Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
Encyclopedia : H : HE : HEL : Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum or HOK is a major, international architecture, interiors, engineering, planning and consulting firm established in 1955. The firm is headquartered in St. Louis, MO and the name of the company is derived from the surnames of its three founding partners, George Hellmuth, Gyo Obata and George Kassabaum.
The practice's first building was a school in a St. Louis suburb. 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 Saudi Arabia, at the time the single largest project in the world.
In 1983, HOK formed HOK Sport + Venue + Event, which has since become the leader in its field of specialty projects such as stadiums, arena and convention centers. HOK S+V+E is more widely known to the general public than its parent due to the nature of the projects it does.
HOK's first office outside the United States opened in Hong Kong in 1984 and HOK has continued to expand by open additional offices in the United States and around the world and acquisition of other leading firms. In November of 1994 HOK acquired CRSS Architects, Inc. based in Houston, Texas adding offices in Houston, Atlanta and Orlando.
HOK is also an innovator in the building design industry. The company has greatly influenced how the business of architecture is run and in 1983 HOK introduced HOK Draw, one of the first computer-aided drafting software products.
HOK is also a leader in sustainable design (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.
As of 2006 the firm maintains over 1,800 professional staff across four continents and is active in all major architectural specialties.
Global Offices
- Atlanta, GA
- Chicago, IL
- Dallas, TX
- Tampa, FL
- Houston, TX
- Kansas City, MO (HOK S+V+E Headquarters)
- Los Angeles, CA
- New York City, NY
- Ottawa, Canada
- St. Louis, MO (Headquarters)
- San Francisco, CA
- Washington, DC
- Toronto, ON Canada
- London, England
- Hong Kong
- Mexico City, Mexico
- HOK Euronet - affiliated firms in Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Rome)
Former Office Locations
- Irvine, CA
- Orlando, FL
- Seattle, WA
- Shanghai, China
- Tokyo, Japan
- Warsaw, Poland
- Berlin, Germany
Services
- Advance Strategies (Consulting)
- Architecture
- Conservation
- Construction Services
- Engineering
- Interior Design
- Lighting Design
- Planning
- Visual Communication
Markets Served
- Aviation
- Commercial Offices
- Corporate
- Cultural
- Education
- Government
- Health Care
- Hospitality
- Justice
- Mixed-Use
- Residential
- Retail
- Science + Technology
- Sport Venue Event
- Transportation
Selected projects
- 1975: King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 1976: National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C., United States
- 1979: Cecil H. Green Library, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, United States
- 1982: Levi's Plaza, San Francisco, CA, United States
- 1984: King Khaled International Airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 1988: Dunn Tire Park, Buffalo, New York, United States (first HOK designed baseball stadium - started the revival in ballpark design in the U.S.)
- 1992: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- 1995: Jacobs Field, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
- 1996: Tuntex Sky Tower, Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Republic of China)
- 1997: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, College Station, Texas, United States (CRSS)
- 1999: Telstra Stadium, Sydney, Australia (co designers)
- 2002: Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum, London, England
- 2003: National Air & Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Virginia
- 2007: Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri
External link
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