James von Klemperer

Biography: James Von Klemperer is President and Design Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates where he began as a young architect in 1983. His work ranges in scale from a house to a city, and he contributes closely to these efforts from conception to completion. In addition to focusing on his own projects, he leads the community of designers within the firm in exploring shared architectural agendas and goals. As President of the firm, he is responsible for leading the staff of 700 people in 6 offices around the world. A major focus of Jamie’s work has been to heighten the role that large buildings play in making urban space. He has explored this theme in major projects in Asia, including the China Resources Headquarters in Shenzhen, Plaza 66 and Jing An Kerry Center in Shanghai, China Central Place in Beijing, and the 123-story Lotte World Tower in Seoul. In New York, his design for One Vanderbilt will link Midtown’s tallest tower directly to Grand Central Terminal. Each of these projects creates strong symbiotic relationships between program space and the public realm. At the larger scale, his design for New Songdo City extends this challenge to the scope of urban planning. Jamie’s designs have been recognized for the marriage of efficient program with adventurous form. His Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC, Dongbu Financial Center in Seoul, Park Fifth Residential Project in Los Angeles, and Riverside 66 Urban Market in Tianjin have all received AIA design awards. In London, Jamie is leading the design of the Wanda Hotel and Residential Towers in One Nine Elms. He is also active on the continent, in particular in Paris, where he is completing a building for the Ministry of Justice at the Parc du Millénaire and in Lyon where he is designing a series of buildings within the Part Dieu Station Precinct. Jamie has lectured at Harvard, Columbia, Tsinghua, Tongji, Seoul National, Yonsei Universities, the ESA in Paris, AMO in Lyon,