Kirk Mitchell of AKT Designs | North Woodland St in Englewood | The Client's Desire
Courtesy of AKT Designs
The Client’s Desire
Today, our guest is architect Kirk Mitchell. Kirk is the founder and principal at AKT Designs, an architecture and interior design firm based in Bergen County, New Jersey. We will be talking about 432 Woodland, a spectacular renovation of a single-family home in the Palisades, a stunning cliffside area of northern New Jersey. Listen in as we discuss how the pandemic has impacted residential design, the best ways to narrow down unlimited options while designing with a client, and Kirk’s renovation process that focuses on maximizing the value of a home while making sure his client’s dreams come true, no matter how eclectic.
“It’s been a perfect storm that’s changed the way people are looking at their homes. People who used to spend 8 hours a day at an office are realizing the importance of transforming your home into a place that you love.”
Courtesy of AKT Designs
About Kirk Mitchell
Today, our guest is architect Kirk Mitchell. Kirk is the founder and principal at AKT Designs, an architecture and interior design firm based in Bergen County, New Jersey. He focuses on residential projects across New York and New Jersey. That includes new construction and renovations of single-family and multi-family buildings. He has particular expertise in combining historic details with modern technology, having completed over 80 townhouse projects as AKT Designs, and previously as the Director of Design & Construction for Dixon Advisory, an Australian investment company focused on metro New York City.
Courtesy of AKT Designs
Episode Timestamps
6:41 – Your professional career started at Marchetto Higgins Stieve under architect Dean Marchetto. What role did you play at the firm? And how did that help in developing your own career as an architect?
13:08 – Can you describe the site of 32 Woodland and Englewood, New Jersey for our listeners?
21:40 – Talk to us about the design process from the initial ski lodge aesthetic that you described to the final design that you presented. What is the step-by-step in that process?
26:22 – Amongst like the limitless options that you have at your disposal as a design professional, what process do you go through in order to take that set of options to be something that is sensible for you to be looking at, and then sensible for the client to make a decision about?
29:08 – The pandemic has changed a lot of the normal processes of residential design. What would you say has been the biggest change in terms of the process and also the physical layout of the homes that you've been working on?
34:56 – What do you see in terms of your pipeline? Do you see that being reflected where now you're doing projects all across this tri-state? Or are you seeing people staying put where they are and doing a lot of that renovation work in the house that they're in already?
37:15 – During this time, you've also pivoted towards multifamily and commercial projects, including several in Newark, New Jersey. Could you talk about some of those projects?
Courtesy of AKT Designs
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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