Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) 
Total Projects from Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) : 7
KPMB is one of Canada’s premier architecture studios. Founded by Bruce Kuwabara, Thomas Payne, Marianne McKenna and Shirley Blumberg, KPMB has formed an alternative model to either the sole practitioner or the large corporate firm, based on intensive, collaborative, integrated team work.
The office and its portfolio of work have grown in terms of diversity and quality, enabling it to attract exceptional clients across Canada, the United States and Europe. Regardless of scale, every project of architecture is conceived as a contextual response, to both site and a client’s strategic vision.
KPMB has had the privilege to work with many of North America’s leading academic institutions, including Yale University, the University of Michigan, the University of Toronto, McGill University, Queen’s University, Concordia University and the University of British Columbia. Currently, KPMB is creating architecture for Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
To orchestrate the complexity of the contemporary building industry with goals for architectural excellence, sustainable design and cost effectiveness, KPMB prioritizes an integrated, collaborative design process. Manitoba Hydro Place (2009) has achieved 66%+ energy savings and is on target for LEED Platinum. The firm is currently working on a series of LEED Platinum and Gold projects, including the Elementary Teacher’s Federation of Ontario which will be the greenest building in Toronto.
The firm is also the architect for the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan, the Orchestra Hall Renewal and Expansion for the Minnesota Orchestra and the recently completed Vaughan City Hall and Canadian Museum of Nature.
KPMB’s projects have been recognized by the American Institute of Architects, the Chicago Athenaeum, Business Week/Architectural Record, the North American and Global chapters of the Urban Land Institute, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and the Royal Institute of British Architects, among others.
Bruce Kuwabara
OAA, FRAIC, AIA, RIBA, Founding Partner
Bruce Kuwabara is the 2006 recipient of the RAIC Gold Medal for Architecture. In 1987, he founded Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) with his partners Thomas Payne, Marianne McKenna, and Shirley Blumberg. Kuwabara has been internationally recognized as one of Canada's leading architects. Their practice is committed to architectural excellence and the design of the public realm, and has earned distinction with 11 Governor General’s Awards, Canada’s highest architectural honour.
Upon graduation in 1972 from the University of Toronto School of Architecture, Kuwabara joined the ‘teaching office’ of architect and critic George Baird who influenced his ideas on urbanism. In 1975, he joined Barton Myers Associates where he continued to evolve his ideas on city building and socially-aesthetic driven concepts of architecture.
As a design partner of KPMB, in the first few years of practice Kuwabara directed several small scale interior projects as well as the winning competition scheme for Kitchener City Hall. The early work rapidly established the firm’s reputation for excellence and commitment to city building. His commitment to making architecture that ensures the vitality of cultural, educational and social institutions has also contributed to raising the international profile of Canadian architecture.
As a practitioner and a critic, Kuwabara has contributed to the national discourse on city building in the 21st century. KPMB has produced six of the nine Cultural Renaissance projects in Toronto. Kuwabara is the design partner for Canada's National Ballet School (NBS) (a joint venture with Goldsmith Borgal & Company Ltd. Architects), the Gardiner Museum and the Bell Lightbox for the Toronto International Film Festival. The NBS is the recipient an American Institute of Architect’s Honor Award and both the Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence and the Global Award for Excellence. The Gardiner Museum was recently bestowed the 2008 Royal Institute of British Architects International Award and the Chicago Athenaeum Award.
For more than twenty years, Kuwabara has directed the majority of the firm’s competition-winning schemes, including the Vaughan Civic Centre, the Canadian Embassy in Berlin (a joint venture with Gagnon Letellier Cyr, architectes, and Smith Carter Architects + Engineers Inc.), and Le Quartier Concordia for Concordia University in downtown Montreal (a joint venture with Fichten Soiferman et Associés Architectes). All of this work prioritizes the creation of architecture as an enduring cultural and national asset engaging the unique Canadian condition of openness.
During his career, Kuwabara has taught at the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto and at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is the Honorary Co-Chair for Fundraising responsible for establishing the Frank Gehry International Design Chair at the U of T, the first chair of the Waterfront Design Review Panel for Waterfront Toronto, and a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. From 1986 to 1992, he was a member of the National Capital Commission Advisory Committee on Design. He continues to participate as a jury member, guest lecturer and critic on issues of architecture, urbanism and sustainable design.
Kuwabara’s projects have been published extensively both in Canada and internationally and are featured in a monograph on the practice published by Birkhauser, a leading European publisher of books on architecture. Entitled The Architecture of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, this was Birkhauser’s first major monograph on a Canadian practice.
Thomas Payne
OAA, FRAIC, AIA, Founding Partner
Thomas Payne is one of KPMB's four founding partners. He was educated at Princeton University (B. Arch. 1971), L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and Yale University (M.Arch. 1974). Tom joined the offices of Barton Myers Associates in 1979, where he was responsible for the award-winning Portland Center for the Performing Arts in Oregon.
Tom was the design partner for two of KPMB's seminal projects: Woodsworth College at the University of Toronto, and the Joseph S. Stauffer Library at Queen’s University. He has overseen many of the firm's university projects, including the Raether Library and Information Technology Center at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, and Sprague Memorial Hall at Yale University. He is currently directing the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.
Tom is also recognized for his expertise in the field of performing arts. He has designed a number of performing arts facilities in which he has successfully negotiated the technical requirements with the design of acoustically and visually superior spaces. This work includes the Stratford Festival Theatre Expansion, the Roy Thomson Hall Enhancement, and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He recently completed the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto's Distillery District for the Soulpepper Theatre Company and George Brown College's Theatre Training program.
Recent projects of note include the Walgreen Drama Center and Arthur Miller Theatre for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the Federal Judicial Centre located on Queen Street West in Toronto and the Lexus Lounge in Roy Thomson Hall, which was awarded the 2004 Best of Canada Award, and was selected as one of the 100 World's Best Bars by Australian Images Publishing Group.
Tom has been a visiting critic at the University of Toronto and Harvard University. His work has been published internationally in Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Marianne McKenna
OAA, OAQ, FRAIC, AIA, Founding Partner
Marianne McKenna is a founding partner of the award-winning practice of KPMB Architects. She was born in Montreal, Quebec and educated at Swarthmore College (B.A. 1972) and Yale University (M. Arch. 1976). Prior to forming KPMB, she was an associate at Barton Myers Associates.
The architecture of concert halls and how design is used to engage community has been Marianne’s special focus for over 20 years, beginning with the Royal Conservatory in 1990. Completed in 2009, the award-winning Royal Conservatory TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning is described as the ‘jewel in the crown of Toronto’s Cultural Renaissance.” The design earned KPMB its 11th Governor General’s Medal, as well as numerous awards for architectural excellence. In 2011, Marianne was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Conservatory for her outstanding contribution and commitment.
Marianne has designed and directed a diverse range of internationally acclaimed projects in the spheres of culture, business and science. This includes the Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, a watershed in sustainable design and Canada’s selection at the 2002 Green Building Challenge in Oslo, Norway. She was the design partner for the Torys LLP offices in downtown Toronto, featured on the cover of Interior Design, and is currently leading the Torys LLP Calgary offices design currently under construction. Marianne was also partner-in-charge of McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre*, Le Quartier Concordia*, an integrated vertical campus for Concordia University in downtown Montreal, and, currently, the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo (under construction). She also directed the award-winning Master Plan for Ryerson University** (American Institute of Architects Honor Award, 2009) and the Yonge Street Planning Framework***.
Currently, Marianne is leading the design for the Music and Theater Arts Project in Walker Memorial Hall at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) and the expansion of Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis (headed for construction in the Spring of 2012). She is also a leading member of the integrated design team for the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the winning scheme in an invited international design competition.
In 2010 Marianne was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women. She has taught at McGill University, L'Université de Montréal and the University of Toronto and lectured and acted as guest critic at Yale University. She has juried a range of art competitions for integrated artworks, including Concordia University and Torys LLP. Marianne currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) for the Royal Ontario Museum.
Shirley Blumberg
OAA, FRAIC, AIA, Founding Partner
Shirley Blumberg is a founding partner of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects. She was born and educated in Cape Town, South Africa, and studied architecture at the University of Toronto. Shirley is recognized for her long standing commitment to city building.
Shirley is recognized for her commitment to city building. She has worked on numerous projects that engage heritage contexts, notably King James Place, the Design Exchange, Canada’s National Ballet School* and the Gardiner Museum renewal.
Her projects for corporate clients include the Hasbro Corporate Headquarters in Rhode Island, the advertising offices for Ammirati Puris Lintas in New York, offices for Alias/wavefront, and animation studios for Disney Television.
Shirley was the partner-in-charge of the Vaughan Civic Centre, the TIFF Bell Lightbox for the Toronto International Film Festival, and the design partner for the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) Campus which is affiliated with the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University. Currently, Shirley is the partner-in-charge of the new Remai Art Gallery of Saskatchewan* project, the renovation and expansion of 20 Washington Road at Princeton University, the Ponderosa Housing Commons* at the University of British Columbia, and several mixed-use residential projects in downtown Toronto.
Shirley is a member of the Regent Park Design Review Panel, the Presidential Advisory Council for the Ontario College of Art and Design and a member of the city of Toronto's Design Review panel. She is a frequent guest critic and lecturer at universities across North America, including Kent State University in Ohio, the University of Buffalo, the University of Toronto, and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where she also served as the first woman appointee to the Hyde Chair for Excellence in Architecture.
The office and its portfolio of work have grown in terms of diversity and quality, enabling it to attract exceptional clients across Canada, the United States and Europe. Regardless of scale, every project of architecture is conceived as a contextual response, to both site and a client’s strategic vision.
KPMB has had the privilege to work with many of North America’s leading academic institutions, including Yale University, the University of Michigan, the University of Toronto, McGill University, Queen’s University, Concordia University and the University of British Columbia. Currently, KPMB is creating architecture for Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
To orchestrate the complexity of the contemporary building industry with goals for architectural excellence, sustainable design and cost effectiveness, KPMB prioritizes an integrated, collaborative design process. Manitoba Hydro Place (2009) has achieved 66%+ energy savings and is on target for LEED Platinum. The firm is currently working on a series of LEED Platinum and Gold projects, including the Elementary Teacher’s Federation of Ontario which will be the greenest building in Toronto.
The firm is also the architect for the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan, the Orchestra Hall Renewal and Expansion for the Minnesota Orchestra and the recently completed Vaughan City Hall and Canadian Museum of Nature.
KPMB’s projects have been recognized by the American Institute of Architects, the Chicago Athenaeum, Business Week/Architectural Record, the North American and Global chapters of the Urban Land Institute, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and the Royal Institute of British Architects, among others.
Bruce KuwabaraOAA, FRAIC, AIA, RIBA, Founding Partner
Bruce Kuwabara is the 2006 recipient of the RAIC Gold Medal for Architecture. In 1987, he founded Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) with his partners Thomas Payne, Marianne McKenna, and Shirley Blumberg. Kuwabara has been internationally recognized as one of Canada's leading architects. Their practice is committed to architectural excellence and the design of the public realm, and has earned distinction with 11 Governor General’s Awards, Canada’s highest architectural honour.
Upon graduation in 1972 from the University of Toronto School of Architecture, Kuwabara joined the ‘teaching office’ of architect and critic George Baird who influenced his ideas on urbanism. In 1975, he joined Barton Myers Associates where he continued to evolve his ideas on city building and socially-aesthetic driven concepts of architecture.
As a design partner of KPMB, in the first few years of practice Kuwabara directed several small scale interior projects as well as the winning competition scheme for Kitchener City Hall. The early work rapidly established the firm’s reputation for excellence and commitment to city building. His commitment to making architecture that ensures the vitality of cultural, educational and social institutions has also contributed to raising the international profile of Canadian architecture.
As a practitioner and a critic, Kuwabara has contributed to the national discourse on city building in the 21st century. KPMB has produced six of the nine Cultural Renaissance projects in Toronto. Kuwabara is the design partner for Canada's National Ballet School (NBS) (a joint venture with Goldsmith Borgal & Company Ltd. Architects), the Gardiner Museum and the Bell Lightbox for the Toronto International Film Festival. The NBS is the recipient an American Institute of Architect’s Honor Award and both the Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence and the Global Award for Excellence. The Gardiner Museum was recently bestowed the 2008 Royal Institute of British Architects International Award and the Chicago Athenaeum Award.
For more than twenty years, Kuwabara has directed the majority of the firm’s competition-winning schemes, including the Vaughan Civic Centre, the Canadian Embassy in Berlin (a joint venture with Gagnon Letellier Cyr, architectes, and Smith Carter Architects + Engineers Inc.), and Le Quartier Concordia for Concordia University in downtown Montreal (a joint venture with Fichten Soiferman et Associés Architectes). All of this work prioritizes the creation of architecture as an enduring cultural and national asset engaging the unique Canadian condition of openness.
During his career, Kuwabara has taught at the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto and at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is the Honorary Co-Chair for Fundraising responsible for establishing the Frank Gehry International Design Chair at the U of T, the first chair of the Waterfront Design Review Panel for Waterfront Toronto, and a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. From 1986 to 1992, he was a member of the National Capital Commission Advisory Committee on Design. He continues to participate as a jury member, guest lecturer and critic on issues of architecture, urbanism and sustainable design.
Kuwabara’s projects have been published extensively both in Canada and internationally and are featured in a monograph on the practice published by Birkhauser, a leading European publisher of books on architecture. Entitled The Architecture of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, this was Birkhauser’s first major monograph on a Canadian practice.
Thomas PayneOAA, FRAIC, AIA, Founding Partner
Thomas Payne is one of KPMB's four founding partners. He was educated at Princeton University (B. Arch. 1971), L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and Yale University (M.Arch. 1974). Tom joined the offices of Barton Myers Associates in 1979, where he was responsible for the award-winning Portland Center for the Performing Arts in Oregon.
Tom was the design partner for two of KPMB's seminal projects: Woodsworth College at the University of Toronto, and the Joseph S. Stauffer Library at Queen’s University. He has overseen many of the firm's university projects, including the Raether Library and Information Technology Center at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, and Sprague Memorial Hall at Yale University. He is currently directing the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.
Tom is also recognized for his expertise in the field of performing arts. He has designed a number of performing arts facilities in which he has successfully negotiated the technical requirements with the design of acoustically and visually superior spaces. This work includes the Stratford Festival Theatre Expansion, the Roy Thomson Hall Enhancement, and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He recently completed the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto's Distillery District for the Soulpepper Theatre Company and George Brown College's Theatre Training program.
Recent projects of note include the Walgreen Drama Center and Arthur Miller Theatre for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the Federal Judicial Centre located on Queen Street West in Toronto and the Lexus Lounge in Roy Thomson Hall, which was awarded the 2004 Best of Canada Award, and was selected as one of the 100 World's Best Bars by Australian Images Publishing Group.
Tom has been a visiting critic at the University of Toronto and Harvard University. His work has been published internationally in Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Marianne McKennaOAA, OAQ, FRAIC, AIA, Founding Partner
Marianne McKenna is a founding partner of the award-winning practice of KPMB Architects. She was born in Montreal, Quebec and educated at Swarthmore College (B.A. 1972) and Yale University (M. Arch. 1976). Prior to forming KPMB, she was an associate at Barton Myers Associates.
The architecture of concert halls and how design is used to engage community has been Marianne’s special focus for over 20 years, beginning with the Royal Conservatory in 1990. Completed in 2009, the award-winning Royal Conservatory TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning is described as the ‘jewel in the crown of Toronto’s Cultural Renaissance.” The design earned KPMB its 11th Governor General’s Medal, as well as numerous awards for architectural excellence. In 2011, Marianne was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Conservatory for her outstanding contribution and commitment.
Marianne has designed and directed a diverse range of internationally acclaimed projects in the spheres of culture, business and science. This includes the Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, a watershed in sustainable design and Canada’s selection at the 2002 Green Building Challenge in Oslo, Norway. She was the design partner for the Torys LLP offices in downtown Toronto, featured on the cover of Interior Design, and is currently leading the Torys LLP Calgary offices design currently under construction. Marianne was also partner-in-charge of McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre*, Le Quartier Concordia*, an integrated vertical campus for Concordia University in downtown Montreal, and, currently, the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo (under construction). She also directed the award-winning Master Plan for Ryerson University** (American Institute of Architects Honor Award, 2009) and the Yonge Street Planning Framework***.
Currently, Marianne is leading the design for the Music and Theater Arts Project in Walker Memorial Hall at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) and the expansion of Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis (headed for construction in the Spring of 2012). She is also a leading member of the integrated design team for the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the winning scheme in an invited international design competition.
In 2010 Marianne was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women. She has taught at McGill University, L'Université de Montréal and the University of Toronto and lectured and acted as guest critic at Yale University. She has juried a range of art competitions for integrated artworks, including Concordia University and Torys LLP. Marianne currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) for the Royal Ontario Museum.
Shirley BlumbergOAA, FRAIC, AIA, Founding Partner
Shirley Blumberg is a founding partner of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects. She was born and educated in Cape Town, South Africa, and studied architecture at the University of Toronto. Shirley is recognized for her long standing commitment to city building.
Shirley is recognized for her commitment to city building. She has worked on numerous projects that engage heritage contexts, notably King James Place, the Design Exchange, Canada’s National Ballet School* and the Gardiner Museum renewal.
Her projects for corporate clients include the Hasbro Corporate Headquarters in Rhode Island, the advertising offices for Ammirati Puris Lintas in New York, offices for Alias/wavefront, and animation studios for Disney Television.
Shirley was the partner-in-charge of the Vaughan Civic Centre, the TIFF Bell Lightbox for the Toronto International Film Festival, and the design partner for the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) Campus which is affiliated with the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University. Currently, Shirley is the partner-in-charge of the new Remai Art Gallery of Saskatchewan* project, the renovation and expansion of 20 Washington Road at Princeton University, the Ponderosa Housing Commons* at the University of British Columbia, and several mixed-use residential projects in downtown Toronto.
Shirley is a member of the Regent Park Design Review Panel, the Presidential Advisory Council for the Ontario College of Art and Design and a member of the city of Toronto's Design Review panel. She is a frequent guest critic and lecturer at universities across North America, including Kent State University in Ohio, the University of Buffalo, the University of Toronto, and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where she also served as the first woman appointee to the Hyde Chair for Excellence in Architecture.
website: www.kpmbarchitects.com
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