Led by KPF Pride, the firm’s LGBTQIA+ community group, this year’s events included collaborative challenges, educational and social events, and fundraising through sales of collectable merchandise.
This year saw the continuation of KPF Pride’s logo competition, a collective effort among the firm’s global offices to submit and vote on design ideas for the group’s pride month logo. The winning design is then transformed into items that are sold to raise money for various LGBTQIA+ charities and to support the firm’s aspirations toward a more responsive practice.
The 2021 logo, designed by Yashil Mudaliar of KPF’s New York office, “deconstructs the colors of various Pride flags into a multi-colored grid that represents the spectrum of the LGBTQIA+ community,” according to Yashil. The Pantone-inspired design used in the KPF Pride collectable pin features a “cut-out at the center of the grid (shown as a white box) that represents the individual wearing the pin. With this unique contribution to the grid, either as a member or an ally, they are embraced by the community, coming together to create a diverse and beautiful whole.” Yashil’s design also inspired variations for other merchandise and collateral, including apparel and digital graphics.
New for this year, KPF Pride hosted a special edition of the KPF Extra Mile Challenge: Pride Edition. The Challenge encourages KPF staff across all offices to log any kind of physical activity and submit pictures and videos of their route. Special limited edition KPF Pride / KPF Extra Mile Challenge t-shirts featured an interpretation of this year’s Pride logo on the front and a unique Extra Mile design on the back, encouraging athletes to share their pride as they exercised.
All proceeds collected from the sale of pins and shirts are being donated to Save Our Spaces, a relief fund for LGBTQ+ nightlife venues in the US, and Black Cap Foundation, an effort to secure the future of The Black Cap in London as a space for the LGBTQ+ community.
On July 25th, KPF Pride hosted the fifth installment of its “IncluCity” lecture series. Titled “Intersectionality: Identities crossing the workspace in architecture and engineering”, the conversation explored the definition of the term “intersectionality” and featured a roundtable discussion with personal testimonies from AEC professionals who have been part of change at all stages of their careers.
Panelists included Jimi Adeseun, Junior Architect, KPF; Bruce Fisher, Principal, KPF; Rajas Karnik, Associate, FXCollaborative and President, Build Out Alliance; Ruth Ro, Associate Principal, Dattner Architects; Tabitha Tavolaro, Principal, ARUP; and a conversation among staff at KPF’s Hong Kong office. The discussion was moderated by Agnes Jablonska-Pipe, Executive Assistant, KPF, and Joel Peterson, Associate Director of Human Resources, KPF.
To wrap up the month’s events, KPF Pride hosted a global virtual happy hour. The event featured a performance by drag queen Portia de Fosse, and a gallery of previous entries in the KPF Pride logo competition.
Happy Pride!
About KPF Pride
Comprised of a cross section of the KPF community, KPF Pride works together to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ issues within the firm in ways that inform design thinking. The group meets regularly to discuss topics related to inclusivity in design and organizes educational tours and outings, schedules guest speakers and panel discussions, and hosts charitable social events within the office. KPF Pride also supports LGBTQ+ members of the architectural, engineering, and construction community through a partnership with Build Out Alliance.