Business

KieranTimberlake

Philadelphia, PA | www.kierantimberlake.com
Logo of KieranTimberlake

About Us

KieranTimberlake transforms the built environment through artistry, integrity, innovation, and performance. The firm’s culture of inquiry allows it to deliver exceptional social, ethical, and environmental outcomes to its clients. 

Founded in 1984, KieranTimberlake brings together the experience and talents of diverse professionals in a practice that is recognized worldwide. With equal emphasis on research, ecology, history, and aesthetics, its interdisciplinary process inspires creativity and encourages sharing ideas, knowledge, and technique. The firm’s work includes programming, planning, and design of new buildings, adaptive reuse, and urban and campus planning, as well as developing performance analysis and prediction tools; building and environmental monitoring; and novel building technologies.  

We are a signatory of the AIA 2030 Commitment and US Architects Declare.

Design Philosophy

Provocation

We provoke change within the practice of architecture by pushing the boundaries of current norms for design and construction, pursuing broad questions like, How do we reconcile the contradictory demands for low energy consumption and abundant natural light? How do we recover the embodied energy in a building? and How do we achieve greater quality and environmental responsibility in less time? We rely on collective intelligence and nonhierarchical production structures for gains in economy, efficiency, and quality. Some of the provocations we have pursued include re-envisioning the traditional building envelope, developing new techniques in off-site fabricated architecture, and building new tools for sustainable design. We work toward the evolution of the field, toward an architecture that embraces transformation and progress. In the spirit of making change through meaningful collaboration, we participate in lectures, conferences, symposia, and exhibitions around the world.

Research

We seek ways to improve the art, quality, and craft of architecture through research into new materials, processes, assemblies, and products. Our commitment to research has provided a way for deep investigation to be conducted during design—and for the results to stimulate and augment the processes of designing and building at KieranTimberlake. Exploratory, empirical, and applied research brings added value to our commissioned architectural projects and allows us to develop new custom products and tools for the architecture industry.

Environmental Sustainability

KieranTimberlake takes a holistic view to designing for sustainability. It is our belief that current standards can result in a checklist approach to environmental design. We advocate designing for the integrity of the structure as a whole rather than a sum of individual parts, and we utilize integrated systems that work together for greater gains. Whenever possible, features serve multiple purposes: A pond on site may serve as a leisure amenity, a stormwater management strategy, and a source for landscape irrigation. Our research focus allows us to pursue the latest developments in environmental technology and materials and to develop our own sustainable building methodologies. We understand the need to balance the ideals of resource conservation, energy efficiency, and environmental stewardship with the realities of performance criteria, constructability, and budget.

KieranTimberlake transforms the built environment through artistry, integrity, innovation, and performance. The firm’s culture of inquiry allows it to deliver exceptional social, ethical, and environmental outcomes to its clients…

Location & Contact

Illustration

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