William / Kaven’s Royal I and II houses are featured in Carchitecture USA: American Houses with Horsepower, a beautiful hardcover book from publisher Uitgeverij Lannoo that pairs "America's most iconic architecture with dazzling supercars."
To order, visit HERE.
“Sitting atop one of the United States’ largest urban reserves, Royal II frames the inherent beauty of its surroundings, allowing life to unfold amid the woodlands, only minutes from downtown Portland.”
THE LOCAL PROJECT
The Local Project has featured William / Kaven’s Royal II residence, calling it “a thoughtful composition [that] honours the beauty of the landscape.” Read the full feature HERE.
William / Kaven’s Royal II Residence has been named one of five Finalists worldwide for an Architizer A+Award in the Private House category.
Read more HERE.
“With so much glass and natural light, even the most utilitarian spaces transcend the ordinary.”
PORTRAIT MAGAZINE
W/K’s Royal II residence is the cover story for the latest issue of Portrait Magazine. Read the feature HERE.
We’re pleased to be kicking off the new year with an International Design Award for our Royal II residence. It’s an honor to be included among such a talented group of designers across the globe.
The International Design Awards exist to recognize, celebrate and promote exceptional design visionaries and discover emerging talent in Architecture, Interior, Product, Graphic and Fashion Design worldwide.
See Royal II award HERE.
See full list of winners HERE.
It is critical that these advancements in transport do not simply become the replacement for cars but technology that can help piece back together the damage cars have inflicted on our cities
DANIEL KAVEN
I sat down with Global Design News to talk about architecture, design, AI, the importance of physical objects, and the essential elements contributing to the establishment of William / Kaven. Read the full article HERE.
In 2023, Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum recognized our Royal II residence with a Future House Award.
Big news: William / Kaven has been shortlisted for 'Firm of the Year in Multi-Disciplinary Architecture' in the 2023 Architecture MasterPrize competition.
In addition, three of our private home projects — Royal II, Heartwood, and Camp MINOH — received Honorable Mentions in the Single-Family Residential Design category. Just 68 projects globally received Honorable Mentions in this category.
See the full list of honorees HERE, and the W/K honors below.
I’m thrilled to share that W/K’s Royal II residence is featured in today's issue of The Wall Street Journal. Clients Michelle Tam and Henry Fong, co-founders of Nom Nom Paleo, discuss how the design of the house integrates with their passion for food.
The overarching theme of the design for Royal II was to reflect the forest. “We wanted enough glass so that it felt like you were touching the trees,” says Daniel Kaven. Tam, a food blogger, home chef and author of three cookbooks, wanted the kitchen to be a major focal point of the home. One of our main design challenges was to create the ultimate kitchen for a working chef while also optimizing views of the stunning woodland at every level.
Read the article HERE.
Royal II, the second installment in W/K’s Forest Park series, has been recognized with a 2023 Future House Award in the Private Homes category.
Presented by Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum Museum for Architecture and Design, the Future House Award is given annually to the best and most cutting-edge designs for residential architecture worldwide.
Read more about Royal II and see the full list of honorees HERE.
Last month, I traveled to Paris with my brother/business partner Trevor William Lewis to attend the Architizer A+ Awards Gala at Frank Gehry's Louis Vuitton Foundation. William / Kaven was officially recognized by Architizer this year as one of the Top Small Firms in the world, and I also had the honor of serving on the jury for several of the 2023 A+ design categories.
In addition to meeting and hearing talks by other winners — including Lord Norman Foster — we also received a private tour of the extensive Mark Rothko exhibit after hours.
About the Awards:
The Architizer A+Awards is the largest awards program focused on promoting and celebrating the year’s best architecture and spaces. Its mission is to nurture the appreciation of meaningful architecture in the world and champion those designers that are integral to bringing great buildings to life.
View the full list of 2023 winners HERE.
The William / Kaven Architecture studio has been recognized by Architizer as one of the top design firms in the world. Our Special Mention for Best Small Firm in the 2023 Architizer A+ Awards is a huge honor, as the category received submissions from thousands of firms globally. Thanks to Architizer and the jury, and congrats to the other honorees.
About the Awards:
The Architizer A+Awards is the largest awards program focused on promoting and celebrating the year’s best architecture and spaces. Its mission is to nurture the appreciation of meaningful architecture in the world and champion those designers that are integral to bringing great buildings to life.
See announcement and full list of winners HERE.
The Art Libraries Society of North America reviewed Architecture of Normal:
“The bland sameness that characterizes much of the American built environment is fertile ground for architectural criticism. Daniel Kaven, architect and artist, offers a new entry in this genre describing the impact on the United States of successive eras of transportation technologies in Architecture of Normal: the Colonization of the American Landscape.”
Read review HERE.
I recently sat down with Blair Best from KGW-TV to talk about the current barriers to affordable housing in Portland.
View segment and read story HERE.
I’m honored to announce that I’ve been invited to serve on the 11th Annual Architizer A+Awards jury this year.
The A+Awards is the world's largest architecture and building-product awards program focused on promoting and celebrating the year’s best architecture and spaces. With a prestigious jury comprised of design professionals from every continent, the 2023 A+Awards will champion the firms and individuals that have been integral to bringing great buildings to life.
The final deadline is 2/24. Submit HERE.
American Tapestry, a piece from my Architecture of Normal series, is part of a group show curated by Mona Kuhn for The Billboard Creative's ninth annual exhibition during 2023 Frieze Los Angeles. Check it out on the corner of Melrose Ave. and N Gramercy Pl.
Read more about the show + access the interactive map HERE.
Honored to see Architecture of Normal featured in PRINT Magazine’s The Daily Heller, a design digest dubbed a “must-follow feed in the world of design” by Wired Magazine.
"Kaven has assembled an enticing visual narrative that includes extensive historical photography, architecture commentary, personal anecdote and original art. It serves as a critical travelogue of what the world accepts as the American landscape, but leaves the door open for further debate over whether it is a dream-scape or nightmare."
— Steven Heller, The Daily Heller / PRINT Magazine
A piece from my Architecture of Normal series has been selected for The Billboard Creative’s ninth annual billboard exhibition in Los Angeles, opening February 3. Look for my billboard at the intersection of Melrose Ave. and N Gramercy Pl.
This year's exhibition, curated by Mona Kuhn, is titled We The People and will feature the work of 30 artists on billboards across Los Angeles. Previously featured artists include Ed Ruscha, Paul McCarthy, Ramiro Gomez, Phung Huynh, Narsiso Martinez, Marilyn Minter, Alex Prager, and Calida Rawles.
See below for more information and full list of 2023 artists.
Architecture of Normal (Birkhäuser, 2022) has been honored with a 2022 GRAY Award in the Product Design category. I had a great time accepting the award and celebrating fellow winners at the other night’s epic GRAY Party at Seattle’s Fairmont Olympic Hotel.
The GRAY Award is a prestigious design accolade, awarded to designers in the categories of Architecture, Interiors, Landscape, and Product Design and determined by an international judging panel of design icons. This year's panel included Ini Archibong, Paul Cocksedge, Paolo Ferrari, Holly Hunt, Patrick Lam, and Mia Lehrer.
9/21 Architecture of Normal Book Launch
Join us for the launch of Daniel Kaven's book, Architecture of Normal: The Colonization of the American Landscape (Birkhäuser, 2022), and a discussion of the history and future of design in America. Kaven's expansive literary and visual assemblage, called an "enthralling cautionary tale about the future" by Metropolis Magazine, explores how evolving transportation technologies have shaped America's built environment and examines the connection between urbanization and colonization in the American West.
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
7 to 9pm
SOHO Warehouse
1000 S Santa Fe Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90021
Episode 35: Architecture of Normal - William / Kaven Architecture’s Daniel Kaven with Host Daniel Safarik
Daniel Kaven sat down with Unfrozen Podcast host Daniel Safarik (Director, Research and Thought Leadership at Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) to talk about his new book, Architecture of Normal (Birkhäuser, 2022), along with suburbanization, flying cars, and why “Generation Z needs to get out in the streets and be really pissed off about work-from-home.”