SmithGroupJJR, the oldest architecture and engineering firm in the U.S., has opened an office in Shanghai, China.
The 160-year-old SmithGroupJJR, known for its award-winning designs and integrated services, will focus on several of China’s biggest growth markets: research and development, healthcare, continuing care/retirement communities, and higher education.
The new office follows a number of significant projects SmithGroupJJR has designed in China in recent years, serving Chinese clients and U.S-based companies expanding their operations to China. In Changchun, the firm designed the new 468,000-square-meter (5.0 million square feet) automotive research and development center for First Automotive Works, China’s leading manufacturer of passenger cars and commercial trucks and buses. Now under construction, the project will be completed in 2015.
Continuing care/retirement community design is another area of expertise successfully brought to China by SmithGroupJJR. Starting construction this fall in Shanghai is the 21-story ZhongShan Park, a continuing care retirement community SmithGroupJJR designed for the Vcanland Senior Living Group.
Leading SmithGroupJJR’s China operations is Russ Sykes, a 28-year veteran of the firm. Sykes is dividing his time between Shanghai and the SmithGroupJJR office in Detroit, Mich., where he’s spent most of his career.
“Many of our China-based clients, like First Automotive Works, traveled to the U.S and sought us out for our specialized design expertise,” Sykes said. “Now, with the new office, our clients in Shanghai have direct access to our services. Simultaneously, they benefit from the alliances we’ve established and our understanding of how to work in China,” Sykes added .
SmithGroupJJR President & CEO Carl Roehling believes the growing healthcare market in China will help the firm succeed.
“Clients are requesting the level of design expertise we possess,” Roehling said. “For the growing healthcare market in China, there is a need for firms that excel in healthcare design and the advanced technology used in hospitals. We have that expertise,” he added.
SmithGroupJJR is ranked as the10th largest healthcare design firm in the world by the 2013 edition of World Architecture 100, published by Building Design magazine. In Shanghai, SmithGroupJJR designed Shuguang Hospital for Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medical University. The firm’s U.S. clients include the National Institutes of Health, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Stanford University Medical Center, and Kaiser Permanente.
SmithGroupJJR’s China office is located in the Puxi area of Shanghai. The address is Suite A409, Tomorrow Square, 399 W. Nanjing Road, Shanghai, 200003. The phone number is 86 21 2308 1188.
About SmithGroupJJR
SmithGroupJJR is the oldest continually operating architecture and engineering firm in the U.S., founded in 1853. The firm consistently ranks top 10 in the U.S in the primary client markets it serves: healthcare, science & technology, higher education and workplace. A leader in sustainable design, SmithGroupJJR has completed 91 LEED certified projects to- date. The firm’s U.S. offices are located in Ann Arbor, MI; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Detroit, MI; Madison, WI; Los Angeles, CA; Phoenix, AZ; San Francisco, CA; and Washington, DC.
Related Stories
Hotel Facilities | Oct 31, 2022
These three hoteliers make up two-thirds of all new hotel development in the U.S.
With a combined 3,523 projects and 400,490 rooms in the pipeline, Marriott, Hilton, and InterContinental dominate the U.S. hotel construction sector.
Data Centers | Oct 31, 2022
Data center construction facing record-breaking inflation, delays
Data center construction projects face record-breaking inflation amid delays to materials deliveries and competition for skilled labor, according to research from global professional services company Turner & Townsend.
School Construction | Oct 31, 2022
Claremont McKenna College science center will foster integrated disciplinary research
The design of the Robert Day Sciences Center at Claremont McKenna College will support “a powerful, multi-disciplinary, computational approach to the grand socio-scientific challenges and opportunities of our time—gene, brain, and climate,” says Hiram E. Chodosh, college president.
Energy Efficient Roofing | Oct 28, 2022
Rooftop mini turbines can pair with solar panels
A new type of wind turbine can pair well on roofs with solar panels, offering a double source of green energy generation for buildings.
Building Team | Oct 27, 2022
Who are you? Four archetypes shaping workspaces
The new lifestyle of work requires new thinking about the locations where people work, what their workflow looks like, and how they are performing their best work.
Codes and Standards | Oct 27, 2022
Florida’s Surfside-inspired safety law puts pressure on condo associations
A Florida law intended to prevent tragedies like the Surfside condominium collapse will place a huge financial burden on condo associations and strain architecture and engineering resources in the state.
Building Team | Oct 26, 2022
The U.S. hotel construction pipeline shows positive growth year-over-year at Q3 2022 close
According to the third quarter Construction Pipeline Trend Report for the United States from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the U.S. construction pipeline stands at 5,317 projects/629,489 rooms, up 10% by projects and 6% rooms Year-Over-Year (YOY).
Data Centers | Oct 25, 2022
Virginia county moves to restrict the growth of new server farms
Loudoun County, Va., home to the largest data center cluster in the world known as Data Center Alley, recently took steps to prohibit the growth of new server farms in certain parts of the county.
Museums | Oct 25, 2022
Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion emphasizes human connection to oceans
Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion, currently under construction, features several exhibits that examine the human connection with the Earth’s oceans.
Energy-Efficient Design | Oct 24, 2022
Roadmap shows how federal buildings can reach zero embodied carbon emissions by 2050
The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has released a roadmap that it says charts a path for federal buildings projects to achieve zero embodied carbon emissions by 2050.
