HKS Expands Mission Critical Team to Lead Market Transformation
Global design firm HKS is expanding its Mission Critical practice to strengthen its position as a leader in designing resilient, critical facilities that operate 24/7, 365 days a year – an escalating market that has grown to include every economic sector. The firm hired industry veteran Mark Nakatani to head the practice and successfully acquired Reston, Virginia-based AXO Architects, specialists in technically complex buildings.
Nakatani will serve as HKS’ Global Practice Director, Mission Critical. He brings more than 30 years of experience in developing technology-centric design practices and delivery teams to the role.
Kirk Teske, HKS Partner and Global Sector Director, Place, oversees the firm’s Mission Critical practice. With Nakatani joining HKS, Teske envisions opportunities to build on and diversify the firm’s market share.
“HKS is very experienced in the design of mission critical programs. We also have a portfolio of advanced manufacturing facilities, life sciences and operations centers,” Teske said. “We believe Mark can grow our market share in these building types and partner with HKS practice leaders to meet the demand in technology-based solutions across all our markets.”
Nakatani said that as a multidisciplinary firm, HKS can bring added value to clients in a wide array of markets that have surging technology needs.
“Hospitality, sports, health care – all of these markets are going through a transformation, whether it’s electrification, AI or data management,” said Nakatani.
“These are the crossroads where I think HKS can be the center point. I’m excited about what that could mean.”
AXO served clients for decades in “data center alley,” a region of Virginia that has the highest concentration of data centers in the world – more than 25 million square feet, with more planned or in development.
Arizton market research states that the U.S. data center market is projected to expand to $149 billion by 2029, up from $102 billion in 2023, a compound annual growth rate of 6.5%. The global data center and cloud service market, which was valued at $200 billion in 2021, is expected to zoom to $450 billion by 2027, according to estimates by market research and consulting firm Ken Research.
“We are in a technological era in which one of the primary resources is data – the capture, processing, and transmission of which takes place primarily in the data center,” said David Sassano, AXO’s former owner, who now serves as Regional Practice leader, Mission Critical, at HKS. “This building type plays a vital role in how we function as a global society.”
As data management needs increase, energy efficiency becomes more paramount and devices get smaller and require less of a building footprint, data center design is “at the cusp of some really phenomenal innovation over the next few years,” Sassano said.
HKS is well-equipped to lead this market transformation and help clients achieve environmental, financial and operational resilience.
“In addition to our ability to lead and deliver projects, HKS has some of the best talent in the industry for design innovation,” Teske said.
“With the trend toward more integration of robotic manufacturing and laboratory research with corporate office space, we believe we can create environments that spark innovation within our clients’ organizations.”
