KMD Architects Win Design Assignments for Innovative Hospital and Judicial Building in Asia & U.S.

San Francisco, CA, August 14, 2009 --(PR.com)-- KMD Architects announced new design assignments for two major projects including a 1,000-bed healthcare complex in Korea and a courts-and-administration facility in Oklahoma, reflecting its success in innovative design which incorporates sustainability, human-performance and community impact. According to McGraw-Hill’s 2009 construction industry forecast, such Institutional-sector work -- government, healthcare, education and other non-private-sector projects -- will be the least-affected by the economic downturn this year.

KMD won an international design competition for the new Keimyong University medical center in Daegu, South Korea, about 500 miles south east of Seoul. The $300 million hospital will be a 1,000-bed multi-disciplinary facility comprising 1.2 million square feet for Keimyong, among the most prestigious universities in South Korea. It follows KMD’s innovative Cha Women’s and Children’s Hospital completed in Seongnam, South Korea, which was honored with a 2008 AIA/AAH National Healthcare Design Award, one of only four awarded globally.

The firm also won the design assignment for a $56 million, 175,000 square foot justice facility in Tulsa, Okla., which will include seven courtrooms and related uses. Initial conceptual design calls for incorporating extensive use of daylight which not only reduces energy costs but enhances performance of building-occupants. Wind-power generators will also reduce its carbon footprint.

Other KMD projects reflecting its ongoing body of work for Institutional clients including the 800,000 square-foot city hall nearing completion for Seongnam, South Korea; the new El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, Calif., anticipated to open in fall 2009; the 48,000 square-foot U.C.-San Francisco Mount Zion Medical Office Building under construction in San Francisco including the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, as well as other healthcare, government and education assignments.

KMD is also the designer of the proposed San Francisco Public Utilities Commission headquarters, which is anticipated to exceed the requirements for the US Green Building Council’s LEEDtm Platinum certification and is currently targeted to be the greenest building in the U.S. in terms of energy efficiency and onsite power production.

About KMD

Since 1963, San Francisco-based KMD (Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz) has been a leader in green building and sustainable design, with completed projects in over 30 US states and 15 countries around the world. In the past two decades we have won 200 design awards and international design competitions, including over forty awards from the AIA. The company`s web site is at www.kmdarchitects.com.

###