STUDIO | KGP Design Studio

ABOUT

For over twenty years, KGP design studio has provided the expertise and resources for our clients to transform their specific needs into innovative design solutions that positively affect individuals, communities, and cities. With offices in Washington, Honolulu, and Manila, the firm benefits from a diverse multidisciplinary design team, sharing resources globally to provide the best possible support for our clients and craft a unique development strategy for every project. The benefit to the client is enhanced exponentially by providing a diverse but essentially interdependent range of design services, including Architectural, Urban Design, Planning, and Transportation Design. An integrated design approach, based on innovation and proficiency of all disciplines, coupled with the personal engagement of the principals, ensures that all possibilities are considered in every project.

KGP promotes the use of bicycles as an eco-friendly commuting option

KGP advocates for collaborative AIA meetings that encourage knowledge sharing and growth

KGP features and designs an art installation in the office building

DESIGN APPROACH

An Integrated Design Approach optimizes outcome

Benefiting at the outset from a comprehensive evaluation of all impacts affecting a particular project, our team can reframe and directly address the critical issues. Familiar with maneuvering the multiple scales that a project impacts the user, from the urban to the personal, our diverse team of urban designers, architects, and industrial designers pursues a collaborative approach, leaving all aspects to be explored.

Practical ideas originate with clearly defined conditions

Based on the premise that a successful design strategy inherently inhabits the problems we set out to solve and reveals itself largely upon transcending individual preconceptions, an interactive, collaborative process is initiated by encouraging diverse opinions in a joint effort, including the client, users, stakeholders, and the design team.

Design is measured by the quality of life and well-being of the user

KGP is committed to a process that considers architecture a means to an end only, where a comprehensive understanding of specific social, cultural, and behavior al influences determines the project’s success.

The architecture mediates between the user and the environment

As the physical context, whether urban or natural, and climate are incorporated or mediated in the design, sustainable practices provide an opportunity to optimize lifecycle costs and impact on the environment, but equally importantly, often serve a more profound role, a connection or “window” to the natural the cycles that surround us.

Spotlight on the Washington D.C. Metro Vault

SERVICES

KGP's overall design strategy, as well as studio structure, is based on the premise that architecture is not perceived as an isolated event but is a continuous experience inclusive of the "places in between": the public realm, civic architecture, transportation networks, streets, and so on are dynamic interfaces and equally critical aspects to include as design professionals. Our design teams are composed of integrated disciplines focused on multiple aspects and scales of a project. Consequently, the lines between architecture and industrial design or transit design and urban design are erased. As a result, the culmination of the design process is a product attuned to the complexities of the natural world and the client's specific needs.

Architecture & Urban Design

Transportation

Bridge / Infrastructure

Bicycle / Micromobility

Commercial

Institutional

Residential

Industrial Design

Subdisciplines

Full Architectural Services
(Concept, Schematic, DD, CD, Construction Administration)

Site and Building Evaluations Feasibility Assessment

Marketing Packages/Development Tools

Conceptual Design / Pre-Design

Architectural Support Services for EIS, FEIS

SUSTAINABILITY

All projects are considered sustainable, from the location, orientation, and landscape to the mechanical systems, lighting, and finish materials. We believe in the long-term benefits created by the project's sustainability. A cost-benefit analysis determines the desired LEED level, and the design team creates a sustainable design regardless of whether LEED certification is preferred.

WMATA Bike Facilities

Bicycling

K Street Busway & Urban Design

Urban Design

Kuryentehan: An Island Retreat and Resiliency Center

Commercial

RESOURCES

Firm believers that our tools shape how we solve problems and, in turn, shape how we live. KGP is committed to being part of the leading edge in design technologies because it offers a notable advantage in quality and the range of services available to the client. Building integrated modeling (BIM) allows seamless integration of disciplines and phases, avoiding potential conflicts, and specialized analytical tools can inform ongoing decisions throughout the design process. For example, planning or building layout decisions benefiting natural ventilation, solar gain, or structural integrity can be advised early in the design process with computational fluid dynamic or structural analysis instead of being mitigated later in the process without the cohesive integration of disciplines. Similarly, BIM can inform the client of critical data affecting building performance, efficiency, and costs on an as-needed basis throughout the design process.

Equally critical is communicating a convincing representation of the project to the client and stakeholders. Forming the backbone of KGP’s illustration capabilities, 3D modeling provides the basis for producing a range of sophisticated still and video representations of projects that enable a greater understanding of the work while in progress. KGP uses real-time 3D rendering programs such as Lumion and Twin Motion to facilitate a more efficient imaging turnover and virtual or augmented reality for communication with the client and stakeholders. Both as a design and communicative tool, manual rendering also plays an essential part in the design process in the studio. The design intent infused in a gestural sketch or watercolor can offer an implicit means of communicating an idea before proceeding to the specifics of a design. As digital tools advance, the line between manual and computer illustration is progressively blurred, straddling this division and expanding our ability to articulate a convincing vision to the client. Because the capacity to develop a full palette of tools is so critical, KGP prioritizes the constant evolution of these skills and resources available to the client.

AWARDS

Pennsylvania Avenue Urban Design – West of the White House 2014
AIA Washington DC Chapter – Purple Line Bridges, Unbuilt Design Award 2011
President’s Citation for Sustainability AIA Washington DC Chapter – Union Station Bicycle Transit Center, Honor Award 2010
AIA Washington DC Chapter – Fellowship Bridge, AIA Unbuilt Grand Prize Award 2010
AIA Washington DC Chapter – Tysons Tunnel (Metro), Unbuilt Design Merit Award 2009
National Organization of Minority Architects – Pentagon City Metro Canopies, Award for Design Excellence 2006
National Organization of Minority Architects – Stetson Kennedy Fellowship Bridge, Award for Design Excellence 2006
Astronauts’ Memorial Competition – 2nd Place Kennedy Space Center, FL
Clemson University Performing Arts Center Competition – Honorable Mention Clemson, SC
Historic Hawaii’s Foundation Award – C.W. Dickey Residence, Honolulu, HI
Korean War Memorial Competition – Honorable Mention Washington, DC
National Center for Botanical Study Competition – Honorable Mention NIAE, New York
Hartford Ballet Stage Set, Twentieth Century American Music Competition – 1st Place Hartford, CT

Pennsylvania Avenue - West, NW Design

Urban Design National Competition - First Price 2014

Union Station Bicycle Transit Center

President’s Citation for Sustainability AIA Washington DC Chapter Award 2010

Stetson Kennedy Memorial Bridge

AIA Unbuilt Grand Prize Award 2010

TEAM

The KGP team comprises diverse architects and designers assembled from five continents. Their varied backgrounds enrich the firm's cultural and professional experience, which inspires and informs innovative solutions in our work, subscribing to the idea that an intelligent solution results from multiple perspectives, the interaction of concepts and experiences, and stimulating conversation is the source of our professional success and camaraderie. There's always time for the staff to rendezvous in our office café or roof deck for an espresso to inspire further thought, helping resolve that troubling detail that didn't get worked out during the day.