NBBJ

Specialties: Healthcare, corporate design, airports, commercial architecture, higher education, justice, research and advanced technology, retail, senior-living design, urban design and planning, graphic design

Managing partner: Scott Wyatt

Year founded: 1943

2003 revenues: $151 million

Projected 2004 revenues: $150 million-$160 million

Largest current projects: AsiaWorld Expo, Hong Kong; Moscow Four Winds; VA Outpatient Clinic Facility, Columbus, Ohio; Serebrencechskya Multifunction Business Center, Moscow; Port of Seattle North Bay; Cal IT2 University of California, San Diego; Harborview Medical Center addition, Seattle; Wellcome Trust Biotechnology Campus, Hinxton, UK

Image courtesy NBBJ NBBJ is designing the 1.2 million-square-foot Singapore Residences at Marina Bay, which will reportedly be that city’s tallest apartment complex when it’s finished in 2007.

NBBJ is gearing up for its next growth spurt. Historically, it has expanded through acquisitions and mergers, but more recently has grown on its own.

“We believe we are on the threshold of the next growth phase for NBBJ,” says Managing Partner Scott Wyatt, who adds the question of how it will happen “is very squarely on our radar screen.”

NBBJ principals recognized the importance of growth and diversity several years ago. Today, that decision is paying off. From Hong Kong to Moscow to back in Seattle, the architecture and planning firm is working on marquee projects.

The Seattle firm’s decision to go national and then international “was made not out of hubris,” says Wyatt; instead, it was because NBBJ principals recognized a range of project types and office locations provides stability. Also, NBBJ needed to accommodate clients who compete globally.

NBBJ is working on the 1.2 million-square-foot Singapore Residences at Marina Bay, and the nearly 1 million-square-foot Asia World Expo Center in Hong Kong. In Moscow, the firm designed Four Winds, a $100 million mixed-use center, and a 750,000-square-foot, speculative business center called Serebrencechskya.

Asia is hot, and the firm is increasing its presence in China. But NBBJ hasn’t singled out the continent. The firm, for instance, recently opened an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, so it can do more work in the Middle East. NBBJ also will see more work in Europe, where it has a London office.

“The way our clients think — the way they compete — they’re better served if we’ve got the reach and cultural knowledge,” Wyatt says.

In Seattle, NBBJ is working on Harborview Hospital’s $257 million expansion. It’s one of several health care projects for the firm.

“A year ago we were projecting that (health care) might slow down some, but I can tell you that has not occurred,” says Wyatt, who thinks the sector will continue to grow nationally and internationally.

Also, domestically at least, the number of science-related projects in the higher-education, research and pharmacology sectors will expand, Wyatt believes. In the Puget Sound region, he anticipates more biotech work.

Wyatt thinks it’s reasonable to expect Boeing to expand due to the 7E7.

He predicts office, retail and residential to “come back slowly,” and says Seattle’s South Lake Union — where the firm’s new office is going up — could lead the way.

“The density issue is really critical,” he says, commending efforts at City Hall. “That is the good news. What’s the bad news? It’s not enough. We can make Seattle a much better place to live with greater density.”