Since moving into its new digs at 417 Montgomery last year, NicholsBooth Architects has ramped up hiring and gone the gallery route for its office aesthetic. It's also got some new work, founder Gary Nichols tells us, which includes plans to convert an East Bay hotel into an upscale residential project, and work underway on an adaptive reuse project at 995 Market, where he says the company is saving a "marginalized" Midmarket building. No tenant is signed yet but “people are swarming” as the panels are starting to get fixed up. Landlord Beacon also is a client, as is tech tenant Splunk—and he’s building their new offices on Brannan Street, in Seattle and in DC. The firm also designs for BrightRoll; Stanford, a VC firm; Zynga; and Zoosk.

Here are two of the company’s most recent hires, putting NicholsBooth at 30 employees to date: director of ops Daryl McCormick and VP Scott Clement. Scott says the Bay Area, lead by the tech industry, is the center of the universe in so many ways. Compared to a decade ago, this market is on steroids. But the firm is looking to be strategic in its growth, focusing on its clients and partnerships to be aligned with its own vision and strengths. Daryl moved up here from Manhattan Beach and is charged with day-to-day office execution. 
They showed us the office's 1940’s WW II plane propeller, which Gary spotted at the famous Alameda Fair.

A table that’s being fabricated from Bay Bridge parts will replace the one in the conference room now. Gary installed a TV screen that pops out of the table (you gotta compete with a TV when the Transamerica Pyramid is the other backdrop). “It’s a nice James Bond effect,” he says. He's also pro refurbishment: When the price of metal was sky high, an employee found a discarded orange piece from the Golden Gate Bridge and nabbed it. Now it's a bench. And he's big on art, with egg shells he discovered in San Diego on the walls.