Innovation in healthcare architecture, says Chuck Siconolfi, begins by clarifying the problem. Hospital design in the new millennium starts with this question: “Who is in these hospital beds?”

The design of this hybrid operating theater for the Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore allows staff to conduct diagnostic procedures and surgery without moving the patient.

CNN featured Barry Hughes, an architect in HOK’s London office, in a showcase of the Baku Flame Towers project for its Great Buildings series.

“If you go back to the region of Azerbaijan, the Zoroastrians populated this entire area,” explains Hughes. “They worshiped the flame. Allied to that, one of the things that is propelling the economy forward in Azerbaijan today is natural gas. It does start with that one gestural sketch that says, ‘this is the idea.’”

CNN’s profile of the Flame Towers project in Baku, Azerbaijan, notes that in addition to building the three towers in the shape of a flame, the challenges included weighting the towers to withstand potential earthquakes, constructing parts without the use of cranes due to Baku’s harsh winds, and making all the office, retail and residential spaces work together seamlessly.

“We wanted to design a train shed that supports movement and a vegetated roof visible from the street. The undulating green rooftops of the entrance recall the individual tracks below and dispel the impression that the north entrance is a back door. The overall design underscores the inherent sustainability of mass transit.”

Bill Hellmuth, AIA
Design Director, HOK in Washington, DC
President, HOK

Designing and building this complex 5.5-million-sq.-ft. campus in less than 30 months required the intense collaboration of more than 300 people from across 11 HOK offices.

KAUST is Saudi Arabia’s first LEED-certified project and the world’s largest LEED Platinum project.

The 75-foot-tall geodesic glass ‘Enigma’ and 45-foot-tall ‘Igloo’ are formed by 1,062 undulating faceted glass panes, with no two exactly alike. This is the first use of this cutting-edge structure in North America.

In addition to the Dali Museum, lead designer Yann Weymouth has designed the expansion and renovation of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, and the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts.

His other high-profile projects include the expansion of the Louvre Museum in Paris, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The museum is designed to withstand Category 5 hurricane winds and storm surges. In this Inhabitat interview, lead designer Yann Weymouth discusses the design’s hurricane-resistant features.