Combined International Practice will Create Expanded Capabilities in Large-Scale Architectural Projects and Client Value
NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Top international design and architecture firms Perkins Eastman and Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (EE&K) are pleased to announce that they have agreed to merge their practices. The merger will significantly strengthen both practices and is a natural outgrowth of their respective histories and long mutual respect. The combined international practice will total nearly 600 employees, adding expanded capabilities and client value. The firms will consolidate their New York, Washington DC, and China practices.
Perkins Eastman has been practicing in China for almost 15 years, and in 2007 created a Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE) in Shanghai to better serve clients in Eastern Asia. The firm's recently completed projects include The Hall of Academics, the headquarters of China's Academy of Sciences; Jinan South City, a large new community in Shandong; and Wanliu Shopping Center, a large new retail center in Beijing as well as various master plans and large-scale development plans. Perkins Eastman is expanding its presence in Asia with the planned opening of an office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2011.
EE&K has maintained a longstanding commitment to innovative place making and large-scale redevelopment in China. EE&K's portfolio includes Bai Lu Jun Nan New Town in the historic city of Hangzhou; several large scale, mixed-use developments including Huishan North Bund in Shanghai, Vanke Beijing Mini-City mixed-use retail development, and Changshou Lu in Guangzhou; as well as master plans in Qingdao, Xi'an, Xiamen, and Jimo.
Bradford Perkins FAIA, Chairman of Perkins Eastman, notes, "EE&K brings an internationally respected large-scale architectural design practice as well as a 50-year record of innovative educational facility design, a distinguished portfolio of historic preservation and adaptive reuse, and a growing practice in China and Vietnam. This merger will be transformative for both practices, and will create an international firm with expanded reach, enhanced capabilities, and value for our clients."
Both firms believe that the design of the built environment is critical to the quality of life and that skilled architects play a critical role. Both have a portfolio of large-scale developments that share a set of common values: the objective of creating new urban places that foster vibrant public communities. Projects are designed to become authentic parts of the larger whole of their encompassing communities-aesthetically, culturally, and historically-true places that enrich the urban fabric.
Stan Eckstut FAIA, Chairman of EE&K, furthers, "We have wanted to expand our architectural capabilities. One of our special strengths has been the conceptualization and design of large-scale mixed-use urban projects. Perkins Eastman-as one of the largest architectural firms-provides proven capabilities in all of the major building types that make up our large-scale designs so that we can implement more of those projects. Moreover, they bring added strength to our core interests in educational facilities, campus planning, and building design as well as our growing international practice."
About Perkins Eastman
Perkins Eastman is among the top architecture and design firms in the world. The firm prides itself on inventive and compassionate design that enhances the quality of the human experience. Because of its depth and range, Perkins Eastman takes on assignments from niche buildings to complex projects that enrich whole communities. The firm's practice areas include education, housing, healthcare, senior living, corporate interiors, cultural institutions, public sector facilities, retail, office buildings, and urban design. Perkins Eastman provides award-winning design through its domestic offices in New York, NY; Boston, MA; Arlington, VA; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Oakland, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; and Stamford, CT; and internationally in Dubai, UAE; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Mumbai, India; Shanghai, China; and Toronto, Canada.
About EE&K Architects
Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn (EE&K) Architects is a full-service architecture firm founded in 1959 and internationally recognized for integrating the design of buildings and public spaces to create places of enduring memory, economic resilience, and lasting value. The firm brings big-picture perspective to design problems of all scales, creating solutions that play a central role in the regeneration of cities and small towns. With offices in New York, NY; Washington, DC; Los Angeles, CA; and Shanghai, China; EE&K Architects' expertise covers a range of project types from large-scale urban redevelopment to signature campus buildings, urban waterfronts to transportation hubs, and primary schools to complex mixed-use development.
Contact:
Steven Yates
Director of Communications
115 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10003
Tel: +1-646.250.6830
Email: s.yates@perkinseastman.com
Web: www.perkinseastman.com
www.twitter.com/perkinseastman
