Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum

Takes a Multidisciplinary Approach to Designing Buildings

Photos courtesy HOK

When Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hits a home run in Pacific Bell Park, it often sails over the right field wall into McCovey Cove, and intrepid souls waiting in kayaks frantically scramble to recover the ball floating in the water. Meanwhile, fans inside the stadium can enjoy views of downtown San Francisco and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge while sitting only 50 feet from the foul lines. Such scenery, intimacy, and activity at this modern park doesn’t come by accident. The facility was designed by Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK), an architectural firm that designs all types of structures but has made a name for itself designing sports venues and sustainable buildings.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, HOK goes beyond the typical architectural firm in offering a diverse range of services related to buildings, from planning through design, construction, and management. They do this for facilities in every part of the world, designing airport terminals, offices, museums, libraries, churches, courthouses, detention facilities, housing, and shopping centers, in addition to sports venues.

Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, HOK started in 1955 when Gyo Obata, George Hellmuth, and George Kassabaum formed the firm with 26 employees in St. Louis -- their first project was a public school in a St. Louis suburb. The firm has since grown to 1,600 employees in 21 offices. U.S. office locations include Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Florida; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, California; New York; San Francisco; Kansas City, Missouri; and Washington, D.C. Foreign offices are in Toronto, Canada; London, England; Hong Kong; Tokyo, Japan; Mexico City; and Brisbane, Australia.

With HOK’s multidisciplinary approach, it’s only natural that engineers fit into the mix in designing systems for buildings. The firm’s mechanical engineering services cover HVAC, building automation, fire protection, and life cycle analysis, while electrical engineering includes electric power generation and distribution. Having engineers and architects in the same firm allows the two to work closely together to integrate engineering systems with building design.

Engineers work mostly out of HOK’s Houston and San Francisco offices, providing engineering at these two locations and also for other HOK offices. Some 40 mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineers comprise the staff. In addition, 12 structural engineers work at the Houston and St. Louis offices.

Guy Despatis, director of engineering in HOK’s San Francisco office, says, “We tend to do more technical projects.” This means high-tech work for companies like Sun Microsystems, Nortel, and AT&T. “They tend to be corporate-type projects with engineering labs or research facilities, in the Bay area particularly. They have a lot more complexity in electrical and HVAC systems than the normal project. But aviation, justice, and science & technology projects are even more technical. If you have not done a justice project, the first one is going to be hard because they’re real special, and you need to understand the workings within the facility to do it right. The same thing holds true for aviation and science and technology.” An electrical engineer, Despatis has been with HOK for 22 years.

Beginning in 1993, HOK became a pioneer in promoting sustainable design principles by developing Sustainable Design Groups within the firm, a design guide, and a green materials database. The firm has over 400 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a rating system sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council) accredited professionals in its ranks. Despatis says, in his office, “We have 18 engineers, and 12 of them are LEED-certified, so it’s important to us. We have a champion here in the office. He’s a mechanical engineer who leads this effort, not only for the engineering group, but for the office. We have a number of projects that are LEED-certified already.”

In describing how they approach sustainable design, Despatis states, “For every project that comes on board, we have a checklist, and we look at the project from all aspects and see how far we can go with sustainable design.” They determine whether it can be certified and to what level. “If you think it about early, some things don’t cost a penny more. Certain things do, but then you look at payback and see if it makes sense in terms of the life of the building and maintenance of the system.”

As an example, Despatis points to a state-of-the-art 30,000-square-foot forensic lab his group designed for San Mateo County, California. “It’s got 180 kilowatts of photovoltaic cells on the roof, enough to drive the whole building most of the time. That’s quite expensive, but about 50 percent of it was paid back through incentives from government organizations. And we have a 14-year payback, which is long, but these buildings last for awhile, so it made good sense.”

Another HOK project that involved sustainable design and much more was the renovation of the St. George Ferry Terminal on New York City’s Staten Island. Serving both daily commuters and tourists, the terminal is home to the Staten Island Ferry, a vital commuter line between Staten Island and Manhattan. The ferry ride is also a popular sightseeing excursion for viewing the Statue of Liberty. Designed as a tourist destination, floating public space, and a focal point for area redevelopment, the new terminal makes riding the Staten Island Ferry more attractive, and it ranks as one of the first LEED-certified intermodal transportation stations.

The challenge came in reusing as much of the existing brick, concrete, and structural steel building, built in 1950, as possible. Confined to the building's existing footprint, the designers raised the roof of the main waiting chamber about 20 feet, adding Y-shaped metal beams atop the support columns. They replaced a tile wall with a curtain of glass and metal, revealing views of sky and water and allowing waiting passengers to see coming boats and the Hudson River. The extensions include new outdoor terraces and added some 8,000 additional square feet of retail space for amenities such as a new restaurant.

For designing sporting venues, HOK calls on HOK Sport + Venue + Event, a division that focuses on gathering spaces from stadiums and arenas to convention centers and amphitheaters. The company’s client list includes 24 of 30 Major League Baseball franchises, 30 of 32 NFL franchises, civic arenas, soccer and rugby teams, colleges and universities, and convention and performing arts centers. In addition to Pacific Bell Park, HOK designed the ice hockey arena and venue for opening and closing ceremonies at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

In describing how engineers divvy up the work at HOK, Despatis says, “Most of our work is with this office here in San Francisco. The same thing applies for the Houston office.” He goes on to say they work on projects for other offices, but much of it is done electronically. “We don’t need to travel as much as we used to because we’re all electronically linked. There is some travel involved, but it’s minimized by the fact we’re all on the same network, and we know each other, so we can work at a distance.”

As Despatis relates, the responsibilities of HOK’s engineers extend beyond engineering. “Most of the time, when a project comes about we’re trying to get, we participate in the marketing. Each office has a management committee, including business people, designers, and marketing people. We usually get an RFP (request-for-proposal) or RFQ (request for-quote), and we respond to that, and we often go to the interview and help secure the project. If we get the project, we organize a team, and then we go through schematic design and develop the documentation. The same people do the construction administration. They have the project from beginning to end. It’s a very workable arrangement. It’s very neat.”

The process works for the vast variety of projects that HOK works on, from baseball stadiums to high-tech labs and offices. You might even see evidence of it if you watch a San Francisco Giants game on TV.

Snapshot

Company: Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum

Type: Architectural firm with engineering, planning, construction, and facility management functions

Location: Headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri with 21 offices throughout the U.S. and in Canada, Mexico, England, Japan, Australia, and Hong Kong.

Website: www.hok.com

Contact information for submitting resumes:
E-mail to:
Gary Kuzma, Houston office, gary.kuzma@hok.com or
Guy Despatis, San Francisco office, guy.despatis@hok.com

Outlook for hiring engineers: HOK’s demand for engineers “goes by waves,” according to Guy Despatis, director of engineering in the firm’s San Francisco office. “A year ago, we hired half a dozen engineers within a three- to four-month period. We don’t hire for a particular project, but we saw the workload, and our projections showed our workload increasing. It has been fairly stable since. We don’t hire regularly.” However, he adds, “If we come across someone we have an interest in, we may do that without any other reasons. You don’t let somebody go by. It’s hard to find.”

In looking at specific engineering disciplines, Despatis reveals, “There’s a demand for HVAC and plumbing and fire protection, in particular. It’s very hard to find plumbing and fire protection engineers. Electrical is probably easier to find, but not much so because most electrical engineers are now going into computer engineering or electronics, rather than buildings. There’s a shortage in this area.”

What they look for in engineers: Despatis says HOK looks for “a good education, hopefully with some specialty in a field applicable to us like thermodynamics for mechanical engineers or power distribution for electrical engineers. MEs can also have experience in air conditioning and ventilation.” They also seek “someone who has experience working in a firm like ours. We need people with broader expertise. We’re a small firm with a relatively small staff, in terms of this office.” They look for new graduates and experienced people with leadership qualities. “We’re looking for well-rounded people.”

Progressive Engineer
Editor: Tom Gibson
2049 Crossroads Drive, Lewisburg, PA 17837
570-568-8444 * tom@progressiveengineer.com
©2006 Progressive Engineer