They are one of the best sustainable design companies in states, even the world. they have over 400 LEED AP in all branches. Does anyone who ever practiced there before or ING could tell some image of how exactly green their works are? and how do they carry out design in a green way? is this a company where you could learn lots of good sustainable design principles?
First of all, I wouldn't say there is one working style for the whole firm, offices vary widely from one another. One of the reasons for this is that many offices were added through acquisition, and some of the acquired firms were not too happy about the transition. Maybe this has calmed down since the boom, but it's something I would ask about if you're considering working for P+W.
That said, there is a lot to like about P+W. I really miss the resources and educational opportunities available there. We had frequent "lunch and learns" not only for outside product reps, but also to share particularly sustainable projects and tutorials and tips for software. It's great to have free high quality classes to expand your skill set. Both of these were firm wide programs that would be set up as live conferences. We also had a weekly design crit within the office to discuss current projects.
As for greenness, the firm is about as committed as any very large corporate firm could be. They paid for everyone to get LEED accredited, and provided study materials and support. They have green office initiatives - covering cleaning products, office supplies, where to order the greenest catering . . . and they were happy to build LEED certified offices with operable windows, natural lighting, waterless urinals, etc. Each office has a "green team", basically a group that meets to discuss sustainability and participate in local conferences. Some higher ups really focus on sustainability and pushing things beyond LEED, and you can certainly learn a lot from them. But, the firm is made up of lots of different people with different levels of interest in greenness.
Also, different offices excel at different things, if your goal is to be as green as possible, then Vancouver (Busby P+W) is probably your best bet. If you want to get the best projects design wise, Chicago and Atlanta hold all the power. Different offices also have different specializations in project types, but this can sometimes be difficult to figure out from the outside. Chances are if you're hired to work on hospitals, you'll probably do a lot of them, and the same for science and tech, education, etc. And when you're dealing with government of large institutional projects, the clients standards for LEED and other programs will dictate how sustainable the project is much more than the firm.
Keep in mind quantity of employees with LEED accreditation doesn't always mean the office is doing large amounts of sustainable work. I can't speak for P+W because I haven't worked there, but I have worked in other offices were a large portion of the staff was a LEED AP but did very few LEED or sustainable projects. I think what it came down to many times is not that the office wasn't interested but rather the client didn't have the budget to go through the LEED process which pretty much scrapped most of the sustainability effort.
LEED may be many things, but affordable it is not.
How is Perkins and Will working style
They are one of the best sustainable design companies in states, even the world. they have over 400 LEED AP in all branches. Does anyone who ever practiced there before or ING could tell some image of how exactly green their works are? and how do they carry out design in a green way? is this a company where you could learn lots of good sustainable design principles?
thanks~
First of all, I wouldn't say there is one working style for the whole firm, offices vary widely from one another. One of the reasons for this is that many offices were added through acquisition, and some of the acquired firms were not too happy about the transition. Maybe this has calmed down since the boom, but it's something I would ask about if you're considering working for P+W.
That said, there is a lot to like about P+W. I really miss the resources and educational opportunities available there. We had frequent "lunch and learns" not only for outside product reps, but also to share particularly sustainable projects and tutorials and tips for software. It's great to have free high quality classes to expand your skill set. Both of these were firm wide programs that would be set up as live conferences. We also had a weekly design crit within the office to discuss current projects.
As for greenness, the firm is about as committed as any very large corporate firm could be. They paid for everyone to get LEED accredited, and provided study materials and support. They have green office initiatives - covering cleaning products, office supplies, where to order the greenest catering . . . and they were happy to build LEED certified offices with operable windows, natural lighting, waterless urinals, etc. Each office has a "green team", basically a group that meets to discuss sustainability and participate in local conferences. Some higher ups really focus on sustainability and pushing things beyond LEED, and you can certainly learn a lot from them. But, the firm is made up of lots of different people with different levels of interest in greenness.
Also, different offices excel at different things, if your goal is to be as green as possible, then Vancouver (Busby P+W) is probably your best bet. If you want to get the best projects design wise, Chicago and Atlanta hold all the power. Different offices also have different specializations in project types, but this can sometimes be difficult to figure out from the outside. Chances are if you're hired to work on hospitals, you'll probably do a lot of them, and the same for science and tech, education, etc. And when you're dealing with government of large institutional projects, the clients standards for LEED and other programs will dictate how sustainable the project is much more than the firm.
i heard they use the three seashells method in all their offices.
I disagree with you Tuna. I think their method is even more bland than that.
Keep in mind quantity of employees with LEED accreditation doesn't always mean the office is doing large amounts of sustainable work. I can't speak for P+W because I haven't worked there, but I have worked in other offices were a large portion of the staff was a LEED AP but did very few LEED or sustainable projects. I think what it came down to many times is not that the office wasn't interested but rather the client didn't have the budget to go through the LEED process which pretty much scrapped most of the sustainability effort.
LEED may be many things, but affordable it is not.
I agree, when the LEEd stuff is proposed initially, it's the first thing to go away once the budget is in question.
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