July 7-8, 2011
Thursday-Friday, 9am-5pm
CES/AIA LU 14 units
Many of today’s successful architects know how to implement a global strategy and run a diversified firm within an international arena. This two-day program is designed to give design professionals a comprehensive introduction to international practice. The program will access the competitive advantages as well as the risks and challenges of international practice. It will provide basic guidance for the major issues facing firms working overseas – how to develop strong global resources, cultural understanding, and local knowledge – and practical specifics concerning regional and country issues: the organization of the construction industry, contracts, collections, and collaborations with local consultants. Case studies will present a wide array of firms’ experiences—both good and bad – and highlight how certain design firms have successfully entered international markets. Participants will be asked to prepare a brief business plan for entering a specific international market after the first day for presentation and discussion during the second day of the program.
Coordinators: Click the names for more info
One of the most highly regarded architects in California, Scott Johnson is a prolific designer of civic, residential, commercial and institutional buildings. A number of his best-known designs have been widely published and have become local landmarks, including three high-rise buildings in Century City, California, the Opus One and Byron wineries in the Napa Valley and Santa Barbara County, respectively. He is currently working on Dallas’ Museum Tower, the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum in Oklahoma and the headquarters campus for Genentech in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Born in California and educated at Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, Johnson apprenticed variously at The Architects Collaborative, Skidmore Owings & Merrill and the office of Philip Johnson and John Burgee in New York City. He also served as Assistant to Arthur Drexler in curating the “Three Skyscrapers” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1981.
Joining Pereira Associates in Los Angeles in 1983 as Principal and Design Director, he and William Fain acquired the firm now known as Johnson Fain in 1989. As Design Director, he is responsible for the direction and quality of the firm’s architectural and interior design projects. In addition to designing nearly 100 built projects, Johnson has also taught and lectured at various universities. He was recently the Director of the Master of Architecture Programs at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture. He frequently writes on design and architecture and is the author of the recent book, Tall Building: Imagining the Skyscraper. He is currently designing tall buildings in Asia and the US.
In 2008, Johnson and his partner, William Fain, Jr., received the Gold Medal from the Los Angeles Chapter of the American institute of Architects, their highest award for individuals as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
Bradford Perkins FAIA MRAIC AICP is founder and Chairman of Perkins Eastman, a 600 person New York based architectural, interior design and planning firm. Perkins Eastman has eight offices across the US as well as offices in Toronto, Dubai, Mumbai, Shanghai and Guayaquil.
He has directed several hundred projects across the US as well as in over 30 countries around the world. Recently he has directed a new master plan for Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam; the new TKTS booth in Times Square; a new cancer hospital in Israel, and over a dozen large projects in China. Over his 42 year career he has worked in Canada, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Trinidad, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Dubai, Iran, India, Thailand, Vietnam, China , Japan and over a dozen other countries. His and the firm’s work have been widely published and have been recognized by over 200 awards for design excellence.
He is the author of six textbooks published by John Wiley & Sons including An Introduction to International Practice. He is also the author of over 100 articles and book chapters. He teaches regularly at such schools as Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Princeton, Illinois, Texas A&M, and many others.
During this course he will focus on how one gets started in international practice, how you develop a plan, and how you find your first international clients. He will also review some of the major pitfalls and will present case studies on how firms have penetrated markets around the world.
He has a BA from Cornell in Latin American History (magna cum laude), a BArch from Cornell and CCNY, and an MBA from Stanford.
Ronald Altoon brings contextually sensitive and sustainable design principles to his practice and his work. Defining context holistically as the natural forces of the sun, wind, and water; the geographic forces of geology and landscape; the physical forces of urban form, infrastructure, and mobility; the human forces of the social, cultural, religious, political, and economic condition; and the market forces of need and desire, psychology and competition, his global projects reflect the human condition as it resides place to place. A USC School of Architecture honors graduate, he received his M.Arch from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with Louis Kahn and Ian McHarg.
Altoon is a former national President of The American Institute of Architects, having also served the AIA Los Angeles Chapter and AIA California Council. For six years he represented architects in The Americas on the Council of the International Union of Architects (UIA). Following the 1988 devastating 6.8 Richter Spitak earthquake, he led an AIA urban design disaster assistance team to Armenia, and was the architect member of the ULI New York/New Jersey World Trade Center Blue Ribbon Panel following the horrific 911 event.
He founded the USC Friends of The Gamble House and Friends of the Schindler House, served as President of the USC Architectural Guild, and sits on the USC School of Architecture Board of Councilors. He has been on 10 NAAB Accreditation Teams and is a member of the GSA Register of Peer Professionals. Altoon is the first practicing architect to become a Trustee of ICSC and 2011-13 incoming Chair of the ULI LA District Council. The author of 7 books, Altoon lectures frequently at universities, for the profession and to the real estate industry on entrepreneurial global practice.
In 1991 he took his firm’s design practice overseas and now has offices in Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and Shanghai, and business entities in Moscow, Hong Kong and Brussels. Working collaboratively with local firms, Altoon has led master planning, urban design, and architectural design efforts on complex mixed-use, transit, higher education, residential, and historic preservation projects in 43 countries. His design work has garnered over 75 awards worldwide.
Speakers: Click the names for more info
Qingyun Ma is a designer and educator. Named one of the world’s most influential designers by BusinessWeek, Ma’s experience and involvement on an international level make him a leader in the design community with a great understanding of the contemporary issues in global urbanization.
Ma earned his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in Architecture from Tsinghua University in Beijing in 1988, and in 1991, he received his Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. Through his academic and professional experience, he developed a keen business sense centered on design intelligence, which culminated in his establishment of MADA s.p.a.m in 1996. MADA s.p.a.m. has designed and built modern buildings and urban communities, garnering worldwide recognition. Ma was the chief curator of the 2007 Shenzhen Hong Kong Biennale, and he is frequently invited as a speaker and juror, including for the prestigious Rome Prize and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
In 2007, Ma became the dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California, where he has enhanced the program by developing the School’s ties with China and launching a number of global initiatives, particularly the USC American Academy in China, a base for visiting scholars to facilitate their research and foster academic exchange.
- Friedman, Thomas L., The World Is Flat A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Picador, 2007.
- The Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice, 14th ed., “Chapter 4.8 Practicing in a Global Market,” John H. Wiley, New York, 2008, pg. 153-163.
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