engineering & urban planning founded 1955 founders george hellmuth gyo obata george kassabaum area served international key people patrick macleamy chairman william hellmuth president ceo website www.hok.com hok founding partners george hellmuth gyo obata and george kassabaum priory chapel at saint louis abbey national air and space museum in washington d.c. tokyo telecom center in tokyo kellogg company headquarters in battle creek michigan passenger terminal amsterdam in amsterdam steven f. udvar hazy center in chantilly virginia indianapolis international airport colonel h. weir cook terminal in indianapolis indiana king abdullah university of science and technology in thuwal saudi arabia salvador dali museum in st. petersburg florida hok formerly hellmuth obata kassabaum is an american worldwide design architecture engineering and urban planning firm . adnoc headquarters in abu dhabi united arab emirates . as of 2016 hok is the largest u.s. based architecture engineering firm 1 and the second largest interior design firm . 2 the firm maintains more than 1 800 professional staff across a global network of 23 offices and is active in all major architectural specialties . its senior leaders are located in several different locations across the world . contents 1 history 2 innovation and sustainable design 3 global offices 4 selected projects 5 notes 6 external links history edit hok was established in st. louis missouri in 1955 . the firm s name is derived from the surnames of its three founding partners george hellmuth gyo obata and george kassabaum all graduates of the school of architecture at washington university in st. louis . the design firm started with 26 employees and its three founders . the practice s first building designs were schools in st. louis suburbs and 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 . 3 by 2007 international work represented more than 40 % of hok s annual revenue . 4 in 2008 hok opened an office in mumbai india . in 2010 it established an office in seattle washington . in 2012 hok 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 . 6 in 2014 oro editions published hok tall buildings a 300 page book exploring the design of the contemporary high rise . 7 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 . 8 on may 15 2015 the firm announced a multi year partnership with the united soccer league usl in the usa to lead a stadium development design and standards initiative to help house all usl clubs in soccer specific stadiums across north america by the end of the decade . 9 in january 2016 hok announced that bill hellmuth the firm s president will succeed patrick macleamy as ceo effective april 19 2016 . macleamy will continue to serve as chairman of hok following the transition . 10 innovation and sustainable design edit in 1983 hok introduced hok draw computer aided drafting software products that specialized in conceptual architectural design . in the early 2000s hok began using building information modeling bim to streamline the design and construction process . 11 in 2012 building design construction ranked hok the no. 1 bim architecture firm . 12 in 2013 designintelligence magazine based in part on the firm s leadership in buildingsmart and bim ranked hok the no. 1 design firm for technology expertise . 13 hok is a leader in sustainable design . 14 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 . in september 2008 to better integrate nature s innovations into the design of buildings communities and cities worldwide hok announced an alliance with the biomimicry group co founded by janine benyus . 15 in 2010 hok and energy and daylighting consultant the weidt group completed design of net zero court a 170 735 square foot market rate zero emissions class a commercial office building in st. louis . 16 in 2013 hok and biomimicry 3.8 released the genius of biome report a textbook for how to apply biomimicry design principles . 17 in 2015 for the sixth consecutive year the designintelligence journal ranked hok as a leader in sustainable and high performance design . 18 hok currently has more than 725 leed leadership in energy and environmental design credentialed professionals and 231 leed breeam green mark and green globe certified projects . global offices edit united states atlanta chicago columbus dallas denver houston kansas city los angeles new york philadelphia st. louis san francisco seattle tampa washington d.c. canada calgary ottawa toronto asia pacific beijing hong kong shanghai europe london . also leads european architects network ean affiliated firms in amsterdam brussels madrid milan paris and rome india mumbai middle east dubai selected projects edit 1962 the priory chapel st. louis missouri united states 1970 houston galleria houston texas united states 1970 xerox parc palo alto california united states 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 california united states 1981 moscone center san francisco california united states 1981 metropolitan square st. louis missouri united states current location of hok st. louis office 1982 levi s plaza san francisco california united states 1983 king khaled international airport riyadh saudi arabia 1985 st. louis union station renovation and redevelopment st. louis missouri united states 1986 bp building cleveland ohio united states 1986 kellogg company headquarters battle creek michigan united states 1986 riverchase galleria birmingham alabama united states 1991 801 grand des moines iowa united states tallest building in iowa 1992 schapiro center for engineering and physical science research cepsr columbia university new york city united states 1993 apple inc. r & d campus cupertino california united states 1994 independence temple independence missouri united states 1995 tokyo telecom center tokyo japan co designers 1996 tuntex sky tower kaohsiung taiwan 1996 1997 nortel brampton centre hq brampton ontario canada 1997 foreign and commonwealth office restoration london england 1997 george bush presidential library college station texas united states on the campus of texas a & m university 1999 northwestern memorial hospital facility replacement and redevelopment chicago illinois united states co designers 1999 edificio malecon office tower buenos aires argentina 1999 boeing leadership center st. louis missouri united states 1999 american airlines arena home of nba miami heat miami florida united states 2000 passenger terminal amsterdam amsterdam the netherlands 2000 nationwide arena home of nhl columbus blue jackets columbus ohio united states 2001 united states environmental protection agency research center research triangle park north carolina united states 1.2 million sq. ft. campus 2002 darwin centre at the natural history museum passenger terminal cork cork airport ireland 2002 alfred a. arraj u.s. courthouse denver colorado united states 2003 steven f. udvar hazy center of the national air and space museum chantilly virginia united states 2004 harlem hospital center master plan and patient pavilion new york city united states 2005 cisco systems executive briefing center interior design san jose california united states 2005 terminal a at logan international airport boston massachusetts united states world s first leed certified air terminal building 2005 stockton arena home of echl stockton thunder stockton california united states 2006 lavasa hill station master plan and design guidelines moss valley pune india 2006 natural history museum of the adirondacks the wild center tupper lake new york united states 2006 sj berwin european headquarters interior design london england business week architectural record award winner 2007 dubai marina dubai united arab emirates 2007 hyatt on the bund shanghai china 2007 sprint center kansas city missouri united states 2008 frost art museum florida international university miami florida united states 2008 midfield terminal at the indianapolis international airport indianapolis indiana united states master designer 2008 kansas city power & light district kansas city missouri united states 2009 doha city centre doha qatar design of five hotel towers for largest retail development in the middle east 2009 king abdullah university of science and technology kaust thuwal saudi arabia saudi arabia s first leed certified project and the world s largest leed platinum project 2009 carnival house head office of carnival uk southampton england 2009 bakrie tower jakarta indonesia 2009 huntington park home of triple a milb columbus clippers columbus ohio united states 2010 indira gandhi international airport terminal 3 delhi india leed gold certification 2010 new building 20 at nasa s lyndon b. johnson space center houston texas leed platinum certification 2010 metlife stadium home of nfl new york giants and nfl new york jets east rutherford new jersey united states 2011 salvador dal museum st. petersburg florida 2011 brigade gateway enclave bengaluru india 2011 keangnam hanoi landmark tower hanoi vietnam tallest building in vietnam 2012 canon usa headquarters melville new york 2012 baku flame towers baku azerbaijan 2012 harlem hospital center mural pavilion new york city 2013 hamad international airport passenger terminal complex doha qatar 2013 san francisco mint adaptive reuse san francisco california 2013 bbc broadcasting house headquarters workplace strategy and interior design london england 2013 husky stadium home of university of washington huskies seattle washington united states 2013 auburn university recreation & wellness center auburn alabama united states 2014 535 mission street san francisco california united states 2014 anaheim regional transportation intermodal center anaheim