Doug is, first and foremost, an entrepreneur – in business, at play, and in life there is nothing he approaches without wondering how he could do things differently and improve the outcome. His entire Advance Strategy team, located in the Seattle studio he founded as B+H’s first US office, has enthusiastically embraced his unshakeable belief that there are no challenges that can’t be solved for the better. A philosophy that we all affectionately recognize is inspired by his unwavering admiration for the fictional Star Trek character James Tiberius Kirk.
I believe in optimizing Return on Architecture, simply put: understanding and seamlessly connecting our clients’ objectives with elegant strategies and economic solutions.
In Doug’s practice, good architecture and design starts before the land is sold or the building conceived. He wants to know what objective a building is meant to achieve. How can business strategy be translated into a physical space that facilitates business and operational goals and delivers a tangible, positive brand and user experience? His greatest motivation comes from knowing that every day he has the opportunity to solve a problem and something good will come of it. Whether it’s helping Fred Hutch recruit and retain the calibre of talent that will bring cancer to its knees faster, or helping GE drive greater value out of their real estate portfolio to facilitate the evolution of their business.
Doug can’t imagine slowing down. His mission is to expand B+H further into the US and build a global strategic consulting practice that fundamentally changes the way business and institutions think about planning and design services, connecting predictive analytics to building solutions. If you notice him in a meeting, sketching beautifully in one of his many notebooks, be prepared for him to ask a profoundly insightful question – Doug’s pencil is not a distraction, it’s the tool he uses to focus his attention and sharpen his mind.