KPF

We’re excited to see the progression of our master plan framework for the University of Birmingham 2045 Campus Vision as it moves into the critical next phase: the transformation of the historic Aston Webb building into a vibrant student precinct that mixes cutting edge teaching, informal learning, dining, and active uses designed to bring the campus community together in human-scaled, light filled and sensitively crafted spaces. We look forward continuing our collaboration with The University of Birmingham Steering Committee as the designs are developed by Associated Architects, Arup, Eva O'Connor, Angus Deuchars, Mott MacDonald, Luke Coffey, Will Whiting, Cymes Conservation, Simon Revill and Withernay Projects, Rachael Marshall. Thanks to Lee Sanders, Deborah Longworth, and Trevor Payne MSc FIHEEM FIWFM for their guidance and support for this first stage of implementation of the Campus Vision and our collaborators Ayers Saint Gross, Publica and Buro Happold. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3DXZ77U Image credit: Plomp #KohnPedersenFox #Architecture #AdaptiveReuse #AcademicDesign

Tomorrow, Hana Kassem will deliver Georgia Tech School of Architecture’s first Guest Lecture of 2025, “Resilience and Resonance” in architecture. The KPF Design Principal will discuss the value of human-centric buildings and designing to students in the School of Architecture. The presentation will draw on Hana’s work for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Red Hook Houses and the HKUST (GZ) Student Activity Center, both of which incorporate design solutions to mitigate extreme weather events and foster user connection and wellbeing. Author of THE PLAN ’s recent editorial essay “Resonance: Mind and Matter in Architecture” and co-editor of the book Architect d.b.a | On Re-defining the Roles of the Architect Today, Hana is dedicated to establishing new architectural norms for psychologically friendly design. The lecture will take place on Thursday, January 16, at 12:30pm local time in the Reinsch-Pierce Family Auditorium. Read more here: https://arch.gatech.edu/ Image Credit: GTA #KohnPedersenFox #Architecture #ResilientDesign #GeorgiaTechSchoolofArchitecture

New photography of the recently completed Ziraat Bankası Headquarters is featured in Dezeen. The landmark development, conceived of as the centerpiece of the Istanbul Financial Centre, embodies the firm’s mission to elevate cities through impactful design. “Ziraat Bank Headquarters is a modern building with deep roots in Istanbul’s physical and cultural context,” says KPF Design Principal Mustafa Chehabeddine. “Our concept was for the podium to incorporate interpretive references to the intricate style of the region’s rich historic architecture, with a layered, screen-like approach to shading, while the towers display a horizontal banding. The building's geometry gently and gradually expands toward the top, resulting in a sculptural form that celebrates the growth and development of Ziraat Bank.” Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/4al4aes 📸 Dirk Lindner Simovic Paul, Enrique Ramos Melgar, Tuğba ILHAN GOCMEN #KohnPedersenFox #KPF #Istanbul #Workspace #IIFC

KPF Principal Forth Bagley, AIA outlined the need to transform single-use CBDs to central social districts, or CSDs, to address the challenges facing global cities in an opinion piece for NLQ, the quarterly publication from NLA. “Rather than a neighbourhood driven by a single dominant use, such as offices, CSDs prioritize community activity and offer a variety of programming, encouraging people to invest their most valuable commodity—their time.” “The story of the next half century won’t be the death of the global city. It will be the story of cities that embrace urban innovation, transforming our highest density commercial environments into districts that accommodate the lives we all want to live.” NLQ is edited by David Taylor. Rendering Credit: Kiasm | Architectural Visualization Studio #KohnPedersenFox #KPF #CBD #CSD #Cities #London

Join us in London on Tuesday, January 21st, for the City Architecture Forum’s behind-the-scenes tour of Panorama St. Pauls. KPF Principal Simovic Paul and Mace Project Director Louis Harrison will lead the group through the transformation and extension of the former BT headquarters at 81 Newgate Street into a contemporary mixed-use development; and future London headquarters of HSBC. Book your place here: https://bit.ly/423ugk9 Image Credit: Uniform #KohnPedersenFox #KPF #London #Office #AdaptiveReuse #CarbonReduction

Nestled into a verdant hillside in Albany, New York, Kenwood Commons creates a thriving mixed-use innovation district while preserving the legacy of the site and the city’s post-industrial identity. Composed of walkable villages arranged around a figurehead tech center, Kenwood Commons includes multi-family residential buildings, single-family homes, high-density retail zones, and office space to create a vibrant community. Lush woods knit together the various residential hamlets, providing privacy, recreation, and an intimate relationship with the local environment. Street parking and pedestrian-focused infrastructure encourages human interaction and contributes to a strong sense of place. The central high-tech hub conserves two wings of the Kenwood Sacred Heart Convent and School. The form of the original building is replicated in the massing of the new structure with a striking entryway and statement bell tower, echoing the neo-Gothic style of the original 1859 religious academy. The façade, a rich material mixture of masonry, metal, and glass, alludes to the building’s changing identity over time, an ode to the history of the site and a look toward the future. The 74-acre site abuts the landmark Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail, a maintained hiking path following the footprint of the 1863 railroad. In conjunction with the project’s guiding design principles, the trail facilitates interaction between tech district residents and the storied landscape that surrounds them. Renderings by KPF. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3ZO2HbS #KohnPedersenFox #Architecture #Planning #PlaceMaking #AdaptiveReuse

KPF Senior Associate Principal Dora Dong gave a presentation about storytelling through architecture at the DJSER "Ten Years, One Moment” conference in Shenzhen. Focusing on China’s recent period of rapid urban development, the conference invited leaders to share their “Design Recommendation” for the future of the country. Dora’s presentation covered the importance of location, humanity, scale, and technology for effective architecture and was structured around the example of KPF’s renewal of Covent Garden. “With extensive experience in urban renewal projects in China, I find it fascinating to compare these experiences with Covent Garden's revitalization in London,” says Dora. “The area's transformation and positive public response underscore the success of thoughtful urban design.” Read more about Dora’s presentation here: https://bit.ly/4gN7v8c Find out more about the event here: https://bit.ly/49OjkbY Image credit: DJSER #KohnPedersenFox #Architecture #London #CoventGarden #Shenzhen

Middle and high school students participating in STEAM programs organized by the Salvadori Center visited the KPF New York office on December 12 to learn about the architecture industry. KPF Principal Lauren Schmidt, an active Salvadori Center board member, assisted in organizing the visit for students from MS/HS 223 The Laboratory School of Finance and Technology. With talks from Greg Mell, Chandler Archbell, and Kavitha Mathew, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP, the group got a first-hand view inside a global architecture firm and exposure to the diverse career paths of KPF professionals. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3BErcjF Image credits: Salvadori Center, KPF #KohnPedersenFox #Architecture #Outreach #STEAM

Aerial views of some of KPF’s most complex projects highlight the firm’s city-shaping impact across the globe. Defined by density, diverse programs, public green space, and connections to transportation, these planning projects elevate their urban context through performance-driven design. 1. The design of the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (Guangzhou) campus combines the school’s programmatic aspirations with the site’s natural beauty and environmental needs. Specialized facilities converge around central green spaces, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and a strong academic community. 2. Victoria Dockside is an energetic cultural district at the tip of Hong Kong’s Kowloon Peninsula, nurturing local artisanship while catering to international tourism. The landscaped roofs of K11 Musea, K11 Artus, and K11 Atelier provide havens of public green space programmed with retail and entertainment functions adjacent to the Rosewood Hong Kong tower. 3. The CPIC Xintiandi Commercial Center in Shanghai weaves together office space, retail, preserved historic buildings, public parks, and cultural facilities to achieve a new level of urban connectivity. The development is centered around a network of covered retail streets that preserves, modernizes, and commemorates the historic Dong Tai Lu ‘Antique Street’ that previously occupied the site. 4. The largest private real estate development in US history, Hudson Yards New York is built over the Long Island Rail Road rail yard and transforms a desolate industrial space into a vibrant neighborhood. The development organizes a mix of uses around 14 acres of public space and is anchored by KPF-designed 10 and 30 Hudson Yards, two high-rise office towers that have become icons of the New York skyline. Photo Credit: TAL, New World Group, Shui On Land, Aaron Fedor Read more about HKUST(GZ) here https://bit.ly/4gxHtGA, Victoria Dockside here https://bit.ly/406rmd1, CPIC Xintiandi Commercial Center here https://bit.ly/407J2Fa, and Hudson Yards here https://bit.ly/4gMMA5j. #KohnPedersenFox #Architecture #MasterPlanning #AerialPhotography #GlobalDesign

Seeking to address the challenges posed by extreme heat and prolonged sun exposure in urban environments, KPF’s design, Computation, and Environmental Performance teams designed Track, a smart trellis system that continuously adapts throughout the day in response to weather data, sun angle analysis, and thermal intensity. Track works as a component for public realm design that makes cities suffering from extreme heat more livable while simultaneously fostering a high degree of exterior connectivity along city streets. As jeffrey kenoff, faia, KPF Design Principal and lead of the collaborative effort, remarks, Track ensures that “the circulation paths below evolve in real time, providing a shaded route at any given moment while allowing light to softly dapple along the edges.” Christina X B. of the KPF Environmental Performance team notes that “with growing concerns of extreme heat, designing year-round thermal comfort through passive strategies becomes even more crucial.” Conventional trellis systems are often static, offering limited utility by providing shade only during specific times of the day or certain seasons. For Track, “we analyzed the sun angle and intensity for every hour of the year to develop a temporal approach for comprehensively designing for outdoor comfort,” explains Luc Wilson, KPF Global Director of Design Technology. The ideal public space has enough shade to be comfortable, but enough light to be inviting. Striking that optimal balance was the central goal of Track. Madeleine Eggers, a member of the KPF Computation team, elaborates that “rather than kinetically tracking the sun position, the trellis is stationary. As the sun moves, local variations in the trellis cast shifting shadows that create transient shaded paths, offering a comfortable and ever-changing route throughout the day.” KPF’s mission of elevating cities through impactful design necessitates architectural thinking that addresses climate change beyond a building’s footprint. As Carlos Cerezo Davila, KPF Global Director of Sustainability, notes, “Track’s trellis helps create a bespoke urban microclimate that protects the site from extreme heat events while offering visitors a rich and diverse urban experience.” Read about Track here: https://bit.ly/4iMY8at Read more about KPF Computation: https://bit.ly/4gx9VIr Read more about KPF Environmental Performance: https://bit.ly/4fqow7j Team: Jeffrey Kenoff FAIA, Design Principal Carlos Cerezo Davila, Global Director of Sustainability Luc Wilson, Global Director of Design Technology Madeleine Eggers, KPF Computation Christina X. Brown, KPF Environmental Performance Hyunwoo Lee, Senior Designer