| Founded | New York, NY, United States (1976) |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) |
A. Eugene Kohn |
| Headquarters | (Additional offices in London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Abu Dhabi) |
| Area served | International |
| Services | Architecture, Interior Design, Sustainable Design, Urban Design, Planning |
| Employees | 500+ |
| Website | www.kpf.com |
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), an architectural firm responsible for several world-renowned buildings, provides architectural, interior and urban design as well as programming and master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors. KPF is one of the largest architecture firms in the world and is currently the largest in New York City[1], where its headquarters are located. The firm’s portfolio includes corporate, hospitality, residential, academic, civic, cultural, and mixed-use projects located in more than 35 countries.
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Today, KPF’s projects include civic and cultural spaces, commercial office buildings, transportation facilities, residential and hospitality developments, educational and institutional facilities, and diverse mixed-use commercial developments.[2] KPF’s projects over the last 10 years include a mixed-use project for Baruch College, New York (2001), the Gannet/USA Today Headquarters in McLean, VA (2001), the US Airways International Terminal at the Philadelphia International Airport (2001), Roppongi Hills in Tokyo (2003), Unilever House in London (2007), the Shanghai World Financial Center (2008), the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas (2009), the Stephen M. Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor (2009), the RBC Centre in Toronto (2009), the International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong (2010), the University of Minnesota Science Teaching and Student Services Center (2010), Centra at Metropark in Iselin, New Jersey (2011), and Tour First, the tallest building in Paris (2011).
In New York, KPF is presently designing the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, a 26-acre site on Manhattan's West Side that is the largest undeveloped single piece of property on the island.[3] Also in New York, KPF is designing NYU's new College of Nursing, Dentistry & Bio-Engineering Institute in collaboration with EYP Architects and the 390,000-square-foot CUNY Advanced Science Research Center, which is currently under construction. KPF recently completed One Jackson Square (2009) and served as Executive Architect for the 10-year phased expansion and renovation of New York's Museum of Modern Art (2005).
Current projects around the world include Marina Bay Financial Centre in Singapore, The Pinnacle in London, the Midfield Terminal Complex at the Abu Dhabi International Airport, Songdo International Business District in Incheon, Korea, the new Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, the 555-meter-tall Lotte Super Tower in Seoul,[4] and the 646-meter-tall Ping An International Finance Centre in Shenzhen, China.[5]
KPF’s philosophy is firmly rooted in the belief that success is the result of collaboration and dialogue.[6] KPF explains, “A similar sentiment is central to the manner in which we weave our buildings into the environmental fabric." [7] For a firm of its size, KPF takes on an unusually large number of restoration and renovation projects. Examples of this work include The World Bank Headquarters, Unilever House, and the Landmark in Hong Kong. KPF has been recognized for workplace collaboration. KPF’s intranet “Architectural Forum” has been described in Architectural Record as an example of “a resource that contributes to a learning environment through mentoring supporting teams and individuals with new ideas, and sharing best practices”.[8]
Acccording to the firm's website, "KPF strives to promote high-performance design that maximizes energy conservation, environmental comfort, and material efficiency, while creating minimal waste and environmental impact during the construction process."[9] Since its founding, KPF has helped develop many sustainable design innovations. The firm’s early experience in Europe, where energy efficient design was the norm, fostered a sustainable design approach at KPF that was ahead of its time in the United States. KPF’s sustainable approach to project design views the project as a system made up of interdependent components. KPF is known for using both vernacular and environmental design strategies in its projects. The latest modeling and simulation software is used to develop projects parametrically. KPF’s in-house environmental specialists use analytical tools such as Ecotect, Radiance, and Green Building Suite to support the design process by providing performance metrics from inception to construction and operation.
KPF was founded on July 4, 1976 by A. Eugene Kohn, William Pedersen and Sheldon Fox.[10] A fourth principal, Patricia Conway (1937-) specialized in planning and interiors, and in 1984 became president of KPF’s splinter interiors firm, Kohn Pedersen Fox Conway Associates, Inc. KPF now has offices in New York, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Abu Dhabi. The firm is led by 19 principal architects and 16 directors and has over 500 staff members who come from 43 different countries and speak more than 30 languages.[11]
Shortly after its founding in 1976, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) chose KPF to redevelop a former armory building on Manhattan’s West Side to house TV studios and offices. This experience led to 14 more projects for ABC over the next 11 years, as well as commissions from major corporations across the country, including the AT&T and Hercules Incorporated. By the mid-1980s, KPF had nearly 250 architects working on projects in cities throughout the United States. By 1985, even John Burgee (of rival architecture firm John Burgee Architects) called KPF, “The best commercial firm now practicing in the U.S.”[12] KPF’s design for 333 Wacker Drive in Chicago (1983), which was awarded the AIA National Honor Award in 1984, made the firm nationally famous. It remains a Chicago landmark, and was voted “Favorite Building” by the readers of the Chicago Tribune in both 1995 and 1997.[13] In 1986, KPF’s Procter & Gamble Headquarters in Cincinnati, which included an open plan interior design by Patricia Conway, was recognized for its innovative design with the AIA National Honor Award. [14] After its success with these projects, KPF was selected to design buildings including the IBM World Headquarters in Armonk, NY (1997), the Chicago Title and Trust Building in Chicago (1992) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (1993).
In the 1990s, KPF also took on a larger number of government and civic projects, including the Foley Square U.S. Courthouse in New York (1995), the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland, OR (1996), the U.S. Courthouse of Minneapolis (1996), the Buffalo Niagara International Airport (1993) and the multiple award-winning redevelopment of The World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. (1996).
KPF’s winning entry in the international competition for the World Bank Headquarters, which drew 76 entrants from 26 countries, was the only entry that included the retention of existing structures. KPF’s sensitive design solution for the World Bank, its first D.C. project, set the tone for KPF’s future high-profile international work.
In the 1980s and 1990s, KPF transformed from an American firm known for its corporate designs into an international firm with institutional, government, and transportation commissions in addition to corporate work.
KPF completed the Goldman Sachs Headquarters on Fleet Street (1987) and the design for two blocks of the large-scale Canary Wharf redevelopment (1987–1991).[15] KPF has been selected for projects in the Canary Wharf area through the present day, including the Clifford Chance Tower (2002) to the KPMG’s European Headquarters (2009). KPF’s subsequent work in the U.K. includes Thames Court in London (1998), the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University (2001) and the master plan for the London School of Economics (2002). KPF’s design for the award-winning DZ-Bank building in Frankfurt (1992), an early example of mixed-use design, further increased the firm’s international prominence and solidified the firm’s reputation as a progressive global practice. The importance of the firm’s European presence is reflected in the words of critic Deyan Sudjic: “KPF has, more than anyone else, made postmodernism commercially acceptable in the 1980s”.[16] KPF was chosen for subsequent projects throughout Europe, including Provinciehuis in The Hague (1998), Danube House in River City, Prague (2003), the expansion and renovation of the World Trade Center in Amsterdam (2004) and the Endesa Headquarters in Madrid (2003).
KPF’s introduction to the Asian market began with the 4,500,000-square-foot (420,000 m2) Japan Railways Central Towers project in Nagoya (1999). Within 10 years, KPF had projects in Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. Completed KPF projects in Asia include Plaza 66 on Shanghai’s Nanjing Xi Lu (2001), Roppongi Hills in Tokyo (2003), the Rodin Pavilion in Seoul (2003), the Merrill Lynch Japan Head Office in Tokyo (2004) and the Shanghai World Financial Center (2008), which was named the “Best Tall Building Overall” by the Council on Tall Buildings and the Urban Habitat in 2008.[17] KPF worked with renowned structural engineers, Leslie E. Robertson Associates, to maximize the Shanghai tower’s floor plate and material efficiency by perfecting its tapered form.[18] In addition to this work in Asia, KPF has completed projects in the Middle East including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Headquarters (2007) and the Marina Towers (2008), and has worked in South America, Africa and Australia.