Designing a World-Class Architecture Firm
The People, Stories, and Strategies Behind HOK
1. Auflage Mai 2020
288 Seiten, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Offers architects and creative services professionals exclusive insights and strategies for success from the former CEO of HOK.
Designing a World Class Architecture Firm: The People, Stories and Strategies Behind HOK tells the history of one of the largest design firms in the world and draws lessons from it that can help other architects, interior designers, urban planners and creative services professionals grow bigger or better. Former HOK CEO Patrick MacLeamy shares the revolutionary strategies HOK's founders deployed to create a brand-new type of architecture firm. He pulls no punches, revealing the triple crisis that almost bankrupted HOK and describes how any firm can survive and thrive.
Designing a World Class Architecture Firm tells the inside story of many of HOK's most iconic buildings, including the National Air and Space Museum, Moscone Convention Center, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Houston Galleria and the reimagined LaGuardia Airport. Each chapter conveys lessons learned from HOK's successes --and failures-- including:
* The importance of diversifying to depression-and-recession-proof your firm
* The benefit of organizing your firm around specialized leaders and project types
* The difference between leading and managing your people
* The value of simple financial metrics to ensure your firm's health and profitability
* The "run toward trouble" strategy which prevents problems from ballooning
MacLeamy delivers his advice via inspirational stories such as how HOK survived when its home office in St. Louis went up in flames and humorous stories, like the time an HOK executive was mistaken for royalty on a trip to Saudi Arabia. In this tell-all guide, the driven architecture or design professional will find the tools needed to evolve or grow any firm.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Section One: The Founders, 1955-1982
Chapter 1: The Problem With Traditional Firms
Chapter 2: A New Kind of Architecture Firm
Chapter 3: Innovate Early and Often
Chapter 4: Company Culture is Crucial
Chapter 5: Growth: Project Offices
Chapter 6: Many Jobs, One Firm
Chapter 7: Managing Versus Leading
Chapter 8: Transitions: Succession Planning
Section Two: The Obata Era, 1982-1993
Chapter 9: A Designer Leads the Firm
Chapter 10: Run Toward Trouble
Chapter 11: Growth: Projects Specialties
Chapter 12: Selling Stock to Investors
Chapter 13: Transitions: Hiring Family
Section Three: The Sincoff Era, 1993-2002
Chapter 14: Get Bigger or Get Better?
Chapter 15: A Firm-Wide Role
Chapter 16: Embracing Technology
Chapter 17: Growth: Buying Firms
Chapter 18: Enforcing Financial Metrics
Chapter 19: Transitions: The Second Generation
Chapter 20: Confronting Crisis
Section Four: The MacLeamy Era, 2003-2016
Chapter 21: Communicating Your Vision
Chapter 22: Empowering Firm Leadership
Chapter 23: The Effort Curve
Chapter 24: Fixing Offices
Chapter 25: Fixing Central Services
Chapter 26: Reclaiming Company Culture
Chapter 27: Buying Your Freedom
Chapter 28: Transitions: The Third Generation
Chapter 29: The Right to Dream
Afterword: HOK Today
About the Author
Index