BUILDING ON PRINCIPLE

The firm that designed the headquarter buildings for Reebok, Starbucks and Telenor and collaborated on seven of the top 10 hospitals listed on the U.S. News and World Report Honor Roll, including the Cleveland Clinic, has gone global and left its vertical structure and traditional leadership model behind. The market for architectural services, especially in higher education has been plentiful, so the team must often choose projects from among a number of opportunities. Profitability is one criterion to consider, but there's also the cachet the project brings to the firm.\n The firm instituted videoconferences and Internet meetings where design groups working on international projects could share what they were learning about each country's culture in real time with their associates, and the firm created a presentation to share with clients in an effort to educate them about the building design and construction process.