MulvannyG2 Architecture: Higher Spires
Construction
Written by John Zorabedian   
Sunday, 01 June 2008
MulvannyG2 Architecture: Higher Spires - American Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Mitch Smith says this architectural firm is growing with economies and aspirations in Shanghai and Dubai.
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The world’s tallest buildings keep growing taller in places like Shanghai and Dubai, where new wealth and investment has fed an appetite for iconic architecture that is making the world notice these dynamic economies. MulvannyG2 Architecture, located outside of Seattle, is tapping into these markets, designing and planning large corporate, residential, and mixed-use projects.

The firm’s 100 registered architects have designed landmark projects in the US as well, and the company has boomed with the rising Seattle skyline since the early 1990s, when founder Douglas Mulvanny retired. Mitch Smith, a senior managing partner, president, and CEO of the firm since 1998, said the company’s service of large corporate and retail customers domestically, including Boeing, Microsoft, Costco, and Starbucks, helped the company expand overseas successfully.

MulvannyG2 Architecture: Higher Spires - American Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Mitch Smith, a senior managing partner, president, and CEO
Senior Partner Ming Zhang, a native of China, leads the firm’s design team and sets the tone for the company’s projects in densely populated and growing Chinese cities like Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai. Recently, the company was recognized at the Asia Pacific Real Estate Awards Gala for its design of the Fujian Provincial Electric & Power Company, which won the Sustainable Office Project of the Year Award. “With the accelerated rate of development in China, sensitivity to being more environmentally conscious is increasing rapidly,” Smith said. “It’s actually inspiring that we are able to get involved in projects of this nature.”

The Chinese have a love for iconic architecture and want designs to set individual buildings apart from the other office and residential towers that scrape the sky. The Fujian Provincial Electric project is a 31-story office tower in the city of Fuzhou, which sets a bold profile against the skyline. The building features a unique 22-story communications tower and fan-like shape that resembles a ship’s sail.

“Clients want to stand out and make a presence, which is part of what makes it fun,” Smith said. “It’s different than what we often encounter in the US, where clients tend to want to be market appropriate—which leads to being blended in.”

Aspiring heights
Designing elegant and eye-catching yet relevant projects in China and Dubai meets the firm’s aspirations of raising its international profile. But the company’s focus is on being sensitive to the cultural and business needs of the clients, Smith said.

As a stark example of how design can go awry, the planners of the Shanghai World Financial Center, which when complete will (briefly) be the world’s tallest building, designed the building to feature a large round hole through the top of the building. The design incensed the Chinese government, which thought the round hole too closely resembled the red sun of the Japanese flag—an insult to Chinese nationalism—and the architects had to redesign the hole into a square shape.

“Part of our success has been our sensitivity to the culture there,” Smith said. “It’s no different than what we intend to be with any client for any location, but you certainly have to be aware of what the client’s business is and client expectations. Missing it in that big of a way is not the place you want to be.”

And although many architects dream of designing the kinds of projects that make the design world take notice and draw worldwide attention, Smith said he is most proud of his firm’s ability to meet and exceed client expectations on its own terms. “I think that for the most part it’s not the architecture for the architecture’s sake that I am proud of,” he said. “When you see the end result and that pride and respect for what was accomplished, there’s nothing better than that. It’s what we’re striving for.”

MulvannyG2’s design process is a strategic partnership between the project owners, the architects, and the contractors who build the project. “Our strategy is developing partnerships with clients and engaging with them and their thinking and their business,” Smith said. By better understanding the client company’s business and its objectives, the firm works to create designs that support the client’s business.

One area where the firm is growing its project portfolio is mixed-use retail and residential projects, what the architecture trade refers to as lifestyle centers. The trend is moving away from closed-in shopping malls toward open-air campuses that become a destination for shoppers and entertainment seekers. The trend-setting example in this market segment is Boston’s Quincy Market, which 30 years ago was converted from a historic open-air market into a retail, dining, and entertainment tourist spot.

And the firm has positioned itself to meet the rising demand for sustainable and green building projects domestically, as more project owners seek LEED certification by the US Green Building Council. MulvannyG2’s most recent project in Bellevue, Wash., the Seattle suburb where the firm is headquartered, is the Bellevue Towers, two 42-story condominium towers with a retail base. This project will be Gold-level LEED certified when complete. “That’s establishing the upper end of the market here,” Smith said.

Design has come a long way since the strip mall, and, in a world far more conscious of the use of urban spaces, MulvannyG2 intends to build the path to the future of architecture. Whether in Annapolis, Md., where the firm is designing a mixed-use project for retailing giant Target, or Dalian, China, where it is designing an urban residential and office district in which half the area is devoted to parklands, Smith said the firm is on the cutting edge of design that is user friendly and attractive to pedestrians.
 
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