For over twenty years, KGP Design Studio has collaborated with our clients to transform their specific needs into design solutions that positively affect individuals, communities, and cities. With offices in Washington, Honolulu, and Manila, the firm benefits from a diverse team, sharing resources on a global scale to provide the best possible support for our clients and craft a unique strategy of
development for every project. An open process based on innovation and proficiency, coupled with the personal engagement of the principals, ensures that all possibilities are considered in every project. Design Philosophy & Project Approach
Ours is a philosophy rooted in the basic premise that the best architecture stems from a coherent response to both the collective and individual needs and desires of people. Ultimately, the effect of good design is measured in the quality of life and well-being of the people who use and experience our designs. Nowhere has this philosophy been more thoroughly applied than in our transit projects. Design Services
With over 30 years of partner-led experience in transit projects, the firm’s efforts have focused on transit design from its inception. Currently, the firm serves as the architectural consultant to WMATA for the Washington Metro, MTA Purple Line and Red Line in Maryland, and the Honolulu High Capacity Transit in Hawaii. The firm is also designing several MARC transit stations and maintenance facilities in Maryland. The scope of these projects ranges from full station designs to urban design. They include bicycle facilities, public plazas, canopies, and pedestrian bridges as well as furnishings and graphics. In addition, the firm is working on the DC Streetcar, the Columbia Pike, and the Alexandria light rail. For WMATA the firm has designed nineteen new station entrances within the system and a new station at a brownfield site. The firm developed pedestrian tunnels between Farragut North and West and from Metro Center to Gallery Place. New buildings include Operations Control Center, Southern Ave Bus Garage, Greenbelt Test Track / Assembly Building, Police Training, and seven Bicycle Facilities. Additional projects include renovations for the Revenue Collection Facility and CNG Bus Garage. WMATA work has been performed with Parsons, Parsons Brinkerhoff, AECOM, and Gannett Fleming. For the MTA Purple Line, a light-rail connecting four segments of the Washington Metro, the firm is designing the stations and major bridge structures as well as connections to Metro and MARC. This interface includes coordinating pedestrians, bikes, buses, and joint development at the station sites. For the Red Line KGP is the lead urban designer for all the station areas. In Honolulu, the firm designed all the prototype stations and canopies for the 2008 version of Honolulu Transit. The principals of the firm planned the transit-oriented development at each station in the 1993 EIS study for the Honolulu Rapid Transit System and designed six of the stations. For Washington’s District Department of Transportation (DDOT) KGP designed the first Bicycle Transit Center at Union Station and is currently designing a pedestrian bridge connection from the Kennedy Center to the Potomac River. Additional projects include the extension of the Metropolitan Bicycle Trail, the 31st Bridge over the C & O Canal, the Streetcar Offices and Control Center, and the Temporary Maintenance Facility
During the past ten years, the firm completed the planning and development of all the stations and alignment alternatives for the FEIS documents for the Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project. After Virginia transferred the project from WMATA, the McLean Chamber of Commerce hired KGP in a joint venture with ARUP and Dr. Sauer Tunneling to design a four-station tunnel alignment through Tysons Corner that was completed through Preliminary Engineering. At the same time, the firm produced a master plan called Taming Tysons that assumed a tunnel version of Metro through the area. Other major transit projects include the design and construction of a 17K system with 13 stations for Manila Metro Rail Transit (MRT), as the architectural consultant to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. This project involved the design of all stations, joint development at stations, and transit-oriented development in the surrounding areas. The largest development is EDSA Central, a 10,000 SM commercial joint development air-rights project over Shaw Station that links the station into the surrounding community. Currently, the firm is developing a Master Plan TOD for 35 Hectares next to EDSA Central Station. In Tel Aviv, the firm provided planning and station design for the Red Line as architectural consultants to Deleuw Cather International. The design of this light rail system entails an underground central section and an on-grade alignment beyond. For Seattle, KGP created prototype stations for the Monorail Project as architectural consultants with Washington Group. The prototypes offered a means to bring the project back into the budget after individually designed stations proved too costly. The principals of the firm have participated in numerous other transit-related projects: the 1984 renovation of Union Station in Washington, studies for the upgrade of all the Northeast Corridor Amtrak Stations, and the design of many of the earlier Washington Metro Stations. Gallagher, a founding principal of KGP, spent eight years as one of the designers of the Washington Metro with Harry Weese and Associates, the designer of the entire Metro System. Although transit design remains a major focus of KGP Design Studio, the firm consciously maintains a broad practice, with staff engaged in a wide variety of project types. This results in a staff that approaches each project with a creative, professional, and efficient attitude.
