Hi, Manisha, how are you?

 

Hi! I'm very well; feeling very fresh and positive for the future!

 

So: you've set up KPK Studios with your colleagues, Brendan Kilpatrick and Spyros Katsaros, both of whom had long stints at PRP. You say that you have a collective experience of 100 years in this field, in architecture. So, the question, I suppose, is why now? And what is going to be your general ethos and approach?

 

I think 'now', after the experience that we've had, which is more than a couple of decades, I would say, we envisaged a more agile and responsive practice. Being in a large corporate for many years; almost 30 years, we wanted to embody all the learning that we had, and be able to respond more quickly, especially in a market such as this. And we felt that it was the right time. I mean, when is the right time? The difference between us, I suppose, is that we come with a lot of experience, and we're not just colleagues; we're friends who have worked together for many years, which makes us slightly different from a practice who are young and who have come out of university and worked for a few years. We can predict what each other thinks. We've worked together in a seamless way, integrating all our different core skills to create places and inspire clients to push the boundaries, and that at times in a large practice is quite difficult to do when you're not as agile. I suppose it's like we're starting off with the fire of youth and wisdom of a century.

 

How long have you been hatching this plan, you three?  I don't mean to make it sound underhand, by the way!

 

It has been really over the last couple of months after leaving PRP. I had a personal transition in my life, which meant that I fundamentally wanted changes on a personal and professional part of life, really. You get into your 50s, and you do think, well, what next? You know, what have I been doing? What am I doing? I've had a very rich career. We've all had very rich careers. It almost feels like you get to that transition of being in your 50s – or 50 – and you think, I've just lived 50 years. Do I have another 50 in front of me? We've all thought about smaller practices. And I suppose it's the collaboration that I personally pushed forward at PRP with smaller practices - I was so inspired by smaller practices. We all were, because we, especially Spyros and I, who worked very closely with a number of architecture practices; that ethos from when I joined as a Part Two at PRP, that excitement, the smaller practice mentality of everybody pitching in and doing everything. That was one of the key things when I was mentoring people – and there are many who are spread across the world now who will vouch, I would say, in terms of always having that fundamental of being an all-round architect, being an all-round urban designer, master planner, having both skill sets. The integration of that with community is so important, and, in a way, we all wanted to get back to the fundamentals, and get that excitement back.

 

So, what's it been like so far? What have you done so far?

 

Well, so far, we are working on an estate regeneration in Kilkenny, Ireland. It is very much getting back to core roots – working with the community, listening, working with them to create a place which they will be proud of in the future; very much dealing with social problems and looking at how we can bring in a balanced housing and services for a social housing-led scheme for the outskirts of the city, which is a very similar situation across Ireland. It is very much a pilot scheme, a scheme which will be intergenerational, and really looking at things like housing for our young people to our elderly and how places evolve in the future. Because we all know that estates and areas have developed where there is generally the same size of housing being produced in the past. How do we actually create those communities in the future where people are living socially? Things have changed, and people are living as single people, or they're living as an ageing population or families. How can they be able to have the option to be retained in the same area? That comes back to the fundamentals of why KPK has been set up. Because we believe that creating that balance and getting back to core roots is the way that we can use our skillset and help local authorities, private developers, and government bodies to be able to achieve the best out of land.

 

You mentioned in some of your blurb that you're 'not just another studio' (I'm quoting) - but that you're 'a movement.' Could you unpack that a little for me?

 

Well, in terms of our movement, people have known me in the past, where I and my colleagues have really pushed towards how social change impacts our environment and that is something that we really, truly believe in, and we believe that it's the key cornerstone of how we develop our towns, cities, communities in the future. What we've seen in our experience of the last couple of decades is that we are producing the same typologies, we're producing the same housing models. We're producing the same ways of regenerating and renewing in a way, and it's seeing how we can look at how social change impacts on our housing a lot more and integrate that into our design moving forward. It also comes down to our ethos. All of us are very diverse in our background, and we looked at creating a practice that enhances diversity, embraces it, and is a fundamental part of the company moving forward.

 

A couple more questions. Your name, KPK Studios - obviously it's your initials. But did you think of any others? Did you have a brainstorming session about what you might like to call yourself that wasn't initialisms?

 

We did! We thought that we would call ourselves, you know, Urbanists, or something that actually has 'Architecture' or 'Urbanism' in it. We used technology like AI to really think about throwing in words that we believe in, and it was coming out with names which didn't really suit us in terms of the way that we wanted to move forward,

 

Like what?

 

Oh, ‘urban solutions!’ And you realise that actually, you're either linked with a manufacturing product (laughs) or you don't really feel that it's strong enough. I think our name - our names - because of our experience, are known quite well in the industry. It felt that we needed to really think about creating a practice that was based on our experience and the respect that we have gained over the years and was quite clearly identifiable. And then the 'Studios' came in because we wanted to create something which was a lot more relaxed; a lot more, I would say, collaborative. That comes from a junior member of staff to one of the directors and to create that flat, design-led studio. Many small practices hold that ethos. We work in studios when we're students, and somehow, we lose that kind of emphasis when we grow into large practices. We wanted to see how we could get back to that. 

 

But nevertheless, KPK is a sort of anonymisation, isn't it, of your actual names? I mean, did you think of going: Kilpatrick, Patel, Katsaros, or did you have an eye on legacy to go to the initials?

 

In terms of legacy, I suppose, PRP was my previous practice, and that's transitioned. It used to be called Phippen Randall and Parkes, and I have a high regard for the founders, and I did work with them for many years. That transitioned into three letters in the end, and nobody actually remembers that for years and years - 60 plus years - they don't actually know what the letters stand for. If there is a new generation that... if we are lucky enough that our company thrives, which we are hoping it does, those letters will just become a brand. And rather than thinking about the people, but as a startup, I think it's quite important that it's identifiable as people, because people are the practice. People are practices. That is so important, which is why, in terms of our ethos, we want to be working with people who have a passion for communities, for people, for housing, for our cities, towns, and very much have the skill set that they feel that they want to develop in the future.

 

Okay, last question: do you have any tips for those wanting to do the same thing? Not necessarily leaving a big practice to start up, but any kind of startup tips that you might have regarding, I don't know, your actual office, if you have one, perhaps the kit, systems, etc. What are your tips? In fact, what are your tips in terms of mentality and your approach?

 

I think have a positive mentality, definitely. There is so much online; it's incredible. You can start up a company within a couple of hours. The information that technology gives you, like AI, for instance, it even guides you through how to set up a practice. There are so many things in terms of your account, your IP, that are all remote. You're able to access apps. The technology has moved on so much that you are effectively able to set up a company from your home, which is actually giving us a very good life/work balance. 

 

Is that what you're doing? Or have you got an office?

 

We are currently working from home, which is actually giving us a very good life/work balance. We meet in one location, which is actually at my house (laughs). We meet two days a week, and we work together in an area of the house which is converted into a studio space. 

 

The West Wing? (laughs)

 

(laughs) Not quite! Part of the living room, actually. But interestingly, the industry has responded so well, and friends in the industry – from project managers to engineers, and other architecture practices – have offered us space and we will be looking at that in September, to take space within another organisation and look at how we collaborate with them. But also, you know, I think it's great because of working hours and the way that people are working a couple of days a week. There are the opportunities now to be sharing spaces with others and meeting rooms available, membership to places where you can use meeting rooms, coffee shops. I think the world is so different from if we had set up 30 years ago.

 

Well, we're out of time. So, it just remains for me to wish you the best of luck for the new venture, and perhaps we can talk again in a year, to see how you're getting on?

 

Yeah, that would be great, thank you!

 

Thanks Manisha.