The Lauck Group, Inc. (lauckgroup), a leading interior architecture firm known best for its award-winning designs of corporate interiors, has joined global architecture and design firm Perkins&Will. The merger enables both firms to offer enhanced and expanded services to clients in the Southwest, across the nation, and around the world.
“We’re thrilled to unite with such an innovative, design-forward firm as Perkins&Will because they truly understand what it means to deliver excellence to their clients,” says Anne Kniffen, president and co-owner of lauckgroup. “Our clients will appreciate having access to the best and brightest talent, in-depth research, and exponentially greater resources – from big data to digital technology – no matter where their projects are located.”
Greater Reach, Greater Resources
Merging with Perkins&Will makes it easier for lauckgroup to service its national and international clients, providing the same high-quality design work and attention to detail but on a more local level. This is because many lauckgroup clients operate offices around the world in locations where Perkins&Will also has offices. The merger also enables both Perkins&Will and lauckgroup clients to rely on a single firm, rather than two or more firms, to address their architecture and interior design needs.
“With Perkins&Will’s strengths in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design, lauckgroup can offer its clients a more comprehensive suite of services that extend beyond the exceptional interior design they’re already known for,” says Tom Reisenbichler, managing director of Perkins&Will’s Dallas office. “The same holds true for our clients. While we’ve made great strides in recent years growing our corporate interiors practice in Dallas, Houston, and Austin, the addition of top-notch talent from lauckgroup brings us to a whole new level.
Shared Values: Diversity and Sustainability
Perkins&Will and lauckgroup complement each other not only in their approach to design excellence and client engagement, but also in their values – particularly when it comes to sustainability and diversity. These shared values make the union of the two firms natural and complementary.
“As a majority women-owned firm with a melting pot of staff, we’ve long made it a priority to seek talent from all walks of life. After all, our clients come from all walks of life,” Kniffen says. “Joining Perkins&Will – which is blazing new trails in the industry under the leadership of Global Diversity Director Gabrielle Bullock – just feels right, and further inspires us.”
Additionally, lauckgroup is an advocate for healthy, high-performance, sustainable design – areas in which Perkins&Will has long been an industry leader.
Converging Designs: Every Place Is A Workplace
Perkins&Will’s investment in corporate interiors in the Southwest is, in many ways, a response to the rapid growth of a design phenomenon known as “convergence.” Convergence is the crossover of design typologies. It happens when the lines between project types blur: The design of a start-up tech company, for example, may draw design inspiration from scientific centers for research and innovation; or, the design of a clinician’s workspace in a hospital may borrow a certain look and feel associated with a modern, flexible, corporate office environment.
“With a strong foundation in corporate interior design excellence, we are naturally and easily able to respond to the interior design needs of any kind of client, in any kind of industry,” says Perkins&Will CEO Phil Harrison. Harrison adds that the benefits extend well beyond the corporate interiors practice, touching the firm’s approach to client engagement universally:
“There’s an entrepreneurial character about a corporate workplace practice – a swiftness and enthusiasm that energizes the whole firm. Designers of corporate interiors are constantly meeting with, talking to, and engaging with clients. Those are great qualities. Bringing that style, speed, and ‘flavor’ to our approach to hospitals, academic institutions, and governments is, I think, positive all around.”
Expanded Interior Design Leadership in the Southwest
Under the merger, lauckgroup will adopt the Perkins&Will brand, and lauckgroup staff will join Perkins&Will staff in consolidated studios in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. Kniffen will oversee the combined 90-person corporate interiors practice in the Southwest. Kniffen’s colleague and lauckgroup co-owner, Brigitte Preston, will provide interior design leadership for all Perkins&Will projects in the Southwest. And Courtney Johnston continues to provide leadership to her team and clients as interior design director for the Dallas studio of Perkins&Will, a position she has held for seven years.
“We’re deepening our design bench, expanding our design leadership, and providing our clients with the best that the industry has to offer,” Reisenbichler says. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
