Tom Kubala, FAIA
Co-Founder
tkubala@tkwa.com
Their life-long goal as architects has ever been to make a building that smiles; with that seemingly innocuous aim in mind, Tom Kubala and Allen Washatko began, in 1980, an architectural practice in the basement of Tom’s rented townhouse with the help of a friend’s $150 ‘microloan’. Although their studio now numbers 30 members, the grail of making living architecture has persisted, evolved, and matured. This singular desire forces one to examine the very meaning of aliveness and how it applies to the design of a building. Christopher Alexander’s latest writings, The Nature of Order series, has been required reading for the entire studio over a 15-year period. The work of ecologists, in particular, because of their emphasis on larger systems, has also helped to shape the process by which the firm engages a client and a building site.
Regenerative design has been the natural by-product of a life-seeking architectural practice.
EDUCATION
Master of Architecture, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
Bachelor of Architecture, University of Illinois, 4th year in Versailles, France at the Ecole des Beaux Arts
REGISTRATION
Registered Architect in the States of California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin
TEACHING + LECTURES
2019 “The Integration of Modern Architecture and Engineering” Marquette School of Engineering
2019 “Meaningful Space” Milwaukee School of Art and Design
2018 “Color & Inner Light” Distance Lecture to ‘Building Beauty’, Sorrento, Italy
2018 “In a World Where Buildings are Alive” Madison College
2018 “Why Paint” Ovation Jewish Home
2017 “Tracing the Organic, Finding Sullivan’s Thread in Christopher Alexander” Wade House, Greenbush, WI
Guest lecturer, UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
30 year member of the Cedarburg Landmarks Commission
Charter member of the Ozaukee County Branch of the NAACP
Former President of the Cedarburg Artists Guild