The two firms complement each other’s talents. EE&K boasts a portfolio rich with urban mixed-use projects, while Perkins Eastman’s work includes an expansive collection of building design in the education, residential, health-care, senior living, corporate interiors, cultural, public buildings, retail and office sectors.

Principal Stan Eckstut says EE&K’s goal with mixed-use work has been to get involved with early planning and continue through completion of as many buildings and as much public infrastructure as possible.

“We found ourselves needing more capacity,” he says, noting that the firm often relied on project-by-project partnerships. “We felt we needed more in-house capacity and more building-type expertise.”

Perkins Eastman has its own master planning practice and is working on the 1.8-million-sq-ft Flushing Commons mixed-use project in Queens. The project creates a new town square surrounded by condominiums, retail and commercial space, medical office space, a YMCA and a multilevel underground parking garage. The addition of EE&K will increase the firm’s ability to take on more urban planning work.

“It has not, frankly, been as much of our U.S. practice as we would like, and we saw EE&K bringing greater strength in that area,” says principal Bradford Perkins. “We had all of the building types, which we do a lot of, but not so much the combination.”

Both firms have an international presence as well, with practices in more than 30 countries. “[The international business] has been critical to getting through the recession,” says Perkins, adding that the firm found EE&K’s experience in China and Vietnam attractive.

Perkins says the merger with EE&K fits the firm’s plan to diversify its practice through the recession. “We’re optimistic about 2011,” he adds.

ThinkEco

Affordable options for owners and tenants looking to go green.

As more owners and tenants look to go green, economical ideas like those generated by New York-based ThinkEco will get lots of attention in the coming years.

In 2010 it released its “modlet”—short for modern outlet—an electrical outlet that tracks appliance power use and communicates information about the equipment’s electrical use to the company’s server. Energy use can then be monitored on a computer dashboard. The outlet can be scheduled to stay on or shut off according to a prescribed energy-savings program.

“This will give people the ability to see where the high-power usage is coming from and do something about it automatically,” says Erika Diamond, vice president of business development for ThinkEco.

ThinkEco estimates that a site-wide deployment could reduce power consumed by each piece of electronic equipment plugged into the device by 35% to 80%, resulting in a 10% savings on the utility bill with no change in office routines.

Its first-generation modlet, which retails for $50, plugs into a conventional 110-V outlet. However, the company is also planning an in-wall receptacle for release in 2011, according to company officials.

ThinkEco has entered into an agreement with Con Edison to develop and deploy energy-management technology for window air conditioners that will allow consumers to monitor and control units remotely.