KPF Lab
The KPF Lab is a forum for highlighting innovative tools and
workflows with a focus on inspiring attendees to work
more smartly and creatively.
As a firm, KPF takes on some of the most complex design challenges in the world. These projects require efficiency, precision, flexibility, and design excellence. Emerging technologies for simulation and fabrication, to advanced modelling and visualization, to coordination and documentation, offer new ways for architects to create and execute more effectively. KPF Lab hosts frequent events to foster the sharing and discussion of innovative technologies and exploratory methods in architecture.
Show & Tell
Show & Tell celebrates the broad spectrum of current
KPF projects through the lens of common topics in
architectural thought.
The committee organizes a series of events, each with its own theme that investigates an issue of architectural design. The exhibition format offers a venue to reflect critically on how our various projects relate to one another and how our work fits into broader questions of the practice. Previous topics include Competitions, Grace & Gravity, Clarity & Complexity, and other dichotomies that present themselves in the architectural process.
Events are scheduled regularly throughout the year with project teams encouraged to create posters of their current work in response to the theme of a given event. Posters are collected, printed, hung, and introduced during a happy hour gathering. Each show leads to lively discussions about the work, which enriches the office’s educational and social atmosphere.
Sustainability, Resilience, and Wellness
The Sustainability, Resilience, and Wellness Group integrates
its mission into the workflow and ethos of the global practice.
The group’s activities include maintaining the firm’s database of sustainable and resilience strategies, bringing guest lecturers and experts in the field to the office, conducting studies to inform future work, and providing ideas and technical support to the design teams. The group meets on a monthly basis to discuss action items and advance its agenda, continually seeking opportunities to push the boundaries of creative, responsible thinking.
Young Designers' Forum
The Young Designers Forum (YDF) serves as a platform
for open discussion of design amongst the junior staff
and interns.
With monthly themed meetings, YDF promotes exploratory discourse and offers an outlet for young designers to connect with their peers. Led by a steering committee, YDF has addressed past topics ranging from abstract design ideas such as Pattern, Texture, and Color, to contemporary issues such as Agency, Boundary, and Chaos. Each event presents a different, discursive format—sometimes with presenters or a set agenda—but always with the intention of creating an open forum for all to participate. Occasionally, the group will host office-wide competitions or mixers for gathering ideas and topics.
