Global architecture and design firm Perkins+Will announced today that it has acquired the London-based branding, retail strategy, and design consultancy Portland Design Associates.
Portland, whose clients include British Land, Heathrow Airport, St. Pancras International, Diageo, HMS Host, CNN, and TDIC, is best known for crafting brand and retail strategies that “future proof” their clients’ business by anticipating changes in how customers shop in, and interact with, places.
Portland will become the latest creative services business to join the Perkins+Will group of companies. While Portland will maintain its own brand and operate as an independent entity, the two enterprises will work closely together to deliver “future-proofing” insights to clients. This includes a mix of physical and digital brand experiences for projects ranging from retail, entertainment, and mixed-use to transportation and urban regeneration.
“Our clients will benefit from Portland’s consumer insights, creativity, and strategic thinking, and Portland’s clients will benefit from Perkins+Will’s global reach and broad architectural, design, and planning expertise,” says Perkins+Will President and CEO Phil Harrison.
While Perkins+Will has already engaged Portland as a strategy consultant on various projects in the past, the permanent union of the two companies will strengthen and expand both of their service offerings. It will also allow Portland to work closely with Perkins+Will’s Branded Environments practice to service a greater number of clients globally.
Founded in 1987, Portland and its 40 employees have been under Ibrahim’s leadership since 2007. Ibrahim will continue to serve as Managing Director.
Related Stories
| Mar 11, 2011
Community sports center in Nashville features NCAA-grade training facility
A multisport community facility in Nashville featuring a training facility that will meet NCAA Division I standards is being constructed by St. Louis-based Clayco and Chicago-based Pinnacle.
| Mar 11, 2011
Slam dunk for the University of Nebraska’s basketball arena
The University of Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball programs will have a new home beginning in 2013. Designed by the DLR Group, the $344 million West Haymarket Civic Arena in Lincoln, Neb., will have 16,000 seats, suites, club amenities, loge, dedicated locker rooms, training rooms, and support space for game operations.
| Mar 10, 2011
Steel Joists Clean Up a Car Wash’s Carbon Footprint
Open-web bowstring trusses and steel joists give a Utah car wash architectural interest, reduce its construction costs, and help green a building type with a reputation for being wasteful.
| Mar 10, 2011
How AEC Professionals Are Using Social Media
You like LinkedIn. You’re not too sure about blogs. For many AEC professionals, it’s still wait-and-see when it comes to social media.
| Mar 9, 2011
Hoping to win over a community, Facebook scraps its fortress architecture
Facebook is moving from its tony Palo Alto, Calif., locale to blue-collar Belle Haven, and the social network want to woo residents with community-oriented design.
| Mar 9, 2011
Winners of the 2011 eVolo Skyscraper Competition
Winners of the eVolo 2011 Skyscraper Competition include a high-rise recycling center in New Delhi, India, a dome-like horizontal skyscraper in France that harvests solar energy and collects rainwater, and the Hoover Dam reimagined as an inhabitable skyscraper.
| Mar 9, 2011
Igor Krnajski, SVP with Denihan Hospitality Group, on hotel construction and understanding the industry
Igor Krnajski, SVP for Design and Construction with Denihan Hospitality Group, New York, N.Y., on the state of hotel construction, understanding the hotel operators’ mindset, and where the work is.
| Mar 3, 2011
HDR acquires healthcare design-build firm Cooper Medical
HDR, a global architecture, engineering and consulting firm, acquired Cooper Medical, a firm providing integrated design and construction services for healthcare facilities throughout the U.S. The new alliance, HDR Cooper Medical, will provide a full service design and construction delivery model to healthcare clients.
| Mar 2, 2011
Design professionals grow leery of green promises
Legal claims over sustainability promises vs. performance of certified green buildings are beginning to mount—and so are warnings to A/E/P and environmental consulting firms, according to a ZweigWhite report.
| Mar 2, 2011
Cities of the sky
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Silk Road of the future—from Dubai to Chongqing to Honduras—is taking shape in urban developments based on airport hubs. Welcome to the world of the 'aerotropolis.'
