron Altman, Kyle Sullivan, Tim O’Connell, Sasha Strickland (Missing Morgan Williams).

It was enough that our bike racks were full….

So some people had to take advantage of the “executive parking.”

(That’s Bill Hellmuth, …

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 …

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 …

You know you’ve been anxiously awaiting our second installment of 5 Questions for HOKers.  Today’s feature is Esther Simon, the one and only prickly pear of HOK. 

Q: Tell us about your background.

A: I came to the United States from Israel about 30 years ago.  I have a great desire to be part of a larger community – I think this desire was formed in Israel, where there was a great sense of community due in part

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We all know that $780 billion dollars is a LOT of money….but how much is it in architectural terms?  Check out this cool visualization sent to me by Ming Hu in the DC office (Hi Ming – thanks for the great visualization!) – haven’t verified the accuracy and don’t know where it originated, but it’s pretty interesting nonetheless:

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One of the things I like best about working at HOK is the firm’s committment to professional (and personal) development. While we see this dedication throughout the year through various learning events (both in house and external), it’s never more apparent than at review time. 

Each HOK business unit does the review process slightly differently. Advance Strategies uses an online tool called the “Personal Development Plan,” or PDP for short. The PDP is a great way to formalize short- and long-term goals (honestly, I need someone to force me to think about it sometimes), gauge how you’re doing against your official position description, and measure your achievements for the year. It also …

As a DC/mid-Atlantic native, I was sure happy to get the heck out of town in the middle of January…temperatures here have been pretty frigid (despite that this happens pretty much every year, I’m always shocked at just how cold it gets). Anyway, I had the opportunity to head off to the lovely town of San Francisco (in the 70s during the day) for a meeting and a day of work in the HOK SF office. 

I was definitely disappointed to miss the inauguration and associated events (especially the free concert), but I did see some great stuff in San Francisco, beginning with my airplane ride (not nearly as interesting …

So you probably got to see the Inauguration on TV or maybe even went. Perhaps you read about it in the paper. I have been planning my attendance since November 4, 2008, and had a handful of houseguests who joined me and my roommates to experience this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.

For those of you who didn’t make it, here’s a description of what the day felt like from a local girl’s perspective.

Friday: I attended an Inauguration/Tree Hugger Happy Hour and my roommates friend from college arrived in town. We hung out at the Reef, on the roof deck (heated and covered, totally unsustainable!) and drank rum-laced hot cider, toasting the other local DC-ists …

Every month in the Washington, DC office, Interiors and Advance Strategies host a birthday celebration to commemorate big days of team members.  This means cake, chatting, and games.  November 2008 was no different.  This month, we celebrated the birthdays of Suong Castillo, Lance Gorbutt, and Edmund Velasco. 

As two of the three were celebrating the big 3-0, we enjoyed factoids from the year 1978.  For example, did you know this was the year of “Son of Sam” or that both Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul I died this year?  Popular movies included Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Jaws 2, and Animal House.  TV programs included CHiPs, The Love Boat, Three’s Company, Happy Days, and Charlie’s Angels. 

The highlight of the event, …

The Golden Racket

Washington, DC – HOK’s semi-annual Golden Racket Tennis tournament was held on Saturday, October 11, 1008 at East Potomac Tennis Center at Hains Point.  A long-standing tradition, the tennis tournament weeds the good from the bad, the bad from the ugly…all in the quest to win the famed golden racket. 

The fall 2008 tourney was spearheaded by Todd “Pederer” Pedersen (ADS) and Jelena “Croatian Sensation” Lustica (INT).  This event took on a new format, a one-day round robin tournament, with one point awarded for each game won (in the style of the 1992 tournament).  Participants included:

• Edmund “FLIP” Velasco (ADS)
• Kamran “TBD” Rafataian (ARCH)
• Kyle “Baumer” Sullivan (MKTG)
• Butch “Double Fault”

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