ALICE KIMM
John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects
SAY IT LOUD - NOW Exhibitor
SAY IT LOUD - California
California Based Designer
Who or what inspires you professionally?
Much of what inspires me comes from outside architecture. Writing, art, cities…The curiosity I encounter in children and young adults also inspires me to be a better communicator and designer. They’re our future, and we do what we do for them.
ALICE KIMM
Bio:
The great designer, Alice co-founded John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects (JFAK) in LA in 2000. JFAK designs institutional, commercial, housing, and civic environments. In 2020, Alice and John formed OSHI, a nonprofit org that centralizes resources to accelerate the eradication of homelessness. Alice holds degrees from Cornell and Harvard, was a Fulbright Scholar, and is a longtime educator. She was named a 2004 Emerging Voice by the Architectural League of New York and Fellow of the AIA in 2010.
How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
My father is an architect, so architecture for me involved travel, buildings, art museums, and food! In college I became friends with architecture students, and saw how immersive, challenging, and purposeful the building and design industries are.
What do you do?
We design inclusive environments including schools, public spaces, and housing. We recently launched OSHI, a nonprofit that will open-source data, best practices, references, and resources to accelerate innovations to mitigate homelessness.
What excites you in the work you do?
I aspire to create spaces that inspire people, unite communities, and uplift society. That is the critical aspiration of architecture, as well as its potential. To contribute to that ongoing endeavor brings strong purpose and excitement to what I do.
Who or what inspires you professionally?
Much of what inspires me comes from outside architecture. Writing, art, cities…The curiosity I encounter in children and young adults also inspires me to be a better communicator and designer. They’re our future, and we do what we do for them.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
Architecture comes out of a cumulative process. Experience and contexts become embedded. What is designed tomorrow isn’t always better than what came before, but…it embodies that past. So my proudest accomplishment is always around the next corner.
Featured Project Name:
Koreatown Gateway
Featured Project Location:
Koreatown, Los Angeles
Featured Project Completion Date:
2022
Role in Featured Project:
Principal-in-Charge
Featured Project Description:
Three things that define LA are 1) creativity; 2) technology; and 3) cultural diversity. One of LA’s most visible immigrant groups is its Koreans. This gateway references Korean identity without mimicry. The beauty of this is that it suggests the inevitability of assimilation; it is inclusive; and it is open to interpretation so that even as “boundaries” shift, it celebrates urban living for all who live there. Finally, the LEDs speak to the unifying forces of technology and globalization
Photography Credit:
Renderings by John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects
Featured Project Name:
La Kretz Innovation Campus
Featured Project Location:
Los Angeles, CA
Featured Project Completion Date:
2016
Role in Featured Project:
Principal-in-Charge
Featured Project Description:
This vital public-private work and research hub connects government, entrepreneurs, and communities to innovate to advance LA’s green economies. The transformed 61,000 SF warehouse in the vibrant Arts District of LA holds offices, labs, makerspaces, and event spaces, in addition to facilities for the country’s largest public utility. In its creative, flexible transformation of existing building stock, this campus is a model of transformative urban revitalization.
