People
We think the warm, friendly culture in our studios—each with its own local vibe—is pretty special. We’re a highly collaborative group of people who enjoy working together and are generous about sharing our knowledge, research and innovations. We think of ourselves as a global network of designers made up of small teams of friends working together to solve complex problems.
During our design processes we engage people from many cultures, both from within our firm and the local community. These diverse backgrounds broaden our vision and feed our strengths.
Finally, we want our work to matter. Our goal is for the spaces and buildings we create to shape the cultures of our clients and the community.
HOK Impact
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“Using design to make a difference.” That’s the mission of HOK Impact, a group of volunteers from each HOK studio who lead our approach to social responsibility and empowering our communities.
One of HOK’s core values always has been that we care about the people and places our work touches. HOK Impact serves as a lens for addressing the social, environmental and economic impact of this work.
HOK Impact supports our people’s efforts to give back by providing pro bono professional services, organizing participation in community service events, and supporting groups that make a difference in the cities where we live and work.
Diversity Advisory Council
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HOK’s Diversity Advisory Council is made up of volunteers from across our studios, reflecting the firm’s rich diversity of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, experience, expertise and geography. The group’s mission is to promote an inclusive work environment and create a culture in which all our people can thrive. Co-chairs Shiva Mendez, Kimberly Dowdell and Brad Liebman provide the overall vision for the Council and support each HOK office’s local efforts to enhance diversity and inclusiveness.
The Council’s activities include:
—Promoting staff discussions on leadership.
—Establishing a task force to promote firmwide mentoring.
—Conducting a biennial employee career and opportunity survey.
—Supporting organizations dedicated to expanding the profession, including the National Organization of Minority Architects and the ACE Mentor Program.
HOK Tapestry
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HOK Tapestry enables our firm to improve our project partnerships and foster greater collaboration within the AEC industry. The online portal (hoktapestry.com) allows businesses seeking to work with us to upload their profile and qualifications directly into the database we use to assemble project teams.
Through HOK Tapestry, we are expanding our registry of potential partners and bringing expanded scope and skills to our project teams. Businesses registered with HOK Tapestry are also invited to participate in programming designed to help our partner firms build capacity and expand future business opportunities.
Belonging at HOK
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Our diverse backgrounds bring richer perspectives, driving solutions that help everyone thrive.
—Learning Together: HOK’s Black History Month Panel 2024
—HOK’s Kimberly Dowdell Inaugurated as AIA 2024 President
—Celebrating Women’s Voices in Design: HOK’s International Women’s Day Roundtable
—Uplifting Diversity: HOK’s PRIDE Panel
—HOK’s Edith Bailon Pays It Forward as a Latina in Architecture
—How Adaeze Cadet Beat the Odds as a Black Woman in Architecture
—Kaven Swan’s 30-Year Push to Diversify the Design and Construction Industry
Emerging Talent Summits
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HOK is committed to developing the next generation of designers. One way we do this is through our Emerging Talent Summits.
Emerging Talent Summits invite up-and-coming design leaders from across HOK to attend regional, in-person meetings. At these summits, young designers have the opportunity to:
—Get to know their peers from across the firm.
—Inspire each other by sharing their latest work and ideas.
—Hear from HOK senior designers and guest speakers.
—Provide the HOK Design Board with recommendations for improving HOK’s design culture.
—Tour HOK-designed projects and other architecturally significant buildings and spaces.Check out scenes from our 2023 Emerging Talent Summits.
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Our Research Program
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At HOK, research-driven innovation forms the core of our practice. Our research program, open to all employees, provides financial support for groundbreaking ideas that have the potential to change the world.
Recent research initiatives include:
—Designing for Neuroinclusivity: Since 2016 we have developed sensory-centered workplace strategies, piloted them in our studios, expanded the work through global partnerships, and captured the findings in the 2025 book Designing Neuroinclusive Workplaces.
—Ecosystem Intelligence: Through Project Positive and EcoMetrix’s EI tool we quantify and boost ecosystem services—achieving a 400 % improvement at Stanford’s Center for Academic Medicine—and use the data to guide regenerative design.
—NYC 2100: Resilient Urban Futures: Planning research identifies 7,200 transit-served acres for equitable relocation and climate-ready growth as sea-level rise reshapes New York City’s outer boroughs.
—Mass Timber Research for Low-Carbon Construction: In collaboration with UC Berkeley’s MAAD Studio we are creating analytical tools and procedures for point-supported mass-timber structures that cut carbon and accelerate construction.
—DataRise: This concept repurposes vacant urban office towers into hybrid data-center and hydroponic-farm hubs that recycle server heat, reduce energy costs and revive downtown neighborhoods.What sets our program apart is that our active design practitioners conceive and carry out the research themselves. This approach allows us to quickly apply our innovations to real-world challenges and push the boundaries of design.
View a video about our research program.
