Ken Gowland, RA, NCARB
Principal
Kenneth Gowland is one of the founding partners of MetroStudio. He is a licensed architect with over 22 years’ experience in the design and construction of a diverse array of project types. Prior to moving to New Orleans, Kenneth was an architect with Cesar Pelli and Associates of New Haven CT, the New York offices of Gensler and Platt Byard Dovell and White (PBDW).
During his time with Cesar Pelli, Kenneth was involved with several projects including the master planning and urban design of Central Liverpool; a project encompassing 42 acres of waterfront with 1.6 million square feet of residential, commercial and cultural programs. His work also included master planning and urban design for Gran Canarias, a project consisting of 4.8 million square feet of commercial, governmental and cultural programs organized around an ecological preserve and marina. Kenneth was also a member of the design team for the BOK Center Arena a 20,000 seat multi-purpose venue in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
While at Gensler, he developed the strategic institutional plan, site masterplan and building design for the Liberty Science Center located within Liberty State Park. He was a member of the design and construction administration team for the world headquarters building of Scholastic Inc. in New York. He was also one of the lead designers for the expansion and redevelopment of British Airways Terminal 7 at JFK International Airport.
At PBDW Kenneth worked mainly on institutional and education projects. Some of the more notable projects he was part of included the design and construction administration for a new facility at The Spence School, the adaptive reuse and restoration for New School University, the restoration and renovation of the historic Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary and the historic restoration and redevelopment for the McKim library at Columbia University in New York. Recent project work for MetroStudio includes the redevelopment and repurposing of the historic Joy Theater in downtown New Orleans; a fast track $7 million dollar design-build project. Ken was also charged with design and construction administration for the new Valero Southeast Louisiana Headquarters (formerly MOUSA); a 9 month 45,000 sf design-build endeavor. Specialized architectural and planning projects have also included recovery and rapid deployment prototypes for Port au Prince, Haiti and Baghdad, Iraq.
His design work for MetroStudio has been featured on the NBC Today Show, USA TODAY, Live Design Magazine and in the design quarterly, LHQ. Kenneth’s projects and research have been exhibited at the Van Allen Institute in New York, the National Building Museum in Washington DC, the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, OK, and at the American Pavilion of the 2006 Venice Biennale. His design work regarding the real estate development of lower Manhattan was featured in the book “Layered Urbanisms” (Yale University Press). His writings and projects pertaining to regional recovery planning and coastal ecologies were also published in Volume 3 of “Batture” (School of Architecture at Louisiana State University).
Kenneth earned his Bachelor of Architecture from Louisiana State University and his Master of Architecture degree from Yale University. He has served as a professor for advanced design at Tulane University and is a frequent guest critic at LSU.