4 Things to Know: Fostering Diversity in the AEC Industry
Diversity, equity and inclusion are core to our design solutions. This month’s HOK Design Digest highlights our diverse project teams and the HOK Tapestry platform that fosters greater equity within the architecture, engineering and construction industry.
The State of Small Businesses
The economy is built on small businesses, including those led by minorities, women, veterans and economically disadvantaged individuals. Based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey, 19.9% of businesses were minority-owned, 5.6% were veteran-owned and 21.4% were women-owned. These businesses make major contributions to the economy. Women-owned firms, for example, brought in an estimated annual income of $1.9 trillion in 2021. Black- or African American-owned businesses employ 1.3 million people with $141.1 billion in annual income. Initiatives like HOK Tapestry enable these diverse firms to leverage their unique skills and experiences, fulfilling client needs and strengthening the architecture, engineering and construction industry.
What is HOK Tapestry?
In 2021, we launched HOK Tapestry, an online portal and database to curate more diverse project teams. The website allows firms registered as small, women-owned, disadvantaged- and veteran-owned business enterprises (XBEs) to upload their profiles and qualifications. This information enables HOK project managers to assemble the best partnering firms based on specific client project goals. Registered firms also gain access to programming designed to build their capacity and expand future business opportunities.
Sharing the News of HOK Tapestry
Our offices have hosted outreach events nationwide for AEC firms to learn about HOK Tapestry and explore business opportunities in HOK’s various markets. From Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles to Houston, Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia and New York City, these events have connected XBE firms with current and future building projects.
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“HOK Tapestry has been instrumental in fostering meaningful connections between diverse consultants and industry leaders. At a recent New York City event, the program brought together an XBE consultant with key stakeholders from a major public project. This engagement led to the consultant securing a role in the project, showcasing the program’s ability to open doors for underrepresented businesses. The Tapestry event not only highlighted the consultant’s capabilities but also demonstrated HOK's commitment to inclusivity and empowering diverse voices in the AEC industry.”
- Christopher L. , Marketing Principal for HOK’s New York studio
Putting These Initiatives Into Action
More than 600 firms have registered in HOK Tapestry, leading to successful project partnerships around the world. One example is the new Morgan State University Health and Human Services Building in Baltimore. This 208,000-sq.-ft. facility will provide the historically black university with state-of-the-art research and simulation labs, classrooms, offices and clinical spaces for students and the community. HOK is collaborating with women-owned business enterprise K. Dixon Architecture on this project.
“K. Dixon Architecture, PLLC (KDA) played a pivotal role in the Morgan State University Health and Human Services Center (HHSC) project, the first of three projects on this HBCU campus. Fully collaborating with HOK from schematic design through the entire project, KDA participated in the visioning session and engaged with stakeholders to define needs. We led our portion of the design work, creating concepts and developing them with HOK's overall design theme. Responsible for interior architecture and FF&E, we selected furnishings for the 220,000-sq.-ft. facility. Our seamless integration with HOK ensured the project's success and LEED Gold certification.”
- Kathy Dixon , Principal of K. Dixon Architecture
By the numbers:
According to the U.S. 2021 Annual Business Survey, more than 1.1 million minority businesses exist in the U.S., including businesses owned by Hispanics, Asians, Black- or African Americans, American Indian and Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders.
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Professor of Architecture and Design and Former Dean at the School of Architecture and Construction Science and Former Interim Provost and VP for Academic Affairs, at Tuskegee University
4moAwesome. Keep growing!
It has been a pleasure building a collaborative relationship between KDA & HOK over the past several years. We are looking forward to many more collaborations in the future.
Managing Member/Executive Principal at YoungCaruso
4moThank you for recognizing the significant contributions of minority-, veteran-, and women-owned businesses to the US economy, HOK! As a veteran, I appreciate your efforts to cultivate relationships with diverse firms in the AEC industry through HOK Tapestry. Creating inclusive project teams is essential for driving innovation and excellence. Looking forward to learning more about this initiative in the HOK Design Digest. #HOKTapestry #VeteranOwned #DiversityInAEC #InclusionMatters
Recharging
4moAmazing strides and great to see the data
Expert Visual Architect | Founder of 3DUS, a Leading Design and 3D Visualization Studio | Empowering the Real Estate and Hospitality Industry to Bring Projects to Life | DM for Inquiries
4moThis is a great article! We are a certified minority owned business providing architectural visualization services to architects, who would suggest to connect with to present our capabilities?