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Huntsman Architectural Group

Huntsman Q+A: Kelly Goldsmith

10/19/2015

 
Meet Kelly.  Having grown up in a family of general contractors, she is no stranger to the design and construction profession.  After an internship at Huntsman and completing her B.A. in Communications and Mass Media from the University of Colorado Boulder, she returns as our new marketing coordinator.  Here's what Kelly has to say on social media and making a buzz.
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Q: What lessons from your communications program at UC Boulder will you apply in your position here at Huntsman?

KG: One of the most influential takeaways I will apply to my position as marketing coordinator at Huntsman is the concept of organizational communication. In short, this is a form of communication that leads to effective management in a workplace environment. For example, this includes skills that lead to positive client and employee relationships. 

An acute awareness I wish to bring, is the beauty that each encounter is unlike any other. Every person has their own experiences, cultural background, and personal identity. These differences are not only wonderful but can be used to our advantage. It is valuable to notice these variances and integrate them into your work. Each person has a different perspective or approach, and great things are created out of this diversity.


Q: How has growing up in the construction profession (or in a construction family) formed your interest in design and architecture?

KG: Growing up with parents in the construction profession brought architecture, interior design and creativity into my life at a young age. I have vivid memories of my father taking me to building construction sites and showing me the entire process from start to finish. I was (and still am) in awe of San Francisco, and love to look around the city and see buildings that I know my family helped craft.

This makes me proud because my parents are humble people who took a leap of faith, started their own construction business and now literally see their hard work pay off. Their drive for success, humility and creativity have been instilled in my mind. I hope someday to look at other buildings knowing that I played a part and have that same sense of achievement.

So, how did I end up in marketing? I love to interact with people! I enjoy communicating, creating respectable solid relationships, and helping others. I have always been interested in learning about human interaction, along with how our minds shape who we are, what we see and how we act. This is why I decided to focus on communication in college, and eventually move into marketing. I like sharing my voice, and helping those around me be the best they can be.  I strive to assist in strategically advancing any company I work for and hopefully will add what I can to positively progress the efforts of Huntsman. 


Q: 
What is your favorite marketing campaign of all time and why? Why do you think it was successful?

KG: “Like A Girl” was a marketing campaign for Proctor and Gamble. They asked a group of teens and adults both male and female to act out what it means to do something “like a girl”. These responses showed the negative stigma associated with being a “girl”. Proctor and Gamble aimed to show that doing things like a girl isn’t any different than doing things like a boy or man. 

Through this campaign, Proctor and Gamble was aiming to appear synonymous with women’s empowerment. I was drawn to this because it not only is successful in promoting their products and reaching a large audience, but also in supporting a cause. This was smart because by addressing women, they immediately reached over half of the world population. Purchase intent rose from 40 to 60 percent after this ad was released.  I have a passion for the equality and empowerment of women and I also respect powerful marketing promotions. This identified both and ended up successfully reaching over 80 Million views.

Q: What are you favorite three social media channels and why do you think they make a difference in marketing?

KG:  My three favorite social media sites are LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. 

I like LinkedIn because it is multidimensional. On one side it helps to find future employees with solid references. You can get a quick grasp of who someone is without going through the entire interview process. LinkedIn can also explain who Huntsman is and help solidify our brand. Another positive is that LinkedIn is not limited to the younger generations, it does not have a specific age demographic. It is one of the first professional social media sites that reaches millions of people on a global scale. 

Facebook helps to show the less serious side of a company. It expresses the personality of the employees and the environment a potential employee could join. Facebook has been an underappreciated social network for companies, but can really have a positive effect. For example, Sales Force ran a link ad campaign on Facebook to drive conference registrations. After their two month Facebook launch, they reached 9.9 million people, 2.7 times their goal for registrations and 40% lower cost per registration than the initial projection.

Instagram is also one of my favorite social media outlets for the sole reason that it is strictly visual. It focuses less on description or written language and more on visual analyzation. Letting a picture speak for itself is a powerful message.

And of course the best thing about social media is it is FREE marketing!


Q: What marketing initiatives would you like to take on at Huntsman?

KG:  My main and immediate goal is to help in any way I can to advance the efforts of the marketing department at Huntsman. I hope to do this by consistently proving the firm’s added value to our current and potential clients. I hope to enhance the wonderful work that is being done every day at Huntsman and to broadcast this to the world. 

Beyond this (since I’m a Millennial) I use social media every day. I’m acutely aware of the advantages these media sites can provide to the firm. I would love to dip my foot into that side of marketing and share my point of view. 



Contact Kelly: 
kgoldsmith@huntsmanag.com
415.394.1212

Huntsman Q+A: Tiana Taylor

9/15/2015

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Meet Tiana.  She brings more than 15 years of experience in architecture and interior design.  Since starting Huntsman in 2012, she has quickly become an integral team member and project manager working with building owners and property managers in San Francisco.
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Q: How do you capture client goals into a project's planning and design?

TT: Capturing client goals is imperative to the success of planning and designing any project. No matter how big or how small a project is, my goal is to meet with the client and ask them about who they are, how they work, and what they want in a new design. Asking these questions ensures my team and I fully understand the client’s goals so that we can start working to reach them.  After listening carefully, I consider the various ideas and solutions most suitable for the project. Once the client approves our ideas, we can then move forward with the details of how to get the project built. This type of open communication fosters positive client relationships.

Q: How would you describe your approach to project management?

TT: My approach to business and project management is to provide great customer service by following up and following through. This proactive methodology allows me to address any issue that may occur in real time throughout the entire design process and schedule. 

I believe that practicing good communication with my internal team, external team, and client will produce a successful project delivery. I aim to be open, willing to listen, and share.  Collaboration is very important to me and how I lead my team. Promoting open collaboration shows everyone that you want to see them succeed. This recognition of their value to the project and team gets everyone motivated. The key is to create an atmosphere focused on communication, openness and collaboration.

Q: 
What areas of practice management would like to explore here are Huntsman? 

TT: I would like to explore a higher degree of leadership within Huntsman, to grow my expertise and resume. I enjoy the responsibilities that come with leadership and mentorship. I like gathering a team and working to reach a common goal. Through this team work, I strive to share my knowledge with junior staff and help them to excel. In turn, I’d like to also take on the management of larger projects with higher construction budgets, because my goal is to be a technically seasoned project manager.

Q: Which of your projects are your biggest achievements?  And why?

TT:  One example is a mismanaged property where the building architect was not keeping up with the pace of the brokers.  Huntsman was brought in to support property management in creating modern and economic building standards, while also providing a quick turn-around on space plans. Due to our great customer service and design, the property manager requested our services at another property in the East Bay.  I view this project as a great achievement because we met the client's expectations, and it led to growing a long-term working relationship. 

Q: Who is your biggest influence and why?

TT:  My parents have been a consistent influence throughout my life.  They have a great work ethic, which I aim to emulate!  I definitely get my leadership skills, ingenuity, and determination from them.  They have always encouraged me when I wanted to grow and expand. This support has led me to be where and who I am today.

My biggest design influence is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.  I graduated with a Professional Bachelor of Architecture from Illinois Institute of Technology, where he taught for many years.  His appreciation for minimal, structured open spaces and elegant details has strongly influenced my design aesthetic.


Q: As a member and former president of the San Francisco chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, how has being so involved influenced your personal and professional development?

TT:  I am absolutely an advocate for diversity within the field and feel like I’ve been given an opportunity to disprove stereotypes and show that professionals come in all shapes, sizes and colors. I'm not self-conscious about being a woman or African American in a male dominated profession.  Instead, my goal is to work with everyone as equals and to find the best solutions for the task at hand. 

Being a part of NOMA has definitely strengthened me.  The pool of talent that I come in contact with is so impressive and inspiring. I’m especially proud to be a mentor to NOMA student members.  I’ve been lucky to have found mentors as well and have learned a lot from architects and designers whose point-of-view I respect greatly; people who experienced life during the 60’s and 70’s when working within design and architecture wasn’t as accessible as it is today. Hearing stories of how hard it was for minority architects to obtain work back then motivates me to do my best. 

In turn, as a mentor to younger professionals today, I’m able to influence and provide guidance with my own personal experiences. I recently participated in SFNOMA’s Architecture Summer Camp.  I was able to share my perspective on architecture and education with the students.  I discussed with them the challenges they might face and the amount of effort they will exhaust throughout the process. Pulling all-nighters builds character! I also encouraged them to take every learning experience to heart and by doing so, they will be exposed to the essence of architecture and the importance of creating meaningful places and functional spaces. 


Contact Tiana: 
ttaylor@huntsmanag.com
415.394.1212

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Huntsman Q+A: Alaina Ladner

4/3/2015

 
Meet Alaina, a licensed architect, sustainability leader, and inspired educator. As one of the firm's "boomerangs", Alaina rejoins Huntsman after spending the past year exploring Southeast Asia and other design interests.
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Q: What motivates you, and how do you motivate others?

AL: I am highly motivated being part of an energized team, one that values the contributions of each individual as a collective whole.  Knowing that I can be a part of making something more beautiful, efficient, environmentally sensitive and human experience-oriented fuels me to bring my A-game.  It's exciting and humbling to be part of an industry that turns ideas into three-dimensional experiences.

Q: What are some of your current projects, and what interests you about them?

AL:  The repositioning of the 301 Howard Street lobby is particularly interesting for me because I spent years space planning in this building that has a challenging entry - an example of the Post-Modern Brutalism of the 1980s. The opportunity to transform the arrival experience, at a site soon to be reinvigorated by the new Transbay Terminal, is really exciting. The project poses intriguing challenges at the intersection of architecture and interior design. 

We are also in design development for the Argonaut office at the former Avalon Ballroom.  It will be a modern, open office housed in an early 1900s structure, once a Bill Graham concert venue.  It’s fantastic because the clients value the history of the space and are interested in creating a uniquely juxtaposed modern aesthetic, which will honor the building’s colorful past.  Plus, there’s rumor the space houses the spirit of Janis Joplin – who knows what construction administration might bring.

Q: What skillsets do you feel sets you apart?

AL: A skillset I bring is the eagerness to be part of transforming our industry into one which is more environmentally harmonious.  It’s our responsibility to strive to create healthy, vibrant spaces, which are increasingly less harmful, and perhaps beneficial to the environment.  But only when you know better, can you do better.


Education is the key to addressing the environmental and human issues impacting our industry.  I enjoy learning how to better accept the responsibility of our profession and enjoy even more sharing information with my colleagues, particularly in creative and memorable ways.

Q:  What is an example of a time that you were successful against the odds or particularly unique challenges?

AL: The FBI Regional Office was designed over a four-day all-hands charrette.  This 75,000 square foot office met the requirements of LEED Gold certification and included a new elevator, intensive security features, gym, and many other 
programmatically cryptic spaces.  It was a unique opportunity to work closely with the user groups, engineers, and contractors on a fascinating and tightly constrained project.  The lessons I learned in those four days!

Q: Describe some of your most important career accomplishments.

AL: I really enjoyed developing a long-standing relationship with our Keker & Van Nest client through a series of tenant improvements spanning over three years in the handsome historic Jackson Square buildings
.  The highlight was the addition of the conference center, lobby, and reception, which brought new life to the ground floor of a turn-of-the-century paper mill.

Q: What is one project or assignment that you feel most proud of?

AL: The production of the Regionalism and Upcycle events at Huntsman is the type of work I take the most pride in and also that which brings me the greatest rewards.  I am invigorated by the exchange of progressive environmental and human-centric ideas, particularly with real world applications.  I strive to be part of making the sustainability message a positive, dynamic, and energized one.

Q: What are some of your goals here at Huntsman?

AL: I'd like to organize more events and develop resources to enhance the Hunstman designer’s sustainability tool box.


Contact Alaina: 
aladner@huntsmanag.com
415.394.1212

The Gift Of Design

1/2/2013

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by Dan Huntsman
dhuntsman@huntsmanag.com

As the holiday season draws to a close, we are reminded of how the spirit of giving extends beyond our family and friends to the communities in which we work and live. Within the design profession, there are a host of opportunities to use our creativity to collaborate with community organizations whose missions are to serve those in need. For many of these groups, financial support to sustain the quality of their services has become increasingly more difficult to raise. They often have to develop innovative programs to gain visibility for their causes and attract both donors and volunteers. The contributions made by our employees have helped these organizations with fundraising and outreach efforts, and through their talents and skills, have been able to share the gift of design.

For the past 12 years, Huntsman has participated in We Care, an annual holiday event sponsored by Herman Miller. For this event, architecture and design firms in 27 cities around the country join together to volunteer their time and skills in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of America. Teams comprised of designers host craft stations, where kids make personalized gifts. At the start of the holiday season, Huntsman staff in both New York and San Francisco joined leading design firms to bring their expertise and passion for design to work with over 450 school kids in creating unique gifts – everything from jewelry, holiday themed tee shirts, photo frames, to wall clocks. At the end of the day, the children who participated in the event brought home armloads of handmade gifts.

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“We strive to create smiles and stories that will be well remembered,” says Erin Wendt, who supports the coordination efforts on behalf of the Herman Miller A+D team, “We aim to incorporate the arts and culture as part of the day. In addition to the craft-making, we host photos with Santa, a face-painting table and offer temporary tattoos as part of the fun. The best response that we could hear at the end of the day is for the children to ask if we would return next year!”
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Among the many challenges of putting together this event is coordinating craft designs that could be created by children ranging in age from 5 to 12 years old. “While planning, we have to consider several aspects: creativity of the craft, originality, cost, and ease of assembly,” shares Andrea Hurtado from Huntsman. “Kids have only 45 minutes to go from table to table, so creativity and efficiency were in high supply.”

Where the kids find delight in creating handmade gifts, designers get the opportunity to access their inner child, play with their creativity, and make time for our community. It also gives them a chance to encourage kids to use their imagination and to access their creativity for a thoughtful gift. It stresses the adage that gift giving is about meaning more than commercial value. “It is such an exciting event for the children, and they are so appreciative for the opportunity to make these gifts,” adds Huntsman’s Brandye Johnson, “not only for their loved ones, but for themselves as well.”

For CANstruction, a national fundraising event whose proceeds benefit local food banks, building creative sculptures out of food cans is leveraged as a marketing tool to draw the public in and create awareness for the organization. CANstruction holds annual design and build competitions to construct giant sized structures made entirely out of canned food. In more than 100 cities in North America, the structures are on display to the general public the week before Thanksgiving.

San Francisco CANstruction proposed the theme of the Cannes Film Festival for 2012, which required entries to tie back to the international film festival. Paying homage to its client Pixar Animation Studios, Huntsman teamed with GCI General Contractors and Rutherford & Chekene Engineers to construct a sculpture inspired by the film “Up,” the first animated feature film to premier at Cannes. Comprised of more than 5,300 cans of chicken, tuna, beef stew, crab meat, and assorted vegetables, the “Up” structure represents a whole greater than the sum of its many parts – an idea that is reflected in the event itself with 13 other structures in the competition. The event raised more than 70,000 cans of food which were donated to the San Francisco and Marin Food Banks.


“CANstruction is an ideal way for our industry to give back to the community in which we build,” shares Lauren Sherman, Chairperson for SF CANstruction. “Food and shelter are the basics that many are struggling with right now. CANstruction raises a tremendous amount of food while having fun and raising awareness about issues of hunger.” Only in its second year in the Bay Area, CANstruction 2012 represents the largest, single canned food donation in the food banks’ history, driving home the point that creative ideas can be made of the most common product like a can of food. And that design can help tell a much more compelling and visual story.
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While the holidays are a time when we are more conscious about the thought of giving, we can all pool our individual talents and creative ideas any time of year. The collective good is designed by our ability to come together and support each other.

From all of us at Huntsman Architectural Group, we wish you the best in the new year.

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The Next Generation Startup Workplace: Why It's Different This Time

11/7/2012

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by Sascha Wagner, IIDA CID LEED AP
swagner@huntsmanag.com
@swagnr

The Bay Area’s economic recovery is again being linked to investment in startup companies. Focusing on improving or creating entirely new technologies or services, these startups are not all large-scale endeavors. The federal government’s Small Business Administration states that small businesses start up at a rate of over 500,000 a year and account for 75% of all new jobs in our current economy. Recent commercial leasing reports for Silicon Valley and San Francisco show continued activity by startup companies in web technology, apps and gaming, and life-science sectors. While this activity seems to be stabilizing as this year draws to a close, the overall outlook continues to be positive. But let’s not confuse this with the tech gold rush of the late 1990’s – it is different this time.

As a result of the game-changing economic downturns of the dot-com bust, the 2008 stock market adjustment and the resulting “great recession”, the approach to seed funding, operational oversight, and cost control of startup companies now definitely (and thankfully) has a more sensible and conservative note. While the process of designing space for startups is a different game today, some fundamental keys to success have remained unchanged. Let’s look at some of the best practices:

– Create Learning Opportunity for Everyone –

Today’s startup leaders are often younger and/or first-time entrepreneurs and thus relatively new to the process of selecting and designing office space that reflects their company culture. This is a good thing. By nature, startups are just beginning to define their culture, so early planning with the real estate and design team offers the opportunity to identify and realize a company’s values through the evaluation of work styles and work settings.  Statistics show that second only to salary, the physical work environment is the largest contributor to employee satisfaction and retention. It’s simple – great space equals happy and productive employees.

Explaining the often complex design and construction process to a client is an important first step.  Projects are most successful when this dialogue is collaborative and continues for the duration. This builds critical trust between all involved parties and facilitates continuous learning.  So while clients learn about how space impacts their business, design consultants learn as much as possible about the client’s business model in order to support their vision with creative design solutions.

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Integrating the entire team early on ensures good planning and communication is consistent throughout the life of the project.
-   Choose the Best Setting -

How a startup actually intends to use their space greatly impacts the type of real estate to consider in the first place.  For example, wider column spacing or more room between the building core and window line may allow users to sit in larger groups and to reconfigure workstations more easily.  On the other hand, several segmented “neighborhoods” can allow for privacy between certain critical functions (e.g. a high energy sales area vs. a heads-down engineering area).  Knowing which model best supports a user’s needs informs the space selection from day one.

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Today’s workplace addresses a cultural shift towards flexible, open, and collaborative work environments, as seen in LEWIS PR’s San Francisco office above.
Touring existing spaces with a design professional is a helpful tool envisioning a variety of work environments, and gives clients a better sense of what to expect in their own project. It also provides an opportunity to understand a range of costs associated with certain levels of construction. Test-fit planning in multiple buildings gives clients the opportunity to confirm their program well before starting lease negotiations in earnest. When architects are part of the team up front they can add significant value to this process. Creating a good design in a space wrought with challenges is par for the course for talented designers, but why not select a space that is aligned with the client’s intended work style in the first place?

 – Return of the Spec Suite –

One current market trend is the proliferation of pre-built spaces complete with partitions, ceilings, lighting, and finishes, offering the ability to bring space online quickly. Especially for startups, this race to occupancy is often the primary determining factor in a real estate decision. Through creative design, these environments can often be re-purposed in exciting, non-traditional ways without much added cost.  For a tech startup, private offices become huddle rooms, conference rooms become engineering bullpens, and training rooms can become all-hands meeting or demonstration rooms.

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Spec suite ready for tech tenants in The Mills Building in San Francisco.
In most cases, startups are developing and testing disruptive or innovative technology as it goes to market.  As a result, spaces frequently need to support quickly changing work styles.  While pre-built spaces can be limiting in some ways, creatively adapting them can save costs and time, which is critical to emerging companies.

– Get Real on Schedule, Budget, and Program –

Clients who have never built out office space can be shocked at how long the process takes. Early schedule feedback from architects and contractors can help align a client’s expectations with the realities of construction. Too often, aggressive timeframes sound good from a leasing perspective but can only be accommodated by incurring some financial or functional penalties.

Similarly, developing a realistic project budget from the onset helps the design team formulate better solutions to client objectives. Knowing “what you get for the money” helps to prioritize needs versus wants, and even prior to that, enables the real estate broker to negotiate better lease terms based on those priorities. A budget should also take into consideration possible future modifications to the space. Most startups grow exponentially, so accommodating flexibility is paramount.  This is particularly true for electrical and HVAC infrastructure which can typically make up 30-35% or more of a construction budget. Cloud computing and off-site data storage services have liberated many office spaces from large IT infrastructure requirements. However, adding two or three times the amount of people into a space over time must also be considered in planning for cooling and electrical plug loads. Retrofitting a space later on is usually far more costly than planning for future needs up front.

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The requirements for Weebly’s office space (seen above) were those common to startups – plan for rapid growth, be highly flexible, and remain attractive to tech savvy employees in a competitive market.
Startup clients are likely to have fluctuating program needs. Through a visioning session, the design team learns how the users anticipate working in both the short term and in the future. Anticipated changes in work styles may inform what level of build-out actually needs to be done initially, and what should be phased in later.  An early determination of the number of offices, conference rooms, collaborative areas and open office space is often based on staff headcounts and growth projections which have not been fleshed out. Designing these spaces for multiple future uses builds in immediate flexibility.

– Be Innovative and Open to New Ideas –

The best companies recruit the most talented employees, and these are often people who seek out the most innovative work environments.  Therefore, the workplace should foster creativity and knowledge sharing.  Startup employees often hold multiple roles and are not fixed to traditional office workspaces, such as private offices or individual desks. As a result, space needs to perform multiple functions, which presents the chance to introduce flexible and often mobile design elements in architectural and furniture products that allow for easy reconfiguration. But with mobility comes a new set of challenges.

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Renderings illustrating scenarios that respond to new concepts within the evolving workplace. Phone booths, open office areas, cafes and game rooms are all potential collaborative space.
One of our recent startup “incubator” clients desired a highly-flexible open office with fully moveable workstations.  The challenge was bringing power and data cabling to desks that would be relocated on a weekly basis. Through our collaborative process with the client and the contractor’s pricing input on several options, the design team developed a solution incorporating laboratory-style pull-down power/data drops. Being open to all ideas and exploring them rapidly as a team is a success strategy that is akin to the business model of many startup clients themselves, and is often expected by this type of client. Successful consultants integrate this approach into their process.

– Set the Stage for Success –

Today’s startups have less money to spend on real estate, so it must be spent more intelligently. Experienced design and real estate professionals can help emerging business succeed by harnessing the power of their work environment and maximizing available capital.  The key is collaboratively sharing goals, expectations, and experiences, clearly defining roles and responsibilities, yet staying flexible and lean.  With this approach, the team lays the foundation for a successful project and an enduring client relationship that hopefully leads to more opportunities as today’s startups evolve to become the next industry leaders.

Sascha Wagner is a Principal at Huntsman Architectural Group. He is an advocate for highly collaborative, client driven, interdisciplinary design with sustainability at its core.  He is also President of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA)’s Northern California Chapter. Steven Gerten also contributed to this article.

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