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Old Posted Feb 21, 2012, 1:27 AM
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Discovering More Design Firms

Hey all,

I posted this in the skybar, but we all know that everyone in the Mountain West section are the most knowledgeable when it comes to project management and design. I'm hoping people like bunt, Ken, rds, and Cirrus will be able to help point me in the right direction.

As this is a skyscraper forum, there already is quite a large, established database when it comes to knowing about all the architectural firms that have designed buildings around the world. However, we all know that this is only a small part of what goes into a building's design.

I recently became curious to learn more about the other parties involved with improving a building's aesthetics. Things like the interior design of a building or hotel, or the landscape and plaza design at the base and exterior. Where do these plans come from? Do most architecture firms do their own landscape, interior, and structural design in house? Or are there other, more specialized companies for these realms? Also, who are they are and how numerous are they? Does anyone have any ideas on how I could find a large database of landscape and interior design firms like we already have on here for architectural firms? I would love to know more about the firms out there that are like the 'Skidmore Owings and Merrill' of interior design as a specialty.

From what I've found, the mega-firms like SOM and Foster tend to do their own interior design or landscape design in-house. They are like a one-stop shop for people who want to build buildings. But if I could find more specialized firms in the realms of interior design or landscaping, or find a database list, it would be very appreciated. Any ideas?

EDIT: Cirrus, help little Franco learn to spell 'MORE' in the title. Thanks.
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  #2  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2012, 3:47 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FrancoRey View Post
Hey all,

I posted this in the skybar, but we all know that everyone in the Mountain West section are the most knowledgeable when it comes to project management and design. I'm hoping people like bunt, Ken, rds, and Cirrus will be able to help point me in the right direction.

As this is a skyscraper forum, there already is quite a large, established database when it comes to knowing about all the architectural firms that have designed buildings around the world. However, we all know that this is only a small part of what goes into a building's design.

I recently became curious to learn more about the other parties involved with improving a building's aesthetics. Things like the interior design of a building or hotel, or the landscape and plaza design at the base and exterior. Where do these plans come from? Do most architecture firms do their own landscape, interior, and structural design in house? Or are there other, more specialized companies for these realms? Also, who are they are and how numerous are they? Does anyone have any ideas on how I could find a large database of landscape and interior design firms like we already have on here for architectural firms? I would love to know more about the firms out there that are like the 'Skidmore Owings and Merrill' of interior design as a specialty.

From what I've found, the mega-firms like SOM and Foster tend to do their own interior design or landscape design in-house. They are like a one-stop shop for people who want to build buildings. But if I could find more specialized firms in the realms of interior design or landscaping, or find a database list, it would be very appreciated. Any ideas?

EDIT: Cirrus, help little Franco learn to spell 'MORE' in the title. Thanks.
I would say that interior design firms and landscape/streetscape design firms are not unlike architectural firms: there are the heavy-weights, the medium-weights, and the light-weights. It's just that architectural firms get the general public recognition (like SOM) because the building design is the most publicly-visible component. A simple Google search for prominent interior/landscape/streetscape design firms should give you what you're looking for.
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  #3  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2012, 3:52 PM
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There are many architectural companies out there who do their own interior designs, landscape designs, and/or urban planning in house, but usually break them out into a separate department altogether. Colorado companies that come to mind that do this are RNL and OZ. From my experience, about 50% of the architects in town have these departments in addition to standard architecture. However (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), but I do not know any Colorado companies that do both Architecture and Structural Engineering.

Companies like SOM, & HOK are more the exception rather than the norm, because they also do their own Structural Engineering in house. There are very few companies who do that.

In addition to the Architect/Interior Designer, Landscape architect, and Structural Engineer, you will also have the Civil engineer who handles site grading, drainage and utilities; Geotechnical Engineer, who tests the soils and suggests to the Structural Engineer what kind of foundations to use; the MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing) Engineer, who handles, well just what it says. The MEP also sometimes handles fire protection, however in my experience most times a specialist firm is brought in to design the fire protection system. Same with Security systems. Also a new one is someone who studies the building for LEED certification and Sustainability, but a lot of times this is still handled by the architect. For projects with large Conference or Assembly areas, sometimes Acoustic Engineers are also brought in for their expertise.

I also have worked on many projects where, even when the architect has landscape capabilities, there will still be another separate landscape design firm on the team, for one reason or another.

For lists of Colorado Architectural firms, you can visit AIA Colorado's website, then simply go on the companies website to see if they provide interior design or landscape services. To find out engineering consulting firms, you can visit the ACEC Colorado chapter's website, its a great resource, and most firms in CO are listed there. The DBJ also posts many of them in their yearly top book of lists.

I know you probably know most of this already, but I am also just simply writing it as general knowledge in case anyone else is interested.

I am a Structural Engineer BTW.
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Old Posted Feb 22, 2012, 3:54 AM
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EngiNerd: Thank you so much for that descriptive answer! I thought about looking at the AIA website as a resource. I am sure they will have the most firms listed. Also thank you Ken for your answer.

These recommendations will come in handy as I search for a larger pool of architects for my company. I recently was hired in China at a Chinese development company who likes to exclusively use foreign architects & designers, so if I can use some Colorado-based firms looking to go international I would love to be the one to give them a hand. Of course I won't limit my architect & design firms to Colorado-based ones, but these are ones I am biased towards. We'll see what other experienced firms I can find elsewhere that might have interest in doing work abroad.
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