Eugene Kohn’s conversational autobiography, The World by Design: The Story of a Global Architecture Firm (written with former RECORD deputy editor Clifford Pearson), can be refreshingly candid. Kohn, who grew up in Philadelphia and studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, founded Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) in New York on Bicentennial Day, July 4, 1976, with William Pedersen and Sheldon Fox. Of course, Kohn basks in the office’s achievements as it morphed into a large firm (over 650 employees) with a strong design reputation (it ranks as number 20 in RECORD’s top 300 architecture firms of 2019). Buildings such as 333 North Wacker in Chicago (1983) are significant milestones. Yet the book also deals with setbacks the office has faced along the way, including an insurrection initiated in 2009, when partners in the London office left and formed PLP Architecture. Kohn moved temporarily to London to retain both KPF staff and its roster of projects, including the Abu Dhabi International Airport’s Midfield Terminal Complex (2019). Deputy editor Suzanne Stephens asked Kohn to elaborate on certain topics discussed in the book.
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