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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Clemson University, Clemson, SC, US, Bachelors, Architecture and Engineering
Bachelor of Science, Design/Architecture
Bachelor of Science, Civil Engineering
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.
