Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum

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HOK founding partners George Hellmuth, Gyo Obata and George Kassabaum
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HOK (formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum) is a global architecture, interiors, engineering, planning and consulting firm. HOK is the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering firm[1] and the "No. 1 role model for sustainable and high-performance design."[2] HOK also is the second-largest interior design firm.[3] As of 2011, the firm maintains more than 1,800 professional staff across a global network of 25 offices and is active in all major architectural specialties. Its senior leaders are located in several different locations across the world.

Contents

[edit] History

HOK was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1955. The firm's name is derived from the surnames of its three founding partners: George Hellmuth, Gyo Obata and George Kassabaum, all graduates of the School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. The new design firm started with 26 employees and the complementary talents of its three founders, who each assumed a distinct role in the firm's operations. Hellmuth focused on design, Obata on design and Kassabaum on project management.

The practice's first building designs were schools in St. Louis suburbs, and St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Florissant was the first private/parochial school designed by the firm. Another prominent school they designed was the Saint Louis Priory School. By the mid-1960s, the firm was winning commissions across the United States and began to open additional offices, starting with San Francisco in 1966. By the 1970s the firm was operating internationally and in 1975 the firm was named as architect of the $3.5 billion King Saud University in Riyadh, at the time the single largest building project in the world.

In 1983, HOK formed HOK Sport Venue Event, which became a leader in designing sport stadiums, arenas and convention centers. In January 2009, the Board of HOK Group, Inc. and managers of HOK Sports Facilities, LLC transferred ownership of HOK Sport Venue Event to leaders of that practice. The company is now known as Populous and is completely separate from HOK.

HOK's first office outside the United States opened in Hong Kong in 1984 and HOK has continued to expand by opening additional offices in the United States and around the world and by acquiring other leading firms. In November 1994, HOK acquired CRSS Architects, Inc. based in Houston, Texas, adding offices in Houston and Atlanta.

In 2004, George Hellmuth's nephew, William Hellmuth, was named president of the firm.[4]

By 2007, international work represented more than 40% of HOK's annual revenue.[5]

In 2008, HOK opened an office in Mumbai, India. In 2010, it established offices in Seattle, Washington, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

[edit] Innovation and sustainable design

HOK is an innovator in the building design industry and has greatly influenced the business of architecture. In 1983 HOK introduced HOK Draw, one of the first computer-aided drafting software products that specialized in conceptual architectural design. More recently, HOK has made a commitment to using Building Information Modeling (BIM) to streamline the design and construction process.[6]

HOK is a leader in sustainable design,[7] commonly referred to as "green architecture." Professionals in the firm authored one of the industry's most respected resources on the topic, "The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design," originally published in 2000 by John Wiley & Sons. A second edition of the book was published in 2005. HOK currently has more than 900 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) registered professionals and 101 LEED certified projects. HOK placed first in Engineering News-Record's 2009 'Top 100 Green Design Firms' survey.[8] In September 2008, to better integrate nature's innovations into the design of buildings, communities and cities worldwide, HOK announced an alliance with the Biomimicry Group, co-founded by Janine Benyus.[9] In 2010, HOK and energy and daylighting consultant The Weidt Group completed design of Net Zero Court, a 170,735-square-foot, market-rate, zero-emissions class A commercial office building in St. Louis.[10]

[edit] Global offices

United States

  • Atlanta
  • Chicago
  • Dallas
  • Denver
  • Houston
  • Los Angeles
  • Miami
  • New York
  • St. Louis
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Tampa
  • Washington, DC

Canada

  • Calgary
  • Ottawa
  • Toronto
  • Vancouver

Asia Pacific

  • Beijing
  • Ho Chi Minh City
  • Hong Kong
  • Shanghai
  • Singapore

Europe

  • London
  • HOK Euronet - affiliated firms in Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Rome

India

  • Mumbai, Powai

Middle East

  • Dubai

[edit] Selected projects

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Top 500 Design Firms 2011', "Engineering News-Record", April 20, 2011
  2. ^ "Sustainability Leadership: From Stagnation to Liberation', "DesignIntelligence", June 29, 2011
  3. ^ "2011 Interior Design Giants', "Interior Design", January 1, 2011.
  4. ^ Dietsch, Deborah K. (November 17, 2008). "HOK's Bill Hellmuth: On top of the world". http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/11/17/tidbits10.html?b=1226898000^1734031&page=1. 
  5. ^ "Uncertain Economy Pushes Design Firms To Diversify Their Portfolios," Engineering News-Record", June 23, 2008.
  6. ^ "BIM at HOK', "AEC Magazine", January 30, 2007.
  7. ^ "HOK Earns Sustainable Leadership Award', "Interior Design", May 9, 2006.
  8. ^ "The Top 100 Green Design Firms, "Engineering News-Record", July 6, 2009.
  9. ^ "HOK and Biomimicry Guild Forge Alliance for Bio-Inspired Design Excellence', "Treehugger.com", September 22, 2008.
  10. ^ " New Zero: Two global design firms issue a call to action and lead by example, "Contract", October 2010.

[edit] External links

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