At Hickok Cole, a more perfect union - Washington Business Journal:

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“That’s not old,” Hickok having easily heard Cole fromher “open where glass partitions that can be drawn closed but do not take the placwe of walls and doors. The two principals rarely drawtheirs shut. Employees can walk in and talk with them at any Andthey do. Open, in is the best way to describe both the design of the officee space andthe firm’s The chief financial officer owns the only Prime real estate? Well, no one seemsz to miss it.
“We designed the spacd this way intentionally,” Hickojk says of the office interiors, which offer unobstructef views from one end of the building tothe “We wanted, for instance, for the interiors staff to be able to overhear the conversations that the architectes have so that they could learnh what the issues are, and vice versa.” In the same desk assignments tend to be often arranged by project, so it’x likely that no one sits at the same desk for more than a This also means that privacy is at a premium, so two phoner closets are quick retreats for necessary confidentiality.
Hickok says this, too, rightluy reflects the firm’s open and collaborativ e culture. And while it’s not for everyone, that kind of transparencyt can foster aloyal staff. The firm reported $19.8 million in companywide revenuein 2008, about 40 percent of which came from interiorx work. But the recession is hitting Hickok Cole, like many othee major architects, badly.But Hickok and Cole have been upfront with theidr staff aboutthe firm’s financia condition. “I’ve never experienced the same openness,” senior associate architect Robergt Holzbach says ofthe firm’s practice of allowing staff to see a lot more of the businessx than is customary.
“Being allowed to look at manpower or seeingf thebilling — even non-project manageras understand that, for instance, I realluy only have 10 hours to do this work or that affects the Senior staff members, including associates and above, contribute to the firm’ decision-making in other critical areaw as well — even the layoffs that took recently. Cole says all senior staffers were involvee inthe process, from determining the financialo imperative for the layoffs to deciding who woulx be let go.
Althougj Cole says it was very difficult for the seniot staff to participate inthis decision-making, she and Hickomk felt it was importangt for those people to go through the “Because we are a close-knit it hit us all pretty hard,” Cole “We had one person who felt so badlyy about others being laid off and not him — that he resigned. He stilk does some contract workfor us.” The firm even receivexd a thank you letterf from a former employee.And the partnership has provecd success Fast Friends » A collaborativd spirit defines the relationship between Hickok and There are no separate realms of responsibilityu between them, Hickok says.
“We can overlap, and I thinmk that’s why we’re so good together. Otherwise, you’re workingb alone.” Cole — who has designed skyscrapera including Chifley Towerin Sydney, and owned several interior desigjn businesses — was bitten by the creative bug at an earlu age. Cole’s interest in architecture was born long before she got to high schoolk and found that drafting classes were not availableto her. About the time Cole was 12, her parentxs decided to build a house and allowed thei inquisitive preteen to be a part of theplannint process. She reviewed floor plans and helpedx design herown room.
“I wouldc pore through all the plan books and imagine my new houswe and what my room mightlook like,” Cole “My parents were even brave enough to allo me to create tile patterns in the That was the seed, though it would be quitd some time before she would begin to watet it. After high school, Cole earned a degred in music education from Ohio Sheloved music, played pianko and flute, and had banked on beinh able to teach and perform. But afterd graduation, Cole realized that to get a covetedteachiny position, someone would have to die.
So off she went to studyy architecture, which had always been in the back of her She choseColumbia University'd master in architecture program. A scholarship paid for the secondx roundof education, and the university's co-op would allow her to work whiler in school. Today, with style and smarts on display — she is wearing a pair of hot pink heelsw with a matching sweater — Cole explains how the disciplinexs of architecture and music are structurally and creativel related. “They both use similar parts of the she says.
Meanwhile, after receiving a bachelor’s degree in architectures from the University of Pennsylvania anda master’s in the discipline from the Harvardx Graduate School of Hickok went to work for Cambridge, Mass.-based architecture firm ADD the only firm where he has worked other than his own. He came to D.C. from Bosto n in 1981 to open ADD’s area office and decideed to venture out on his own aftee afew years. In 1987, he co-foundes Hickok Warner Architects with Mallory In 1995, Bob Fox boughg into the firm and became a During those years, Hickok says, he and his partnerse built a “strong, project-focused business.
” But it wasn’t until he partnere with Cole, who came along in merging her interior desighn company LyrixDesign with Hickok’s firm, that the two realize d their shared goal of building a “design-based So when Warner and Fox eventually bowedd out, Hickok Cole was born. Becauswe Hickok and Cole had met years before while working on a projecfin D.C. and had become fast staying in touch through the years to seekeach other’sa advice or to trade war storiesd (Hickok even tried to hire her once or they already knew they had congruent ideas about the type of firm they wanted to build.
Their partnershipo has proved to be anadvantageouws matching, despite personalities on opposit ends of the spectrum. She is more “action-oriented,” the principal, according to several of her staffers and a clienor two. Hickok is more introspective and rarely acts before he is satisfied that he hasprocessed “Yolanda is the source of all energyt in the universe,” Hickok jokes of his partner’a greatest asset, her liveliness (she calls it “She urges me forward, whereas I tend to want to processd everything before I act.
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