Читать книгу Designing a World-Class Architecture Firm - Patrick MacLeamy - Страница 38

In addition to architects, HOK employed other design professionals who worked with the architects, as well as on their own projects. The first landscape architect HOK hired, Neil Porterfield, was a University of Pennsylvania graduate with a passion for planning. In conversations with me, he described large-scale planning as essential for saving the planet from wasteful, unplanned development. I, too, came to believe in the power of good planning to improve the world and this would play a big role in my later career.

Chip Reay, the first graphic designer at HOK, was engaged in multiple projects including designing museum displays and environmental graphics. He also helped Obata with presentations for his latest designs. Chip's office was crammed with magazines, drawings, and reports—on the walls, on his worktable, and stacked on the floor. He was a fluid, creative thinker, and Obata often relied on him to help brainstorm design ideas for challenging projects.

Interior design was not yet a recognized profession, but several architects in the department were focused on designing the interiors of buildings, including the furniture. Most architecture firms had small sample rooms next to a library of building product catalogs, but, at HOK, the samples filled a big room, and included furniture in addition to architectural products. Looking back, it was a sign that HOK already understood that design was the entire building, inside, and out, not just a pretty façade.

Since Hellmuth believed public relations was important for building an architecture firm's name recognition, he hired Bill Remington as a public relations specialist, one of the first in-house PR people in architecture. Remington's job was to get HOK published in newspapers and magazines, especially in the architectural press. Hellmuth often used reprints from magazine articles as persuasive props during meetings with prospective clients.

Paul Watson, the HOK in-house lawyer tasked with reviewing all owner-architect contracts, occupied his own office a few steps away from George Kassabaum. I was to learn later that HOK was probably the first design firm to employ an attorney full time instead of relying on legal advice from a local law firm. HOK's founders were interested not just in designing great buildings, but also in designing a great firm. That included bringing nonarchitects on board to help build the business. What nondesign professionals could you bring in house to enhance your own company?