The Kubala Washatko Architects

The Kubala Washatko Architects, known as TKWA, was founded in 1980 by Tom Kubala and Allen Washatko and works from studios in Cedarburg and Milwaukee, Wisconsin plus an office in Renton, Washington. The practice covers architecture, sustainable and regenerative design, historic preservation and master planning. The founders handed the studio to five partners in 2016, and in 2018 TKWA became the first design firm in Wisconsin to register as a Public Benefit Corporation. Its work includes the Milwaukee Public Market, Lakefront Brewery, the Garver Feed Mill and the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center. TKWA is architect on the $73.6 million conversion of the east tower at 310W in downtown Milwaukee into 220 apartments.

Three studios, not one. The Cedarburg office on Mequon Avenue remains the original home, but TKWA opened two more locations in 2017. The Milwaukee studio sits in Walker’s Point and concentrates on public realm work, meaning streets, markets and shared civic space rather than private buildings. The Seattle studio, based in Renton, handles single-family residential and commercial architecture across the Pacific Northwest along with large educational facilities in China. All three run on the same main phone line out of Cedarburg.

The firm organises its published work by building type: cultural, workplace, education, religious, camps, hospitality, historic, residential and public realm. Named projects across those categories include the Margaux Brasserie in Brookfield, Hotel Verdant in Racine, 3rd Street Market Hall in Milwaukee, the Sand Valley Golf Resort at Nekoosa, Fastenal’s corporate office in Winona, Minnesota, the Frederick C. Bogk House in Milwaukee, the Charmant Hotel in La Crosse and Write On, Door County in Juddville.

Staffing is small and credentialed. The published roster runs to roughly nineteen people, a mix of AIA-registered architects, an ASID and NCIDQ-certified interior designer, LEED accredited professionals, a Living Future Accredited practitioner and NOMA and NCARB members. That size is worth knowing if you are weighing TKWA against a large multi-office practice: the partners are on the projects.

The philosophy the firm calls Wholeness is not decorative language on the website. It is the stated reason for the 2018 decision to restate the Articles of Incorporation and register as a Wisconsin Public Benefit Corporation, a legal structure that obliges the company to weigh public benefit alongside shareholder return. The firm says it was the first design firm in the state to do so. TKWA has also received the AIA Firm Award, the highest honour given by the state’s professional organisation.