by William Higgins, AIA

It may sound simple, but the key to a successful international practice is to provide complete service and let your clients know that they are your first concern, always. I find that true in our practice and I see it in the practices of my colleagues on the International Committee.

Personal commitment
Part of our professional commitment and the fulfillment that comes with it is developing personal relationships with our clients. An example is the 15-year relationship we have with one particular client in the Philippines. In that time we’ve created friends in that organization from the president and chairman of the board to the project managers. And the friendship extends beyond the business level. We exchange holiday cards and gifts. If there is a natural disaster or political crisis, we call to see if they are all right. Trust is built on genuine concern.

On the professional level, our principals commit to each project and remain active in the design and at meetings. We take on the responsibility of participating here in the office—communicating directly with the project team members overseas—and we will jump on a plane at a moment’s notice. We don’t get the job and pass those responsibilities on to a surrogate. One result is that the client always turns to us as a person; someone they know they can trust to give them our best effort.

The commitment is long-term, not just for the project at hand. It’s also a larger commitment than the client alone. In the case of the Philippines, you could say it is a commitment to the entire country. You have to respect their culture. You have to respect your clients’ position within their society and how they got to where they are. You have to learn the politics and customs of the country so you can be sensitive to the struggles that they’re going through.

Another part of developing mutual respect is sharing knowledge. We develop an understanding of the good our clients are trying to do for their country in their projects, and we help them develop something that has a social conscience to it. We learn from them as much as they learn from us.

All this commitment to service does take a toll on you, because you have to be very responsive. When they call, you need to jump so they know that you’re working for them. We’re a fairly small firm without branch offices overseas, so we overcome that with the commitment of being available, whether it’s by phone, fax, e-mail, or plane; whether they come here or we go there.

Networks open doors
When my two partners and I started Architecture International, we had a network of people we’d worked with in our past who had since moved to countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. In lieu of offices in those countries, we made these collegial relationships and worked together to find projects. They were our eyes on the ground. A big part of doing international work is the partnering you do. If we’re doing a project in the Philippines, we partner with a local Filipino architectural office. They become your partner and you then have a larger office, albeit virtually. An interesting offshoot of working in that region is that you get into the whole 24/7 scenario because of the time change. We have our eight-hour day, then they have their eight-hour day. With instant telecommunications, that’s a benefit because we can exchange drawings at each of our day’s end and be turning out work almost constantly.

Our previous experience working at The Architects Collaborative was essential to the success of Architecture International. At the time, TAC was known mostly for its work in the Middle East, but they were expanding worldwide and had gotten into the Philippines by going on a trade mission in the 1970s. Their first project was a modest resort planning study, which led to another government-sponsored project. One of my first projects at TAC as a designer was a large headquarters building right on Manila Bay in the early 1980s. Working with a local architect, we incorporated cultural and climatic influences and ended up doing what would now be called green building solutions, with passive solar, day lighting, natural ventilation, and recycled rain water. We were learning from their vernacular and construction methods and developing key contacts at the same time.

That project won some awards, which was a huge point of pride for the Filipino architectural community, even for architects there who weren’t directly involved. So when we departed TAC and started Architecture International, we had the knowledge of the culture and continued to communicate with the people we knew in the Philippines, and that helped launch our first project, a small design study for Ayala Land Inc. that has become a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.

I have talked with clients—ours and other people’s—who tell me that during the Asian boom, all sorts of U.S. firms were there looking for work, handing out their literature. But as soon as the boom went away, most of these firms disappeared from the scene. That’s a mistake that a lot of U.S. architects make. Building a working relationship takes a commitment in the lean times as well as the booms.

We use our connections to introduce our overseas clients to development opportunities, financial institutions, and potential tenants here in the U.S. And they reciprocate by introducing us to new clients in the Philippines. So having a trusting relationship as we do turns out to be a marketing tool as well, although it’s one you could never measure.

Sharing professional knowledge benefits everyone
We make it a point to cater to our client’s needs when they come to the U.S. We even help with their travel plans. More importantly, though, because a lot of our clients want a better understanding of U.S. expertise and Western ideas, we help them gain it. We tour facilities; not just our projects, but a wide range of building types and styles. We’ll buy books for them to help them understand a particular approach or system. Clients see the value of our efforts to improve their understanding and broaden their horizon of opportunities. They always want to see the latest design trends in retail, residential, and other facility types. We don’t hesitate to take the time to share that knowledge with them.

When we first started working in the Philippines, we found some client frustration that they couldn’t get the design expertise they wanted locally. We took it upon ourselves to transfer our knowledge to the Filipino design professionals with whom we worked. We have given lectures on design process and technology to the local association of architects as well as to the staff of the development firms with which we work. Again, it’s hard to measure, but I believe we have helped elevate the profession in that part of the world. The benefit we derive includes being able to work with more responsive local professionals who understand the need for attention to detail, coordination, and problem-solving.

Act the part as an AIA member
When you help others, you help yourself. That’s an important lesson I am reminded of often as chair of the national AIA International Committee and from being very active in the San Francisco International Committee. It’s an ongoing, long-term ideal. Service to the client is one of the main components of the AIA’s professional edict. And I think you have to carry that into your work internationally.

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