KMD Architects is an idea firm built upon a diverse community of talents, experiences, and personalities. These attributes shape a common desire to create inspiring places for people to work, live and enjoy. We work intuitively through to the logic of actions, and embrace the emotion of collaboration. Since our founding by Herbert McLaughlin in 1963 in San Francisco, California, KMD has been a van
guard design firm asking “What if…” questions. Today we are an established international planning and design firm with practices in office, retail, hospitality, mixed-use, healthcare, government and academic. We often work with partner design firms, allowing greater personal service to our clients, and a larger contribution of ideas to each project. During the last 25 years, KMD has been recognized with more than 250 project awards, including more than 40 from the American Institute of Architects. We absorb the cultural context and unique demands that shape each design opportunity before a single line is drawn. We continually learn from our experience and the world around us, informing our creativity, innovation and individuality. Our growing and diverse portfolio reflects a great variety of clients, challenges and solutions, which we celebrate as the core to KMD’s ethos as a planning and design firm. KMD employs a richly diverse staff of professionals who work across multiple project types, pollinating our project teams with a wealth of experience, balancing the discussion with different perspectives, and ensuring clients that they always receive our best work.
