HOK Lobb

HOK designs buildings and spaces that respond to the needs of people and the environment. Our designers are rooted in technical excellence, driven by imagination and focused on a solitary goal: to deliver solutions that inspire clients and communities. George Hellmuth recruits Gyo Obata and George Kassabaum to form an architectural firm in St. Louis with a vision for using design to help clients succeed and creating places that enrich people's lives. New school projects such as Bristol Primary School in suburban St. Louis not only solve the post-war need for classrooms, but provide innovative ways to create shared and collaborative teaching spaces-a continuous theme in HOK buildings.

Architecture offers a tangible connection to the past, helping us understand the values, ambitions and lives of the people who came before us. HOK realizes the importance of preserving historic buildings and the stories they tell. We also understand the challenges and benefits of building renovations, which can be trickier than new construction but also less expensive and better for the planet, requiring fewer new materials and less embodied carbon. Collaborating with our engineering, consulting and sustainability teams, our renovation experts create lasting solutions for all types of environments-from the refurbishment of 1870s civic institutions to the repositioning of 1970s workplaces-that ensure yesterday's spaces remain relevant and productive today and into the future.

HOK's landscape architects design environments that connect people to each other and to the natural world. For projects ranging from half an acre to millions of acres and spanning urban and suburban sites, our landscape architects blend imaginative design gestures with natural ecosystems to create spaces that live in harmony with their surroundings. Using biophilia to inform our landscape solutions, we look to the "genius of the place"-the native species, ecologies and cultures-for inspiration, performance measures and time-tested resiliency strategies.

HOK's architects design buildings that respond to the needs of people and the environment. They have meaning. Working closely with clients, we create places that are as intelligent and sustainable as they are beautiful. These buildings also are memorable-whether viewed from a distance or up close. When all of this comes together in a design, there's an overwhelming feeling that everything is right.

Light offers a sense of comfort, clarity and security. The color and brilliance of light can change our moods and influence an experience. HOK's lighting designers understand the influence light holds over all of us. Collaborating with architects and interior designers, we consider lighting from the beginning of the design process and integrate aesthetically appealing, efficient lighting systems. We also deliver just the right amount of light using the least amount of energy. The result is elegant solutions that protect our clients' budgets and the environment.

HOK's interior design teams create holistic solutions for places that reflect who organizations are and what they aspire to be. We use space, color, materials and light as tools to create healthy, uplifting environments. These spaces enhance people's lives in the places they gather: offices, airports, hospitals, hotels, sports venues, schools, labs and more. The lines between work, life and play continue to blur, providing opportunities to bring together elements from previously distinct spaces.

To create the most imaginative design solutions, HOK blends engineering rigor and optimization with architectural logic and poetry. Our engineers work across every major building type and provide expert guidance across a spectrum of services including structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire-protection engineering as well as facade design and analysis, IT and electronic systems, and building physics. Our extensive engineering expertise and close collaboration with architectural colleagues leads to innovative designs once considered unachievable and buildings thought unbuildable.