NBBJ

Last year started well for the Seattle-based firm which acquired two practices in the spring: Boston’s Chan Krieger Sieniewicz and Fisher-Friedman Associates in San Francisco. However, it ended 2010 with fewer architects than it started out with.

NBBJ is predicting that work will remain flat this year in the US, where renovation rather than new-build is increasingly the order of the day. Instead it is looking for growth in Asia — including China, Singapore and Vietnam — and the Middle East. With two of its 11 offices in China and one in Dubai, it is reasonably well placed to exploit these markets.

Recently completed projects include Hangzhou Stadium in Hangzhou, China, and the award-winning Dubai Mall Medical Center. A highlight of 2011 will be the opening of its Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation HQ in Seattle.