Met their president about 4 years ago after he gave a speech about hospitality design. At the time they were hiring when a lot of firms were letting peole go in the wake of 9/11. At the time their London office was doing a substantial amount of work in the mid-east. What office are you looking at? I seem to recall they had them all over the place. I know they've done mega projects like the Venetian in Vegas and Atlantis in the Bahamas.
Oh, and sorry to not specifically answer your question, but what firm president is going to not say great things about the office culture and work load of his firm. I wouldn't worry about them funding my 401k though. They've got $$$.
looking to move to LA, but living in orange county is not LA? They seem to have a fantasy niche that any other firm can't compare with? Am I wrong? The O.C. though?
I've had friends try working in Vegas just to get their hands into the "fantasy" niche as you say. It burns people out. Sounds fun, but not the type of architecture I'd want to devote my life to.
Architects are pretty much high-class whores. We can turn down projects the way they can turn down some clients, but we've both got to say yes to someone if we want to stay in business.
If you want a suburban beach lifestyle, the the oc is your place- watch the tv show- that's what it's really like!
There are pockets of urbanity and sophistication - irvine, anaheim - amidst the affluent banality of $1.2 M tract houses and gated communities. The high pay is based on high housing costs - there is no affordable housing in OC. That said, you can also live in Long Beach or San Pedro for half the cost and accept a 40 minute (minimum) commute. At rush hour it takes 2 1/2 hours to get from Irvine to downtown LA. There is a train from LA to San Diego that's much faster.
Visit first or don't complain that we didn't warn you.
a) the housing in orange county is not as expensive as the housing in nyc
b) Irvine really sucks, so I'm surprised you offer it as a place of urbanity and sophistication--it's about the epitome of the soulless and crappy nouveau riche aspects of orange county.
c) The beach towns are great and have lively, vibrant communities. If you're looking for the east-coast concept of culture, don't move to any place in california pretty much outside of Nob Hill (SF). If you want friendly people, beautiful surroundings, and an easy lifestyle, head to south orange county and live in san clemente, san juan capistrano, or laguna beach. And no, it is not like the TV show, unless you bang some rich housewife in newport beach. Oh, and Newport Beach--great cute little town, the old parts. Honestly Irvine is everything that made me leave Orange County, I cannot disagree with treekiller more. Vast landlocked oases of office parks... UCK. The coast is so very friendly and beautiful, however. Free beaches in little cliff-side coves... south orange county is where the rolling hills are. Screw those flat-land pansies up in north county!
M -hehe!
Irvine.... and I hate Anaheim too! I live on the eastside of LA not OC- then again I hate citywalk, 90210, brentwood, and FOG as the quinesential california experience.
I've met a couple of guys that work at their various offices and they were pretty cool; enjoyed sharing a beer or two with 'em for whatever that's worth. They were one of the first to really commit to the Revit platform, so if you are or can be interested in the whole BIM phenomenon, you could probably soak up a lot from these guys.
hmm WATG - I know the "goo" in the picture. Talking to him quite a few times, been to their office in Hawaii, seen their work. I'd say run away as fast as possible. Their office was set up in little "team" cubicles - no interaction between people (even "teammates") - horrible office set up - I felt as though I was in an accounting firm. Definitely not for me.
our firms shared an office once (in OC) i got a good impression of them and their work (and one of their admins was super cute) 9/11 hit them big time... havent had contact with them since (except running into a presentation in 2004 on some destination project in africa?) ask them about their future in LA, they might be open to starting an office (since many other big firms are opening offices there at the moment)
wimberly allison tong and goo
anybody work for or know anything about this firm? Good to work for? Future work?
Met their president about 4 years ago after he gave a speech about hospitality design. At the time they were hiring when a lot of firms were letting peole go in the wake of 9/11. At the time their London office was doing a substantial amount of work in the mid-east. What office are you looking at? I seem to recall they had them all over the place. I know they've done mega projects like the Venetian in Vegas and Atlantis in the Bahamas.
Oh, and sorry to not specifically answer your question, but what firm president is going to not say great things about the office culture and work load of his firm. I wouldn't worry about them funding my 401k though. They've got $$$.
looking to move to LA, but living in orange county is not LA? They seem to have a fantasy niche that any other firm can't compare with? Am I wrong? The O.C. though?
I've had friends try working in Vegas just to get their hands into the "fantasy" niche as you say. It burns people out. Sounds fun, but not the type of architecture I'd want to devote my life to.
what if they pay you a lot of money?
-Philip Johnson
why would they pay you a lot of money?
what if they would offer 30 percent more than any firm would offer in nyc. that enough to give up nyc and move to the oc?
the OC is not LA. as if jersey or LI is not NYC.
If you want a suburban beach lifestyle, the the oc is your place- watch the tv show- that's what it's really like!
There are pockets of urbanity and sophistication - irvine, anaheim - amidst the affluent banality of $1.2 M tract houses and gated communities. The high pay is based on high housing costs - there is no affordable housing in OC. That said, you can also live in Long Beach or San Pedro for half the cost and accept a 40 minute (minimum) commute. At rush hour it takes 2 1/2 hours to get from Irvine to downtown LA. There is a train from LA to San Diego that's much faster.
Visit first or don't complain that we didn't warn you.
that 30 percent would be eaten up with transportation and housing probably a wash
theres nothin like cruising the pacific coast highway in you hyundai!
a) the housing in orange county is not as expensive as the housing in nyc
b) Irvine really sucks, so I'm surprised you offer it as a place of urbanity and sophistication--it's about the epitome of the soulless and crappy nouveau riche aspects of orange county.
c) The beach towns are great and have lively, vibrant communities. If you're looking for the east-coast concept of culture, don't move to any place in california pretty much outside of Nob Hill (SF). If you want friendly people, beautiful surroundings, and an easy lifestyle, head to south orange county and live in san clemente, san juan capistrano, or laguna beach. And no, it is not like the TV show, unless you bang some rich housewife in newport beach. Oh, and Newport Beach--great cute little town, the old parts. Honestly Irvine is everything that made me leave Orange County, I cannot disagree with treekiller more. Vast landlocked oases of office parks... UCK. The coast is so very friendly and beautiful, however. Free beaches in little cliff-side coves... south orange county is where the rolling hills are. Screw those flat-land pansies up in north county!
M -hehe!
Irvine.... and I hate Anaheim too! I live on the eastside of LA not OC- then again I hate citywalk, 90210, brentwood, and FOG as the quinesential california experience.
keep your goldbricking ass out of my beach community,dude.
hand me the ringer dude, chop chop
I've met a couple of guys that work at their various offices and they were pretty cool; enjoyed sharing a beer or two with 'em for whatever that's worth. They were one of the first to really commit to the Revit platform, so if you are or can be interested in the whole BIM phenomenon, you could probably soak up a lot from these guys.
hmm WATG - I know the "goo" in the picture. Talking to him quite a few times, been to their office in Hawaii, seen their work. I'd say run away as fast as possible. Their office was set up in little "team" cubicles - no interaction between people (even "teammates") - horrible office set up - I felt as though I was in an accounting firm. Definitely not for me.
I worked in the London offcie for a few months tacking columns to the elevation of some cut-and-paste job in Villamoura.
The whole place made me feel dirty. I had to scrub myself every night to get the Po-Mo off. Ewwww.
It's all just fligths of fancy shit from where I was sitting. They didn't even do full service contracts. No working drawings anywhere.
Not sure how the US offices compare, but I would never work for them again.
Frit is right tho, they are jumping into Revit big time, so could be a good learning opportunity.
our firms shared an office once (in OC) i got a good impression of them and their work (and one of their admins was super cute) 9/11 hit them big time... havent had contact with them since (except running into a presentation in 2004 on some destination project in africa?) ask them about their future in LA, they might be open to starting an office (since many other big firms are opening offices there at the moment)
i stepped on some wimberly allison tong and goo the other day, took
me an hour and a half to scrape it off my shoe.
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