Meet the KKT Architects team and their winning Work from the Cloud submission. Our jurors loved this submission so much, they created a new ‘Pie in the Sky’ category for them. You can keep up with what’s next for KKT Architects by following them on LinkedIn or Instagram. Check out the full submission below!
- Francis Wilmore, AIA, LEED AP BD+C – Director of Design, Principal
- Chris Huber, AIA – Architecture
- Julia Mauk, AIA – Architecture
- Matt Walter, AIA – Architecture
- Ricardo Cortez, AIAS – Architectural Summer Intern
We connected with the KKT Architects team to see how their submission has evolved since entering the competition.
“Since completing our design, all of us have had a chance to fly, and a few of us went international for the first time since the pandemic. While we all vaguely remembered the stress of travel, there was a new post-pandemic layer of burden that we hadn’t encountered before. Now that everyone has learned that you CAN work from anywhere, there was a looming burden that we SHOULD work from everywhere.
While the burden may have been self-imposed more than an actual client’s expectation, the thought of email piling up and projects sitting stagnant weighed on some of us more than it did in the past. This emphasized a real need to be able to work more effectively while moving from place to place. Without losing potential days of work due to travel time, we may be able to decompress more and not let the burden of work weigh on our vacations.”
Check out the slideshow and summary of the KKT Architects submission below:
Work from the Cloud
Congratulations! After months of hard work, you are finally going to get to take a four-day weekend and head out on vacation. Now you just have to get up at 6 am on Friday to be at the airport 90 minutes early, fight your way through the TSA line, be loaded into an aluminum tube where you’re cramped even with your upgraded, 6” of additional leg room, rocket to a city that is in the completely wrong direction of where you want to go, dodge hoards of people as you sprint between terminals only to find out your next plane is delayed because… well, no one really knows why. But, thankfully after an entire day of travel, you make it to your destination to spend 48 glorious hours on vacation before doing it all over again on your return flight Monday that hopefully making it in on time in order for you to get into work early on Tuesday morning and spend the next three days catching up on all of your missed emails because you dared to go on vacation!
Welcome to Working from the Cloud. Take a breath as you board this gentle giant and settle in for a peaceful day of co-working in the clouds. Cloud Service 1 is designed to be a hybrid co-working space where you can float into your next vacation. Instead of spending a hectic day wasted on travel, Cloud Service 1 offers a variety of work environments and amenities aimed at providing a slow transition into the weekend. Spend some focused time in the sky lounge while you watch the terrain below roll by. Step out into the chasm café to enjoy some fresh air while you meet with your team. Then, as happy hour rolls in, head up to the helium bar to enjoy a cocktail while you wrap up your last few emails of the week. After gentling returning to earth, you depart feeling relaxed and ready for the weekend without the burden of feeling behind before even starting the next work week. Float into your next vacation.
Here’s what our jurors had to say about the KKT Architects submission:
- “This is amazing. The concept of having a coworking space in the air. I wish it existed now.”
- “I love the imagination and the retro feeling that takes me back to slower and simpler times.”
- “Interesting concept. But I’m not sure I want to work on my next vacation and how do you get in and out easily.”
- “This one is so unique which I love about it. There should be some sort of a special prize for it because it is really thinking outside the box. I think that logistically there are too many things that make this intractable but I really like how it’s thinking differently.”
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