Robert Brown has worked as an architect on projects including 111 Huntington Ave., Atlantic Wharf and the Liberty Mutual corporate headquarters. So he’s no stranger to creating signature projects in Boston.
He recently joined Perkins+Will in mid-2011 as managing principal. Now, Brown has been promoted to managing director and is the driving force behind the firm’s Northeast strategic decisions. He is a former president of the Boston Society of Architects and has served on the Back Bay Architectural Commission and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s Central Artery Competition Task Force concerning surface above the Big Dig. Brown sat down with Banker & Tradesman to tell us about his plans for the Boston office.
Robert Brown
Title: Title: Managing Director, Perkins+Will; Boston
Age: 59
Experience: 37 years
What are your responsibilities as the new managing director of the firm?
I balance the business with the design and the process. I take those pieces and make sure we’re supporting each of those efforts in a great way, that we have the talent and resources to do that. The great thing is there’s 24 managing directors across the company … so we all share information about the trends that are occurring, and I spread that back to the local office. I take the whole pie and understand the way it’s divided up. I’m really responsible for the entire practice of this office.
You spent the first years of your Boston career at CBT Architects. What led you to leave CBT for Perkins+Will?
I’ve always had an interest in what a national practice can be. Perkins+Will is a very big firm on research, on sharing, on assisting each other. We do lots of projects as ventures between two or three offices, and that’s just a different kind of practice.
Now that you’re directing the firm’s strategy for the Northeast, is there a new plan for expansion or growing business that you have in the works?
The overall intent is to double the overall size of the [Boston] office, so we want to get to 150 [staff members]. We want to grow in three very clear areas. One is healthcare because this is a center for that. That’s probably Perkins+Will’s single greatest strength. Science, the new science, for-profit world. The third is education. Those are the three strongest parts of our practice. We just need to grow it.
What are the biggest challenges facing architecture firms right now in the minds of architects?
Well fees are still incredibly low. The recession really knocked an awful lot of people apart. The ability for us to do these extraordinary jobs and have the research done for our clients is challenging to say the least. In a way, with a national practice, we have the resources whether we want them or not because they’re there, so we don’t have to hire someone to do it. The research already exists in the Los Angeles office or the Miami office that has already done it on other projects. Looking forward, to me, there are going to be two kinds of firms – there will be the small boutiques that are known for design or sustainability or getting through the permitting process nimbly and can move very quickly. Or there will be the firms with the larger platforms … with a great umbrella that is a huge resource that you can plug into, get the information and unplug, and you still have tremendous autonomy. The firms in between, I think ultimately will have a big question to answer about whether they’ll survive.
The Five Greatest Places In The World, According To Robert Brown:
- Rockefeller Center, New York City. It is an unbelievable urban space that over time has continued to regenerate itself. No matter how exciting the city is, when I go to New York, it’s the first place I go.
- The Marais, Paris. There’s something about the place, with the 17th century buildings around the big park. It’s a spectacular environment. It’s really a unique place.
- The Forum, Rome. When you look at the Forum as it was to be built, you think, ‘well that’s not so exciting.’ But the Forum as it is right now, the ruins, you can really sort of hear the sounds of people working and thinking.
- Carrara, Italy. It’s where the carrara stone is from. Michelangelo’s quarry was there. That’s where I’ve gotten stones for a lot of the lobbies I’ve done around here.
- Hong Kong, China. The World Financial Center in Hong Kong, there’s something unbelievable about being at the top of that and looking down to the built space.
