Monthly news updates on live projects, ongoing research and what others are saying.
Apr 2021National Gallery Competition
David Kohn Architects has been shortlisted in an open international competition to refurbish the Grade I Listed Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery. The project is timed to coincide with the gallery's bicentenary in 2024 and includes a range of upgrades to the Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown-designed wing along with improvements to public spaces surrounding the wider museum.
Photograph of the Sainsbury Wing Exterior © The National Gallery
Mar 2021Multiform
David has contributed an essay to a special edition of AD magazine entitled Multiform. Edited by Owen Hopkins and Erin McKellar, the issue "makes the case for the transformative possibilities offered by an approach that is ad hoc, eclectic and pluralist." David's essay, "Perceiving Postmodernism: Lessons from London's Marshlands," takes readers on a journey from central London to its periphery, encountering projects by the practice and landscapes that have informed its design approach. For more information, visit the publisher Wiley's webpage.
Feb 2021We Are Hiring
We are hiring for a number of important roles in the practice over the coming weeks, starting with senior architect. This is an opportunity to lead a major civic project working collaboratively with local stakeholders and driving a carbon negative future agenda. For the right candidate, the role extends to joining the leadership team in shaping the future of the practice and overseeing other projects. For more information please visit our jobs board here. Please spread the word!
Photograph of the studio trip to Villa Noailles, south of France, 2019
Feb 2021Hermann Czech & David Kohn in conversation
Join celebrated Austrian architect Hermann Czech and David Kohn discussing the influence of Josef Frank on their work at the invitation of the Austrian Society for Architecture. Moderated by architect Claudia Cavallar and Elise Feiersinger, editor of the recent collection of Czech's 'Essays on Architecture and City Planning,' topics will include: What role does site specificity play? How do you transfer local traditions or approach foreign ones? Does Josef Frank's definition of kitsch still hold true?
7pm CET, 6pm GMT, Friday 26th February 2021.Visit the Austrian Society for Architecture website for more details.
Dec 2020Seasons Greetings
Thank you to our clients and collaborators for working so closely with us through an extremely challenging year. Wishing all a restful holiday season and looking forward to being together again in 2021.
Image of the Ice Cream Factory in Devon. Visit the new project webpage here.
Dec 2020Rising Star
We are delighted to announce that our colleague Bushra Mohamed has been shortlisted for the RIBA Journal's Rising Star Award. Bushra joined DKA in 2018 and qualified as an architect in 2020. She was the project architect for the refurbishment of Euroboden's offices in Berlin and led the practice's recent collaboration with artist Pablo Bronstein for the National Trust. Bushra teaches with David at the AA and has lectured on her research into the African courtyard house typology as part of the Architecture Foundation's 100 Year Studio. Visit the RIBA Journal award webpage, the Euroboden refurbishment webpage, AA Diploma 19 webpage and the Architecture Foundation lecture webpage for more information.
Nov 2020New Architect
We are delighted to announce that our colleague Nicola Blake has qualified as an architect. Nicola has played a pivotal role in several projects in the office and most notably, in the competition win to design Birmingham city's new £65M market halls. Nicola recently presented her research 'Representations of the Home during Covid-19 Lockdown' at her alma mater, London Metropolitan University, as part of a public research seminar. For more information, visit the event webpage.
Oct 2020Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
A model of the Gradel Quadrangles at New College Oxford has been selected for inclusion in this year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Carved out of a block of Ancaster limestone by the stonemasons Grants of Shoreditch, the model shows the intended form, material and craftsmanship of the building that is currently on site and due for completion in 2023. The exhibition is open from 6th October to 3rd January 2021. For more information, visit the project webpage.
Sep 2020Greenwich Site Progress
The construction of two workspace buildings in Greenwich as part of the Design District continues apace. The giant brick colonnade to building A4 is beginning to take shape. Scaled to the district rather than the building, it extends a generous welcome to the whole site. For more information about the project, see David Kohn's interview with Jemima Burrell about the influences on the design, hedgehogs and foxes at the Design District website.
Aug 2020Superposition
DKA is featured in the first issue of Superposition, a new periodical based in Europe investigating 'the humanistic side of architecture.' Join the guest editors Fredi Fischli & Niels Olsen for an introduction to the project as part of the Architecture Foundation 100 Day Studio on Thursday 6th August 2020, 7pm – 8pm (UK Time). Follow this link to watch.
Also catch up on past AF 100 Day Studio episodes by the DKA team on Youtube: Bushra Mohamed presenting research into the African Compound House; Matt Volsen introducing Hamburg's Bauforum; Tarn Philipp presenting his Diploma project on low embodied carbon construction; and David Kohn discussing notions of assembly as part of the Alternative Histories discussion series curated by Marius Grootveld and Drawing Matter.