Laura King
Laura is a Director in KPF’s London office and an architect with over 20 years of professional experience. Since joining KPF in 2003, Laura’s leadership skills have proved invaluable in the management of many successfully delivered projects across the globe. Having lived and worked internationally in Asia, the USA and Europe for substantial periods, Laura has a unique ability to communicate ideas across different cultures, placing her ideally to help global clients realise their international aspirations.
Most recently, Laura has been managing the One Nine Elms development located at the heart of a significant new cluster of buildings emerging at Vauxhall. The mixed-use residential and hotel project in a major regeneration area will offer unparalleled accommodation across two iconic towers, with a luxury hotel at the heart of the scheme. The project refines a new typology for London, rooting the high-rise residential tower in its specific context. Laura has played a key role in understanding and communicating the opportunities and challenges to the client, helping to realise their project in central London without losing in translation the essence of their own unique brand.
Laura was also involved in the management and technical coordination of the 77-acre Earls Court redevelopment, one of the largest redevelopment projects in London. The scheme will feature 41 acres of open space that will include landscaped parkland, restaurants, cafes, play spaces and cycle hire stations. Also in London, Laura worked extensively during the construction phase on Two Kingdom Street, a “shimmering” commercial office building that completed the third phase of development of the mixed-use Paddington Central area. She was also responsible for day-to-day project management for the iconic Unilever House transformation project, which involved the extensive restructuring and modernisation of Unilever’s listed London Headquarters building.
In India, Laura has served as Project Manager for residential and commercial developments in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. Most notably, she worked on the Primanti residential masterplan development for Tata Housing in New Delhi. The project creates a new neighborhood to accommodate 4,000 people in 1,060 dwellings surrounded by landscaped parks, urban spaces and associated amenities. Laura was also extensively involved in the nearby Worldmark Development in Guragoan, Delhi. KPF’s commercial office designs will help transform the land around India’s second busiest airport into a major gateway for India and a second metropolitan center for Delhi.
Laura’s broad experience in China includes CRL New Town, a 3.5 million square foot master planning project in Hangzhou with office, education, hospitality, residential, and retail components; and Vanke Jinan, a 161,000 square meter office complex with a retail podium also in Jinan. Laura’s master planning experience also includes the HuaWei Holdings Headquarters corporate masterplan in Shenzhen, China. The design gently merges the architecture with the landscape, creating a verdant university campus-like setting and establishing a fertile environment for collaboration, innovation and cutting-edge research.
Prior to joining KPF, Laura worked internationally in New York, Boston and Hong Kong. Her previous experience includes the design of various theatre projects such as a two-stage theatre and office space on 42nd Street, from concept through to construction. While in Hong Kong, she worked on a number of large scale mixed use, retail, residential and commercial projects in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other areas of China. Laura’s international experience also includes the design of headquarters buildings, residential complexes, educational buildings and masterplans in China, Puerto Rico, the USA and Philippines in the capacity of Design Manager.
Laura is fluent in English and French and conversant in Mandarin. She is a Registered Architect in the State of New York and a member of the American Institute of Architects. She is also actively involved in mentoring and promoting women in architecture.
