The Callison Partnership -- Architectural Firm Designs Global Plan

Seattle has been good to The Callison Partnership, the city's largest architectural design firm.

Anywhere you look in the Greater Seattle area, you'll find signs of its work. The 32-year-old firm's client list reads like a Who's Who of Seattle business: Nordstrom, Microsoft, the University of Washington and Boeing are a few.

Five years ago - soon after the death of company founder Tony Callison in January 1988 - the remaining partners decided that they had to seek work beyond the sight of Mount Rainier in order to keep growing.

"We could see there wasn't enough business here so we had to become global," said Gerry Gerron, one of the firm's two managing principals and a Callison architect since 1984.

So Callison did what a lot of other companies are trying - it looked around the growing Pacific Rim for opportunities. Since then, the firm, whose signature is on downtown office towers, retail centers, restaurants and high-tech centers nationwide, landed projects in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Korea, and has prospects for more.

Its overseas projects include the Ban Chang Sheraton Hotel & Resort in Thailand; a hotel, apartment and retail complex in Indonesia; a 150-seat restaurant and shopping centers in Singapore; a hotel and golf club in Southern Japan; and a marine park resort in Taiwan.

As a design firm, Callison works with developers and local designers to bring an American flair to the design of buildings in foreign countries.

At the landmark colonial-era Raffles Hotel in Singapore, for example, Callison helped design new shops, a museum for historical hotel artifacts and a gift shop. The interior detailing reflects the traditional elegance of the architecture of the hotel, and gives visitors a sense of traveling back in time.

The restoration process uncovered old archways and designers expanded on the theme with square-domed ceiling spaces to define different areas. In the shop interiors, white-washed walls, mahogany floors, burgundy and green accents, stone flooring and counter tops are in keeping with the gracious style of the old hotel.

At Vivre, a department store in Sendai, Japan, made up of nine different buildings, Callison designed a new facade using materials that reflect an image of tradition and permanence. The arched entries and dramatic use of stone are details that reflect a strong Western classical architecture.

The partners now are pondering whether to open an office on the other side of the Pacific.

"It doesn't matter whether it's in Taiwan or Singapore, just so long as we have a presence over there," said David Olson, the firm's other managing principal, who has been with Callison since 1977.

"We're finding it more difficult to compete with firms that have established offices there. People in those countries are looking for our service commitment as a symbol," he said.

The firm also has retail work under way in Santiago, Chile, and in Dubai in the Middle East, but it is focusing expansion mainly on the Pacific Rim. Partners foresee future opportunities in the areas where they already have projects, especially Taiwan and Japan, and in Indonesia, Micronesia and even Vietnam if it opens up to tourists.

"We try to be good at forecasting where the business is going and be ready," said Gerron.

The firm's international work began in Japan because one of the partners - Michael Whalen - had business connections there and Callison has a Japanese architect on staff. Another staffer had connections in Thailand. Many of Callison's domestic clients have international operations and overseas connections so referrals also play a role.

The Japanese are interested in what they consider to be superior American designs particularly for suburban shopping centers and recreation facilities. The firm designed the recently opened Tokyo America Club, a social business club, similar to Seattle's Rainier Club.

Richard Bush, general manager, said his group chose Callison as its designer because it wanted an "American approach. Not too radical but still dressy and modern." Callison, he said, "was a very agreeable group that accepted and understood our wishes without hassle."

So far, about 10 percent of Callison's $30 million in annual billings comes from overseas assignments and the principals said they foresee a time when the figure will rise to 20 percent.

Although doing business in other cultures is exciting, gives designers a chance to travel and get to know other countries, and spreads the firm's reputation, it is intense, slow work.

"We have to think in terms of generations, not short term," Olson said. "We have to start small and be patient."

The work presents challenges because of language barriers and differing building codes, cultural customs, legal issues, currencies, jet lag and time differences.

Gerron said waiting for translations can be especially draining. "You watch the other person for emotions trying to read his face while the interpreter talks. Often the body language seems negative but then the translator offers a positive reaction."

Many overseas business people speak English but want to hear the translation of a proposal in their own language. "It can be exhausting for us," Gerron said.

"Even social times are intense," he said, "especially with that dreaded feature known as `karaoke.' But you do what you have to do."

Gerron said the partnership always works with local designers and developers who know the customs, codes and business ways. In most cases, it's Callison's expertise, design flair and new visions that are sought by overseas clients.

"Everything is in a different cultural context, we can't take anything for granted," Whalen said. Take the different design needs for office buildings, for instance. Where U.S. tenants want corner offices and many with views for managers, in Japan, there is less emphasis on private offices with managers sitting in the core area. Parking offers another type of problem for the designers because of the use there of devices that stack cars.

Although international opportunities are expected to grow, the firm will continue building its business domestically, the partners say.

Bill Karst, a principal involved in several of the firm's overseas projects, said the firm's international perspective helps it garner more domestic business. Clients like the idea of a design firm having an international perspective.

Typically, the firm undertakes 400 projects a year. After efforts to diversify by type and geography, roughly 40 percent are in the Seattle area; the rest are out of state and overseas.

Retail projects, including design work for all of Nordstrom's stores, account for about one-third of Callison's projects.

Strategies appears occasionally in the Business Monday section of The Seattle Times.

-------------------- CALLISON PARTNERSHIP --------------------

-- Headquarters: Pacific First Centre.

-- Managing principals: Gerry Gerron, David Olson.

-- Employees: 240, including 84 women, 44 minorities, with 25 women and 11 minorities in management.

-- Annual billings (1991): $30 million.

-- Major customers: Nordstrom, Microsoft, Boeing, Washington Mutual Financial Corp., Providence Hospital.

-- Competitors: NBBJ, ZGF.

-- Strategy: To expand its growing international business.