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alexander sipkes

alexander sipkes

New York, NY, US

 

About 

OVERVIEW

Alexander Sipkes is a leader who possesses tremendous communication and leadership skills with strategic, creative, marketing and financial acumen, and a strong business intellect. Inspired by nature, cities, communities, cultures, cars, machines, art, film, fashion, as well as the human body and form; Alex believes in being part of collaborative teams in the creation of multi-disciplinary design projects which establish a true sense of place appropriate for the surrounding environment and community. Along with architecture, master planning, and interior design; Alex has also been involved with the creation of custom furniture, hardware, and product designs for hotel, retail and residential projects including the establishment of licensing relationships with American as well as International manufacturing companies.

 

A registered New York and California Architect with expertise of more than 27 years in architecture, interior design, product design, master planning, and strategic planning, Alex Sipkes’ experience also extends to residential, hospitality, product design, retail, corporate, and institutional design projects. He was Practice Leader and Associate Partner/ Director at SOM, New York for eight years; Studio Director for Gary Lee Partners, Chicago and Los Angeles; Managing Director of Barbara Barry Inc., Los Angeles; Studio Director for FRCH, New York; spent eight years with Gensler in San Francisco; and helped establish the Gensler Hong Kong office.

 

Alex and his teams have received numerous awards from the design, architecture, and business communities and many projects have been featured in international publications. He gained great recognition for the design of the restoration/ renovation of the Inland Steel Building in Chicago, including the AIA “Sustainability and Preservation Award” and the “Progressive Architecture” and “Research + Development” awards from Architect Magazine.

 

ARCHITECTURE, BASE BUILDING, AND MASTER PLANNING PROJECTS

8 Washington Street Residential Condominiums, San Francisco, California

Applied Materials Global University Campus, Santa Clara, California

China Hewlett Packard Corporate Headquarters, Beijing, China

Grey Group Headquarters, New York

JPMorgan Chase Corporate Headquarters, 270 Park Avenue, New York

Lehigh University School of Business, Lehigh University

MCI Regional Headquarters, Colorado Springs

Morgan Stanley Greater New York Real Estate Portfolio Analysis and Master Plan

Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco

Ogilvy & Mather Headquarters, New York

San Francisco International Airport Terminal, San Francisco

School of Architecture, Arizona State University, Tempe

Selbourne Square, Retail Complex, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sunset/La Cienega Hotel/Residential/Retail, Los Angeles

Wells Fargo Operations Center, Fremont, California

 

RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS

Four Season Residential Condominiums, Bahrain

Manhattan Loft Gardens Tower, London, United Kingdom

Olympic Tower Lobby, New York

Sky loft apartment 145 Hudson Street, New York

W Hotel Residential Condominiums, Huntington Beach, California

Wilshire Boulevard Apartment, Los Angeles, California

One Fifth Avenue Apartment, New York

8 Washington Street Residential Condominiums, San Francisco, California

21 East 22nd Street Apartment, New York

70 Balcombe Street, London, United Kingdom

414 East 52nd street, New York

1105 Bel Air place, Los Angeles, California

1159 Clay Street, San Francisco, California

1529 Oriole Lane, Los Angeles, California

1776 Tam O' Shanter Drive, Poway California

4346 Monteith Drive, Los Angeles, California

 

HOSPITALITY PROJECTS

Auberge Resorts, Calistoga, California

Cipriani Hotel and Residences, Moscow

Four Seasons Hotel, Kingdom of Bahrain and Mexico City

Mandarin Oriental, New York

Story Hotel, New York, Los Angeles and Utah

Sunset/La Cienega Hotel/Residential/Retail, Los Angeles

The James Hotel, Miami and New York

W Hotel Huntington Beach and La Jolla, California

Waldorf Astoria, New York

 

RETAIL DESIGN AND STORE PLANNING PROJECTS

Ann Taylor, flagship stores in New York and San Francisco

Apple Computer Store, Cupertino, California

Banana Republic, 5 flagship locations nationally

Gap and Gap International, 25 locations

Gumps, San Francisco

Nike Concept Shop, San Francisco and New York

Polo Sports and Polo/ Ralph Lauren Boutique, Macy’s San Francisco           

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Retail Store

The North Face, John Hancock Tower, Chicago

Tiffany & Co. New York

 

INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECTS

Armani Exchange, Corporate Headquarters, New York

Apple Computer, Customer Service Center, Austin, Texas

Applied Materials Global University, Santa Clara, California

Bank of America, Corporate Facilities, San Francisco

Chevron, World Headquarter Facilities, San Francisco

China Hewlett Packard Corporate Headquarters, Beijing, China

Cyrus Capital Corporate Headquarters, New York

Goldman Sachs Corporate Headquarters, New York

Harbinger Capital Partners Headquarters, New York

JPMorgan Chase Corporate Headquarters, 270 Park Avenue, New York

Morgan Stanley Corporate Headquarters, 1585 Broadway, New York

Related Companies Marketing Center, New York

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Corporate Offices

SpaceX Corporate Headquarters, Hawthorne, California

Vornado Realty Trust Corporate Headquarters, New York

The Gap Corporate Facilities, San Bruno and New York

The Gap Corporate Headquarters, San Francisco

Wells Fargo Operations Center, Freemont, California

 

PRODUCT DESIGN/ LICENSING

Ann Sachs: Tile and Fixture Collections

Baker Furniture: Furniture and Accessory Collections

Boyd Lighting: Light Fixture Collections

Cumberland Furniture Company: Furniture Collections

Halcon Furniture: Furniture Collections

HBF Furniture; Furniture Collections

Kohler: Fixture Collections

McGuire Furniture: Furniture Collection

Unifor Contract Furniture: Furniture Collection

Valli & Valli Fusital Collection: Hardware Collections

Valli &Valli: Bath Accessory Collection

Venu Furniture Collection: Furniture Collections

Employment 

Private Practice, New York and Los Angeles, New York and Los Angeles, Principal

Principal responsible for orchestrating the overall design, strategy, and documentation efforts for residential, hospitality, F&B, and work place design projects. Responsibilities include the initial client contact, fee and contract negotiation, preparation/ review of construction schedules/ budgets, presentations to developers and owners, scheduling and supervision of construction documents for a number of projects. In this capacity, responsible for generating new business and orchestrating development deals, securing government agency approvals and initiating project design, documentation, and conducting field supervision. These responsibilities include:

• Leadership and overall management responsibility of a variety of project types including real estate analysis, master planning, work place strategy, branding, program development, space planning, change management, value engineering, building restack analyses, post move-in evaluations, as well as base building Architecture and Interior design projects from concept through construction.

Aug 2013 - current
 

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), New York, NY, US, Associate Partner/ Director

Associate Partner/ Director and Practice leader responsible for successful, profitable, and innovative studio of architects, interior designers and project managers. Studio/ Firm wide responsibilities include: Marketing/ Business Development, Client Account Management, Accounting/ Profitability, Practice Group/ Studio Yearly Business Plans, Staffing, Employee Evaluation, and Staff Mentoring. Oversight of teams and management of client relationship of ongoing master planning, architectural and interiors projects ranging from 10,000SF to 4.4 million SF for financial, corporate, and hospitality clients including: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Harbinger Capital Partners, Vornado Realty Trust, Tiffany & Co., Grey Group, Young & Rubicam, Ogilvy & Mather, Capital Properties, Mt. Sinai, The James Hotel Group, W Hotels, Cipriani, and Four Seasons Hotels/ Resorts. Additional responsibilities include:

• Development of yearly financial, marketing and business plans for firm wide practice including quarterly reports, updates and realignments.
• Leadership of the design and documentation teams for a variety of project types including residential, hospitality, corporate, and institutional clients.
• Monitoring of production scheduling and staffing of multiple project teams and profitability for firm wide business/ practice group.
• Establishing of weekly in-house team meetings to track schedule, phase deliverables, staffing and client changes/updates to foster team communication and timely project management.
• Preparation of client agreements/contracts as well as consultant agreements confirming project scope, phases, schedule, budget, number of meetings and cost parameters as well as identifying potential client requested clauses, language, and liabilities not suitable for agreement
• Review and evaluation of RFP (Requests for Proposals) and developing successful responses by creating thorough responses highlighting expertise and experience and including specific project work plans, schedules, scope, deliverables and fees.
• Uncovering marketing leads and orchestrate successful presentations, proposals and team interviews for diverse clients with many different types of project / services requirements.
• Fostering of collaborations with companies such as Valli&Valli, Armstrong, Milliken, Unifor, Knoll, and Maharam to develop new product offerings through analysis, research and product design. Responsible for completing services/licensing agreements.

Jul 2005 - Jul 2013
 

Gary Lee Partners, Los Angels and Chicago, Director

Director and Project Principal accountable for overseeing design teams, projects, and managing client engagements/ relationships in LA, SF, and NY. Responsible for developing and implementing California/ New York marketing and business strategies. Led the development of a business plan and identified the necessary capital and infrastructure required to manufacture and bring to market GLP signature product and furniture collections. Lead design teams for branding and interior design assignments for residential, hospitality, legal, and corporate clients.

• Developed and nurtured a design studio to create inspirational, insightful, and intelligent design projects while maintaining an energetic work environment and profitable financial base.
• Orchestrated marketing initiatives and developed marketing presentations for different market sectors highlighting expertise
• Completed numerous RFP’s as well as client agreements/contracts including consultant agreements confirming project scope, phases, schedule, budget, number of meetings and cost parameters as well as identified potential client requested clauses, language, and liabilities not suitable for agreement.

Jan 2004 - Jun 2005
 

Education 

London Business School, London, GB, Masters, MBA/ Master of Management

MBA/Master of General Management; Sloan Graduate MBA program for senior managers offered at London Business School, MIT, and Stanford University. Presented thesis on the development of flexible organization/ management structures that enable companies to endure rapid growth and respond swiftly to marketplace changes.

Sep 1999 - May 2000
 

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, US, MArch, Master of Architecture

Graduate School of Fine Arts
Master of Architecture: Awarded traveling Fellowship to study the architecture and urban planning of Japanese villages.
Wharton Graduate School of Business: MBA Core Course Curriculum focusing on Real Estate and Development

Sep 1988 - May 1990
 

Clemson University, Clemson, SC, US, Bachelors, Architecture and Engineering

Bachelor of Science, Design/Architecture
Bachelor of Science, Civil Engineering

Sep 1980 - Sep 1986
 

Awards 

AIA sustainability and preservation award, Award

Alex and his teams have received numerous awards from the design, architecture, and business communities and many projects have been featured in international publications. He gained great recognition for the design of the restoration/ renovation of the Inland Steel Building in Chicago, including the AIA “Sustainability and Preservation Award” and the “Progressive Architecture” and “Research + Development” awards from Architect Magazine.

2011
 

Skills