The man we named Seattle's leading architect in our Power 60 list last summer, Scott Wyatt—head of 800-employee NBBJ—is busy these days shepherding the firm's work as designer of Amazon HQ and major commissions for Google, Samsung, Tencent, Alibaba, and Gazprom, among countless others. (Hold on while we pick those names up off the floor.)
Scott can also place more granular details in context, which is why we've asked him to open our Restaurant Development Summit next Wednesday morning (sign up here), where he'll explain how the vibrant dining scene in Seattle is both cause and effect of the city's resurgent urban culture and excitement. In his South Lake Union offices on Yale, he showed us how they keep track of their own non-stop work around the city: a dynamic and modular model, where every block pops out and can be updated or moved around to visualize change and potential (i.e. the greatest toy ever invented).
In its 71st year, the firm has grown to 11 offices in the US, Europe, India, and China. It got its start in a stunning way: As the US entered WWII in the Pacific, the War Department came to Seattle needing an enormous amount of work done quickly, and failing to find a firm that could do it, went to the three largest firms and suggested they get together; NBBJ stands for names of the four founders of the new firm that came together from the old ones. Scott himself, who grew up south of Tacoma in a rural area, was born in an Oakland hospital he says is now being replaced with one NBBJ is designing for Kaiser. After college, he went to the Peace Corps in Iran, travelled the world awhile, then created a firm in 1980 that grew to 80 employees and merged with NBBJ in '91.
Scott claims we just caught him with some shoes he found on sale, and that he's gotten "nothing but grief" the two times he's worn them to work, including a colleague who said, "Hey, buddy, what are those, spats?"
NBBJ's had 3D printers for many years, Scott says, but the original models used corn starch, while the new plastics and resins used today, four or five tech cycles later, has allowed the price to drop dramatically and speed and versatility to spike. As architects, he says, they still like to see physical models showing features that don't show up even in sophisticated computer renderings. And of course it’s a presentation tool to show clients. Maybe Scott will bring some 3D samples of food on Wednesday.
