Eugene Kohn appointed executive fellow of university program

Real Estate Weekly, July 31, 2002

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates is proud to announce that A. Eugene Kohn, principal and founder of the firm, was appointed as an Executive Fellow for the Advanced Management Development Program in Real Estate at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. The Advanced Management Development Program, a new course of study offered through the Office of Executive Education at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, aims to provide the knowledge and vision needed by the next generation of leaders in the real estate industry.

In connection with this program, Kohn will help organize a special series on the subject of leadership for executives and strategizers in architecture and related fields. "Architects need to study leadership in order to deal with clients, governments, and boards. Many of those in my generation learned leadership in the military--how to be decisive and develop strategy. The younger generation may not have these leadership skills that help them lead and manage people, projects and at times, clients. Leadership skills come naturally to some and some have to learn it." In addition to this course, Kohn will teach seminars throughout the academic year and in the summer. Recently he lectured on the importance of design to Real Estate.

This summer Kohn will once again lead the course "The New Office Building: Technologies, Programs, and Designs" at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. This three-day session of lectures and roundtable discussions reviews every aspect of office building technology and design. The seminar will address a range of building types, from low-rise to high-rise and from the speculative office to the corporate headquarters.

The class will cover how external forces, such as economy and context, and internal forces, such as proposed function, environment, budget, schedule, and desired image, affect design.

Participants will also discuss how designs vary in the United States, Europe, and Asia and how they are influenced by different cultures, and customs. Using a case history of a corporate headquarters currently under construction, a project is traced from initial design goals to use of alternative approaches to final concept. Representatives of the client, the developer, and the interior programmer and designer will address the class, as well as William Pedersen and Paul Katz, both KPF principals.

Building Type Basics for Office Buildings (Wiley 2002), the textbook for the class written by Gene Kohn and Paul Katz, grew directly out of earlier sessions of "The New Office Building." The book provides essential information needed to initiate designs for all types of office buildings, from dramatic skyscrapers to utilitarian low-rise complexes.

Filled with project photographs, diagrams, floor plans, sections, and details, it combines in-depth coverage of the structural, mechanical, acoustic, traffic, safety, and security issues unique to office buildings with nuts-and-bolts design guidelines. The book includes an epilogue by Gene Kohn on the architectural issues raised by the events of Sept 11.

Part of the Building Types Basics series published by Wiley, the book will be available through their catalogue, by calling 1-800-225-5945, at www.wiley.com, www.amazon.com and in selected stores.