William (Bill) Hellmuth, FAIA, the Chairman and CEO of HOK, passed away on April 6, 2023, after a long illness.
Hellmuth designed dozens of award-winning buildings across the globe, his work raising HOK’s profile within the design community and beyond. During his leadership, HOK was listed as one of the world’s most influential companies by Time Magazine and repeatedly earned a mention in Fast Company’s list of most innovative companies. HOK was annually ranked the world’s largest design firm specializing in both architecture and engineering.
While proud of HOK’s accomplishments, Hellmuth kept his focus on the future and was happiest when discussing and debating ideas with clients and HOK project teams. He was elected president of HOK, Inc. in 2005 and accepted the role of CEO in 2016, on the condition he could remain the design principal for HOK’s Washington, D.C. studio and firm-wide design leader. A year later, Hellmuth also was named chairman.
Susan Klumpp Williams, Managing Principal of the D.C. office, worked alongside Hellmuth for more than 30 years. She recalls how he would impress clients with his commitment to their projects, even while overseeing the firm’s global strategies and operations. “They never expected him to be so hands-on. But that is something Bill took great pride in,” said Klumpp Williams. “He was happiest when working with one of our designers at their desk. His passion for design and our profession inspired those of us who had the privilege of working closely with him.”
A few of Hellmuth’s most notable designs include: the 75-story Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Headquarters in the UAE; the Sheraton Inn Timika Guest House in Irian Jaya, Indonesia; Msheireb Downtown Doha mixed-use community in Qatar; King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center and Residential Community in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and University of Maryland, Baltimore Health Sciences Facility III.
Hellmuth took particular pride in the many buildings he and the HOK team designed in and around his adopted hometown of Washington, D.C., including: the D.C. Consolidated Forensic Laboratory and the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. “My kids hate driving around the city with me,” he would joke. “I’m always telling stories about one project or another.”
Hellmuth’s work, which won 29 awards from the American Institute of Architects, spanned nearly every building type across 20 countries. In 2017, the AIA elevated him to its prestigious College of Fellows. In 2018, the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture honored Hellmuth with its Distinguished Alumni Award. He had earned a master’s degree in architecture at Princeton University and a bachelor’s in architecture from University of Virginia.
Hellmuth began his career in New York, where he spent 14 years designing Manhattan office buildings. In 1991, he joined HOK at the urging of firm co-founder Gyo Obata. Decades earlier, Obata had partnered with St. Louis architects George Kassabaum and George Hellmuth (Bill’s uncle) to create Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK). Hellmuth discovered a mentor in Obata and a humility he hadn’t seen until that point in his career. “Gyo was very human and humble, and because of him there’s a lot of good Midwestern values imbued in HOK,” Hellmuth told HOK’s St. Louis staff during an office visit in 2019. “Be helpful to the people you’re working with, the people working for you and the people you’re working for. And be optimistic. Ours is not a profession for pessimists.”
Hellmuth was exceptionally optimistic about the ability of design to improve people’s lives. A strong advocate of sustainable design, he believed architects had a moral obligation to design projects with minimal impact to the environment. Under his tenure, HOK designed hundreds of green-certified projects and over 400 designers achieved ‘green’ certification. His time as chairman and CEO also saw the diversification of HOK’s leadership board, increased pro-bono design and charitable giving, and the creation of the HOK Diversity x Design Scholarship for underrepresented design students. Along with his constant focus on design excellence and exceptional client service, Hellmuth believed strongly in developing HOK’s next generation of leaders.
HOK President Carl Galioto first met Hellmuth in the late 1970s: “With the perspective of more than four decades, I can safely state that I have never met an architect who was Bill’s equal in combining design thinking, empathetic leadership, client relations, business development and business acumen,” said Galioto. “He truly was one of a kind and it was my great pleasure to work with him.”
Bill Hellmuth is survived by his wife, Nancy, his daughter, Grayson, her husband, Cleve Rueckert, his son, William, and his two grandchildren.
