ABOUT US
ABOUT US
A+U LAB
is an interdisciplinary design and research studio. We are a team of architects, designers, and researchers sharing a passion for design and a commitment to creating innovative and meaningful work.
Led by Lawrence Kim, AIA, LEED AP, A+U LAB engages in a diverse range of work, from commercial, cultural, and residential buildings and interiors to large urban developments and research projects. We take an interdisciplinary and multi-scalar approach to design. Both the process and the product, the architectural design focuses on a broad range of concerns, including context, site, program, form, budget, and materials, and explores opportunities within the very constraints of each project. On a larger scale, urbanism is examined as the study of how inhabitants of cities interact with the built environment. And Urban design, a direct component of urbanism, moves beyond the study of urban spaces as the practice that actively shapes the urban areas and the city with systems of strategies and interventions that integrate people with the built environment.
We see design as the means to envision a better-built environment and to initiate great transformation. The goal that binds our efforts is to find the most intelligent and lasting solution for each project.
LAWRENCE KIM
is an architect, a professor at Pusan National University, and the director of A+U LAB.
In his career spanning three decades as a practicing architect, Lawrence has completed a wide range of project types across the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. His diverse and prominent list of clients includes conglomerates, governments, development companies, universities, hotels, hospitals, and cultural institutions. He is recognized for his innovative and thoughtful body of work. It has been widely recognized and published, receiving over 50 international design awards and honors, including the American Institute of Architects Design Awards, the Society of American Registered Architects Design Awards, the Interior Design Best of Year Awards, and the ADC Annual Awards.
In addition to his current professorship at PNU, Lawrence has lectured at numerous international universities and frequently serves as a juror for awards programs and design competitions. As well, he currently serves on multiple advisory commissions of national and city government agencies and corporations for design and construction in Korea.
Prior to establishing A+U LAB, Lawrence practiced architecture based in New York City for nearly 25 years, working at some of the respected global design firms, including AECOM Ellerbe Becket, HLW International, and Perkins Will where he led the design of architecture and urban projects domestically and internationally. In 2012, he established Studio Lawrence Kim DPC in New York, running his practice until 2015, when he relocated to Korea to assume a professorship at Pusan National University.
POSITIONS AND AFFILIATIONS
Practice and Design Research
Director, A+U LAB
Teaching
Professor, Department of Architecture, Pusan National University
Academic Qualifications
Master of Science, Columbia University, USA
Bachelor of Architecture, University of Oregon, USA
Professional Licenses and Registrations
Licensed Architect, Registered in New York, USA
LEED AP, Green Business Certification Inc, USA
Registered Foreign Architect, Korea
Public Architect, Seoul Metropolitan City
Public Architect, Busan Metropolitan City
Professional and Academic Affiliations
American Institute of Architects
Society of American Registered Architects
United States Green Building Council
Korean Institute of Architects
Architectural Institute of Korea
Urban Design Institute of Korea
Advisory and Design Review Commission Appointments
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Government of Korea
Public Procurement Service, Government of Korea
Seoul Metropolitan City
Busan Metropolitan City
Korea Land and Housing Corporation
Korea Environment Corporation
Korea National Railway
Busan Metropolitan Corporation
Design Awards Jury Panels
Architecture Masterprize
International Design Awards
Architizer A+ Awards
Taipei Design Award
Loop Design Awards