HOK Formerly Hellmuth Obata Kassabaum Is An American Worldwide Design

From EjWiki

HOK was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1955. The firm's name is stemmed from the last names of its three establishing partners: George F. Hellmuth, Gyo Obata as well as George Kassabaum, all graduates of the College of Design at Washington College in St. Louis. The design company began with 26 workers and also its three owners.
The method's first building designs were colleges in St. Louis residential areas, and also 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 for the design of a library at Stanford University and Dallas in 1968 for the master planning and design of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Also in 1968, HOK launched its interior design practice. HOK also expanded into Washington, DC, after winning the commission to design the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. In 1973, HOK established a presence in New York by acquiring Kahn & Jacobs, designers of many New York City skyscrapers. 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 1979, George Kassabaum was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician.
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 to leaders of that practice. The company became an independent firm, and rebranded itself as Populous.
HOK's first office outside the United States opened in Hong Kong in 1984. In 1987, the firm opened a London office and then, in 1995, expanded this London practice by merging with renowned UK architectural practice Cecil Denny Highton. In November 1994, HOK acquired CRSS Architects, Inc. based in Houston, Texas, adding offices in Houston and Atlanta. HOK established its first offices in Canada (Toronto and Ottawa) in 1997 with the acquisition of Urbana Architects.
In 2004, George Hellmuth's nephew, William Hellmuth, was named president of the firm.
By 2007, international work represented more than 40% of HOK's annual revenue
In 2008, HOK opened an office in Mumbai, India. In 2010, it established an office in Seattle, Washington.
In 2012, hok (http://Dr.Ess.Aleoklop.ahrefmailto:e@www.your-hoster.de/info.php?a%5B%5D=%3Ca+href%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.arch2o.com%2Ftag%2Fhok%2F%3Ehok%3C%2Fa%3E) Chairman Bill Valentine retired after 50 years with the firm. HOK Chief Executive Officer Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, assumed the role of chairman.
In 2013, HOK acquired the New York and Shanghai offices of hospitality design firm BBG-BBGM, creating one of the largest interior design firms. [5] BBG-BBGM's office in Washington, D.C. continues to operate as BBGM.
In 2014, ORO Editions published "HOK Tall Buildings," a 300-page book exploring the design of the contemporary high-rise.
On January 13, 2015, HOK announced that it had completed its acquisition of 360 Architecture, a 200-person, Kansas City-based firm specializing in the design of stadiums, ballparks, arenas, recreation and wellness centers, and mixed-use entertainment districts. The acquisition enabled HOK to launch a new global Sports + Recreation + Entertainment design practice and to open new offices in Kansas City and Columbus, Ohio.