Global, Cross-Cultural Collaboration Is Changing the Future of Design

Throughout its history, Haskell has grown to meet its clients’ needs. That’s been true geographically as it opened new offices, and it’s also been the case functionally as it has adopted the full range of architectural, engineering and construction disciplines.

Founded in 1965 as a design-build firm, when that delivery method was still in its infancy, it hired its first in-house designers in the early 1970s. Today, the sun never sets on Haskell’s more than 800 design professionals, nearly 200 of whom live and work in Latin America (LATAM) and Asia-Pacific (APAC).

At the request of longtime customer Frito Lay, Haskell sent its first team to Mexico more than 25 years ago to build a plant for Sabritas, the snack maker’s Mexican subsidiary. As Haskell performed and completed that project, more U.S. corporations sought the same security of having an American contractor performing their work in a foreign country. Subsequently, Haskell established its Mexico City office and staffed its operation with local construction professionals.

For more than a decade, that workforce remained construction-centric, but Haskell was known as a design-build pioneer, and it increasingly received requests for design services. At first, the small but growing team worked with external consultants for engineering services on its projects.

But the volume and scale of projects continued to grow, and again, responding to its clients’ needs, Haskell Mexico hired its first designer, Eric Valdiviez, in 2007 and added another, Ramón Ramírez, in 2010. Valdiviez is now Director of the Latin American Design Center, and Ramirez is Vice President of International Design & Consulting.

The team continued to grow, and in 2012, Haskell USA invited the Mexico team to participate in Diageo's “Process Improvement” project in Plainfield, Illinois. Hugo Jiménez, today the Project Coordinator for Process Engineering, and Orvin Lozada, now the LATAM Design Director, came on board, and the Mexico team designed all the piping.

“This was Haskell's first EPC project in the USA,” Ramirez said. “It was challenging, but it became a great learning experience for everyone.”

Leverage the APAC Presence

As in Mexico, Haskell’s first step into the Asia-Pacific Region was to perform a project for PepsiCo, Frito Lay’s parent, and it expanded to Malaysia in response to a request from another existing client, French aerospace and defense contractor Safran.

However, while the LATAM design team grew organically, the decision to launch a second design center outside the U.S. was more intentional. With an ongoing project and presence in Malaysia, Haskell leadership conceived a business case that would have APAC designers serving local clients while also collaborating with colleagues in the Western Hemisphere on global projects.

Around 2015, Jonathan Toke, now Vice President for International Planning & Development, and Operations President Frank Mangin visited universities in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines to understand the capabilities of local graduates in the architectural and engineering disciplines.

“We determined that all the locations had viable talent, but it made sense to take advantage of our active project with Safran to start growing a design team in Kuala Lumpur,” Toke said. “The Safran opportunity allowed us to build BIM (Building Information Modeling) and mechanical, electrical and process engineering disciplines from the beginning of the KL office.”

Developing the APAC team immediately showed promise as it tapped a deep and talented pool of candidates for jobs across the architectural and engineering disciplines.

“I remember getting 435 applicants per position, one technical position, and you're getting high-quality students looking for a place to actually ply their trade in their discipline and get mentored,” Toke said.

With several years’ head start, the LATAM Design Center had grown organically, collaborating with process and industrial designers on U.S. projects and winning their own local projects. Bringing the APAC operation online posed challenges but held immense promise.

“LATAM is in the same time zone, and a lot of work was essentially American companies crossing the border to build things in Mexico to provide for the U.S. market,” Toke said. “Asia was quite different because the difference in time zones is so challenging. It's really working at night. Now, if you harness it, that's a 24-hour clock.”

A Deep Talent Pool

The APAC presence allowed Haskell to recruit top talent to serve local and global accounts around the clock. The APAC Design Center expanded to the Philippines in service to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple project. In 2018, the LATAM and APAC design teams met at the corporate headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida, and in January 2023, they formally combined to create the International Design Center (IDC).

The IDC now comprises nearly 200 design professionals. The group has found commonalities across time zones in its challenges, such as balancing cost and value, leveraging design systems and addressing local market needs while filling the need for professional services in the U.S. It has responded by collaborating closely and sharing solutions.

The reorganization has strengthened workflows between Asia and Mexico, enabling flexibility in time zones and becoming increasingly integrated with U.S. operations. Mexico’s proximity to the U.S. simplifies communication, while the division of work between regions blurs, fostering a unified approach. This evolving dynamic reflects a single, cohesive group of professionals focused on shared goals, regardless of geography, and it’s yielding measurable results.

“I was in Atlanta recently, and there was a clear recognition of how it's important to have international team members involved,” Toke said. “People are finding solutions to work around the barriers of language or time zones, and they're focusing on common behaviors and a common excellence of performance.”

The Benefits are Manifold

Ramirez, the Vice President of International Design & Consulting, notes that the combination of global collaboration and local presence in three distinct regions has given rise to numerous significant achievements.

Geographically appropriate design: Developing new approaches in several recent industrial projects has enabled Haskell to implement novel regional construction systems and methods. Designers in each region can provide insights into their local market's specific needs, preferences, and cultural nuances. This can lead to engineering designs that are more relevant and appealing to local customers.

Sustainable Design: The International Design Center's expertise has helped clients achieve high LEED certification marks.

Project Success: Regional teams are cost-effective. Consistently delivering projects on time and within budget demonstrates the design team's efficiency and project management skills.

Customer satisfaction: Dispersed teams lead to a more substantial local presence, the ability to build relationships with clients and stakeholders, and provide personal service that meets and exceeds client expectations.

Teaming professionals of myriad ethnicities, backgrounds and talents from across the globe is its own reward. As a result, the Haskell design community benefits from an ever-increasing diversity of thought and cross-cultural relationships. Clients benefit from the level of collaboration that produces superior solutions.

“I would like to highlight the commitment and dedication of the more than 190 members of the international design team,” Ramirez said. “It works because they are passionate about their work. Young people are willing to learn despite time zones, language, and culture challenges.”

At Haskell, we take our clients’ goals as our own. We innovate constantly to ensure that we deliver world-class solutions with the best possible effectiveness, efficiency and performance. Contact us to discuss your facilities needs.