January 2015
| Business World
153
roughly 25 years ago. He was attracted by the
firm’s design ethos, as well as its flat hierarchi-
cal structure. Despite employing about 550
people, he says the partners are all hands-on,
which gives it a small company feel.
LOOKING FOR INNOVATION
Over time, ZGF Architects has developed an
intentionally diverse portfolio, ranging from
corporate and mixed-use developments to
healthcare and research buildings, academic
facilities, transportation terminals, libraries,
and museums.
According to Ted, ZGF doesn’t look at proj-
ects in terms of size, but rather in terms of
clients. They want to work with people who
have “high aspirations for both themselves
and for us.”
“We’re always looking for projects that want
to be innovative,” he says. “Currently, we’re
doing a 3,000 square foot interior project for
Craig Venter, who is known for being one of
the first people to map the human genome.
Getting to do a very small project with some-
body who is doing really incredible things
