This recording is the first episode of the Portman Architects Podcast. Hear from Chairman and CEO, Jack Portman, President and Principal-in-Charge, Robert Halverson, and Acting Marketing Director, Mark Zweig. We go back to the 1970s when Portman Architects established an office in Mainland China, and we bring you up to modern-day in less than 20 minutes. You don't want to miss this episode. Learn more about an iconic Architectural firm that continues to evolve and deliver for both its employees and its clients.
This recording is the first episode of the Portman Architects Podcast. Hear from Chairman and CEO, Jack Portman, President and Principal-in-Charge, Robert Halverson, and Acting Marketing Director, Mark Zweig. We go back to the 1970s when Portman Architects established an office in Mainland China, and we bring you up to modern-day in less than 20 minutes. You don't want to miss this episode. Learn more about an iconic Architectural firm that continues to evolve and deliver for both its employees and its clients.
PAP – Episode 1 – Portman architects – The Beginning
Duration: 20:38
Randy Wilburn [0:04] Welcome to the Portman architects Podcast, where we share the stories and informed insight of six-plus decades of architectural design and achievement from being the first US company on Mainland China to creating a sense of place and their design approach. Portman Architects continues to push the architectural envelope. Portman Architect's team of experts are ready and willing to help move your next project from idea to completion. These podcasts deliver invaluable design strategy and industry insight directly to you—the Portman Architects podcast delivering great ideas one episode at a time.
Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Portman Architects podcast. I'm your host Randy Wilburn. And today, I have the pleasure of sitting down with Jack Portman Chairman and CEO Robert Halverson, President and COO and Managing Principal of Portman architects and Mark Zweig, Acting Director of Marketing. Without further delay, here is Mark Zweig. I'm so glad that you have joined us today to kind of share a little bit about the future of Portman architects because you and Jack go way back to have a chance to chat with us and to interview Jack and get a little bit of information out of him. So, Mark, how are you doing today?
Mark Zweig [1:38] I'm doing great. I enjoy working with Portman architects. They are some great people, and as you said, Jack and I have had some good times in the past, and we enjoy each other's company so it's great to be a part of the rebirth of this iconic company. Jack and Rob both tell us a little bit about Portman architects. What makes the company different today from what it was, say, three or five years ago?
Jack Portman [2:11] Well, I think the primary difference is today, Portman architects is a company. It's a partnership of committed individuals focused on building good architecture, meaningful architecture, rather than a company which was run as a sole proprietorship. My father started it in 1953. He passed away three years ago. And in his last years of life, there was a transition where we brought in partners and gave more responsibility to these partners. So, the change took place probably five years before he passed away. And today, we are rolling and going strong.
Mark Zweig [2:54] John Portman, your dad obviously was a larger than life figure and an icon of the architectural world. What do you see as your changes aside from the ownership over these last five years?
John Portman [3:11] I think with him not involved, we are no longer focused on development. We're only an architectural company. And even though I have a background, I'm involved in the development, my primary focus is architecture and the running of Portman architects. That development background and experience has been very meaningful to the way we look at projects and the way we deal with clients. They can help us better understand their economic goals, what their aspirations may be in terms of image and product. But at the end of the day, we have to design for them what works from a cultural point of view, from a financial point of view and from a design point of view.
Mark Zweig [4:04] Well, you are an architect yourself, so I know it's one of your passions. I would think that your development background has to be a huge advantage out there, compared to a lot of other design firms that have never been on the other side of the table.
John Portman [4:24] Well, it particularly was a big advantage when I took the company to China. Because I went there- I went to East Asia with the sole goal of trying to get architectural business in that part of the world. But as it worked out, I ended up in Shanghai, and an opportunity to be the developer of a [inaudible 4:43] square foot mixed-use project, which we eventually put together. And that experience of having done that made quite an impression on all of the budding developers in China at that time, which there were hardly any. So, people would hire us, and then ask us, what should we do? What should we design it? What should our program be? So, we basically were telling everybody what to do. And they would do it. And it didn't really work out very well for us.
Mark Zweig [5:17] The other very interesting doing that first project in China and just all the barriers and obstacles that must have been thrown in front of you. I mean, that's that was pretty incredible. You were the first US company in China to secure a building permit.
Jack Portman [5:34] That's correct. Well, again, my only goal was to do the architecture. And I was able to convince the major municipality of Shanghai to let us do the architecture design for a hotel project on Nanjing Road. And they said, give us four months to finance it, and then we want you to come back and design. Four months later, they call me up and say we can't finance it. Can you finance it? And I was quite taken aback because nobody has done this. But I said, yeah, let me come talk to you. So, to make it a very complicated situation simple, I was able to get the government of China to guarantee most of my debt. Because you had no land title and title, you had no way of securing that they're set by corporate guarantee. So, by saying I'd taken the majority share of the guarantee obligation that made a lot of lenders willing and able to lend us the money to build the project.
Mark Zweig [6:35] That's blowing over an obstacle, a big obstacle. What do you think makes Portman architects so special or unique today?
Rob Halverson [6:46] Hey, Mark, what's interesting about that question is that what makes Portman architects special is its people and always has been. But what's also unique is kind of the dovetail on what your previous question was. How do we take our experiences not only around the world but working with our sister company in development through that history? And how do we share that with our other clients around the world when they say, we don't know how to do mixed-use, we don't know how to put these different pieces together. You guys have done that elsewhere on large scale projects? Our projects are too small? You're not interested. We'd love that question. Because we actually love to show how some of these complicated little intricate buildings can be absolutely fantastic.
Mark Zweig [7:34] And be seeds that really create all kinds of future opportunities, I'm sure.
Rob Halverson [7:40] Yeah. We take a look at all these different projects, and some people think and oversimplify them. And, we kind of remind them that there are some challenges when you stack four or five different programs on top of each other. And of course, it can be done, and there's some optimization that's involved in that but ultimately, we work for our clients. We team with our clients. We don't dictate to them unless that's what they're asking for. So, you know, working and pairing and taking our experience and creating something that's beyond just it's kid apart. So, it's not just A plus B plus C, it's much more than that. Architecture and space and creating something that is iconic and unique are what we do. And that's why people hire us.
Mark Zweig [8:26] Yeah, and the big picture of economics too, I'm sure is---.
Rob Halverson [8:31] Yeah. There's a lot of lingo that's get thrown around by different developers and being involved with different sources and different people. You get to learn what an ADR is and what cap rates are and what kind of the first money going in and coming out and all these different things that influence how projects are done. Why is it important that hotels aren't being built right now? Well, no one can underwrite it. Well, what does that mean? Exactly.
John Portman [9:01] Let me give you an example. We, you know, as I mentioned, we designed Shanghai Center, and it was up and running. And it was the most impactful, most successful financial real estate project in China at the time. An Indonesian client hired us to do a project, but he wanted his building covered in granite. Which if he wants to do that, that's fine. But Shanghai Center, because it was one of the first buildings built there, the budget was very, very low, the buildings painted concrete. So, we tried to take him there to see this project but he wouldn't go in because he didn't want to go into a building. It was painted concrete; it wasn't good enough quality. So, these are some of the things that we deal with. But from an architectural point of view, from a development point of view, it really boils down to common sense. Spend your money where it is going to give you the best benefit. You don't have to spend it everywhere, spend it where it counts.
Mark Zweig [10:02] I believe that's true. You've guys have done a really amazing job with that. I mean, from the whole creation of the Atrium Hotel design was a great example of the drama that you could create in a building that was affordable to build. When do you think you guys do better than any other design firm?
John Portman [10:27] Okay, but if you're looking for a product type, which is where I think your question was headed, it would have to be hotels. Hotel is a mixed-use development, but it's mixed-use developments which we really thrive on. The hotel becomes a very important component. You know, within that mixed-use, development becomes the heart and soul and that's where most of the amenities are. And that's where you can create the most imaginative set, the most extraordinary spaces and experience for the customer. The whole mixed-use development doesn't have to be to that level, but some portion of it does so that you have a varied sense of experience as you go through the complex. But hotels give us the most opportunity to be creative.
Mark Zweig [11:15] What is happening guys right now in the hospitality industry?
Rob Halverson [11:22] Well, what's interesting about the hospitality industry is obviously it's struggling right now. But the design aesthetic and the hospitality nature the service nature of hotels are carrying over through obviously other program types office mixed-use in creating that sense of place, right? That you know, office spaces didn't have before it was a bunch of cubes, exterior wall, Korn shell be done, be as most efficient as you can. Nowadays, the transformative nature of creating unique places for people to touchdown and all of these different areas is kind of carrying over. But to answer your question more directly, what's happening in the hospitality market is how people are going to be using and interacting with people is going to change. The ability to use technology not to have check-in personnel per se, but you may have a wall of, you know, someone's beautiful face to check you in and there's going to be different methodologies by which we actually interact with folks. But I am absolutely convinced that the way of the future for all of these spaces is through design. It's not through throwing up pieces of plastic or, you know, certain things that are just additive. You know, the ability to actually take certain challenges in society, whatever it happens to be, can be solved through a design problem. That's what we do as architects and designers to solve problems. You know, I do think what’s fascinating about hospitality, as our driver as our main kind of talent, if you will. Public space and the interaction of people in public space is what architecture is all about. That's kind of the genesis of why we do what we do. But what's interesting about that to the next level is how do you then take that to the other components that create project interior, exterior public space, it's not just a room in a building. Those are the things hotels are is you know, it's a door and a lock and you're done in a bathroom is far away from what we do.
Mark Zweig [13:44] That’s why so many of your buildings have been featured in various movies and films. I think you probably have more of them out there than anybody. These movie producers realize that the great quality of these spaces so there are so often used in film. I find that---.
John Portman [14:05] There was a film made about movies done in important buildings but it's done from a very interesting perspective. It was done from the point of view of the art director. Why did he pick this building? What was he trying to accomplish by picking this building? And they interviewed from high anxiety at the Marriott Hyatt in San Francisco to the Denzel Washington film when he crashed the plane in Atlanta. So, they talk about why they pick this which is exactly the reason why we designed it that way. That's called Portman inspires Hollywood.
Mark Zweig [14:46] That's interesting. I've never seen that. I need to check that out. I love the John Portman movie, A Life of Building. I think it's a fantastic film. And I think it's very inspirational to young people so, I tried to show it to all my students when I do teach architecture classes. So, tell me, what do you guys see as the future for Portman architects?
John Portman [15:11] I think the future right now is in a very uncertain state. I think regardless of how it evolves, I think Rob's point about, you know, that you can design solutions to solve society's problems as they relate to how people want to live and interact. That's going to be a driving force, no matter what type of buildings we do. However, I think there's going to be a fundamental change in the way people use office space. And we did a building for with Georgia Tech called Kota in Atlanta that is a different kind of office concept, where it's not just a Class A office building with your floors, elevators, a lobby. Every three floors have an atrium space that serves as the living room for all of those people on those floors. So, it functions as a cooperative intermingling, mind sparking ideas parking place. So, office in the future is going to be more interactive with everybody there because it's with that kind of interaction that ideas grow. Not some guy like Edison sitting in a closet or inventing something, so that is a new product type. The Atrium Hotel is a new product type. So, we're looking for ways in which to do the old stereotype in a fresh, new, more vibrant way.
Mark Zweig [16:46] Well, I'm sure that's a fantastic building. I've seen pictures. I haven't been in it, but it looks amazing. Well, anything else that you guys want to talk about that we can include today that you think is important for our listeners to know?
John Portman [17:05] I think the structure of our company is somewhat of a partnership. The thing that I'm most excited about is the young people who work in our office. We have some extraordinary talent. The abilities and the skill level that they come out of college today is really remarkable. And we've been very successful in attracting some of the best people there is and that gives me great enthusiasm and hope for our future.
Mark Zweig [17:41] Well, young professional people in this business, they want to do good projects, and I think you guys have done some amazing ones.
Rob Halverson [17:50] Yeah, Mark, I refer to them as our five percenters. I'm sure I've told you the story before, where every firm around the country has their top Five percent, and our firm is made up of all the five percenters. So, 95 percent of the firm can work for somewhere else. We only want the best of the best. And through that collaboration, we find that if you have that kind of talent, you're playing a different game. So instead of your second and third stringers, you can't throw that long pass, because you can't run there fast enough. All of our guys and gals are so good that we can then take it to the next level. So that's what we enjoy coming to work every day and just seeing what's going to happen. You can't predict, oh, I know it sounds so I was going to do today. You don't, you just really don't, which is great. It's exciting.
Mark Zweig [18:41] Well, you have such a diverse staff, too in terms of where the people have come from. It's fascinating to see that and I think that adds to the creativity. Is there anything else gentlemen that you would like to talk about today?
John Portman [18:56] No, I think that covers it for now.
Mark Zweig [19:00] Alright. We will be back. Well, hey, Jack, Rob, we really appreciate your time today.
Randy Wilburn [19:08] Thanks a lot, Mark. The first-ever episode of The Portman architects podcast. Jack Portman. Rob Halverson and Mark Zweig bringing it to you. We hope you enjoyed this episode, and we want you to tune in on a regular basis for the Portman architects podcast. We're not quite sure how many episodes we will do or what the frequency will be. But we do know that we're going to bring you time-tested, time-honored quality podcast material on a regular basis, and we hope that you tune in wherever you listen to your podcasts, Spotify, Apple doesn't matter. Check us out Portman architects podcast. We will see you soon.
Thanks for tuning in to the Portman architects podcast. We hope that you enjoyed this episode, and you learn a bit more about how we use teamwork and architectural design to solve your problems. Be sure to check us out online at www.portmanarchitects.com.