publication: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)

July 18, 2008 Friday

Five years ago, Penny Malina learned from a friend and fellow animal lover that the St. Louis animal shelter needed a larger facility. Since then, Malina, information technology director for St. Louis-based Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, and at least four architects and designers from the firm, have spent about 4,000 hours of unpaid time working on the plans. HOK encourages its employees to donate time to worthy community projects. And it isn't the only local architecture company to do so. Pro bono work, normally associated with the law profession, is growing among architecture firms, say local professionals.