KFA Shakes Up Design Leadership

John Arnold, Lise Bornstein and Jonathan Watts pose with the company founders Wade Killefer and Barbara Flammang.

LOS ANGELES— Architecture firm KFA has named John Arnold , Lise Bornstein and Jonathan Watts as partners, following the firm’s 40 ^th anniversary. The trio will lead the firm into its next phase of design and reimaging cityscapes. Arnold and Bornstein previously served as principals at KFA, while Watts joins the firm from Cuningham Group Architecture , where he served as a principal. Together, the three will focus on multifamily design, adaptive reuse, hospitality and affordable housing. We sat down with the new leaders exclusively to find out how the firm will evolve under this new leadership. GlobeSt.com: Under your leadership, how will KFA’s approach to housing design change and evolve? Jonathan Watts: Multifamily design is no longer just about the building. Its scope has expanded to the local environment, the street edge, the neighborhood and its social opportunities, even the micro-climate. In many ways, it is driven by the guest-service approach of hospitality design. We are seeing concierges, clubrooms that may function as guest suites, poolside amenities such as day beds, cabanas and fire pits. There is a growing demand for any idea that might set the project apart from its competition. Design solutions are challenging perceptions of what multifamily is expected to be. This may mean opening the built form to create street-level courtyards, bringing the outside in. And, where practical, you might see more bike, skate, hover board and surfboard parking. There is also a movement toward micro-units as a way to create affordability. John Arnold: For market rate housing, it’s all about wooing tenants. Design establishes branding – the image the building projects and how it taps into certain demographics. The recently opened Micropolitan at Urban Lights apartments on Odgen Drive in Los Angeles demonstrates design leading the tenant experience, especially with communal spaces. Examples include: areas for pop-up galleries and other small events; places to meet and be seen; places to set up a laptop and work. The most popular new amenity may be the pet area. It’s as simple as a small room where you can splash and get dirty. We are also creating thoughtful but inexpensive spaces within the unit. Perhaps a den-like area where you can have your computer or do gaming with a little separation from your roommate. Or even smaller spaces – a kitchen nook for appliances, a wall cove to recharge your phone, or a one-foot-deep shelf by the front door for your shoes. These are detail-oriented designs that exhibit the developer as thoughtful and interested in the tenant experience. Lise Bornstein: These days, Multi-family housing is not simply housing. The market is far too competitive for that. Projects may create a mosaic of uses. The MGA Entertainment Master Plan in Chatsworth will combine 660 residences with retail and creative offices in a campus-like setting, while Ivy Station will blend luxury apartments into a 500,000-square-foot complex adjacent to the Culver City’s Expo Line station.