The Design Team

World-renowned design team brings Kauffman Center to life

See several videos in which the design team talks about planning that led to the Kauffman Center design. 

Moshe Safdie

Moshe Safdie, internationally acclaimed architect, is also a noted educator, frequent essayist and author, committed urban designer and innovative city planner. He is the designer and master architect for the Kauffman Center and is an enthusiastic collaborator on every detail from mechanical to landscaping. Read more about his vision for the Kauffman Center.

Safdie is a dual resident of Tel Aviv and Boston. He was educated in Canada and is considered that country's premier architect. Some of his completed projects are: Habitat '67 in Montreal, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Morgan Hall at Harvard, Skirball Museum and Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Ottawa City Hall, Cambridge Center in Massachusetts, Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, Colegio Hebreo School Complex in Mexico City, Neve Ofer Community Center in Tel Aviv, Library Square and Ford Center for Performing Arts in Vancouver and the new Wichita Science Center and Children's Museum among many, many others throughout the world.

Richard Pilbrow

Richard Pilbrow, our theatre designer and founder of the Theatre Projects Consultants, is one of the leading theatre and lighting designers in the world. Read Pilbrow's thoughts about the Kauffman Center.

Pilbrow has over 600 projects in 60 countries to his credit, including the state-of-the-art Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Lincoln Center Redevelopment Study, Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, Ozawa Concert Hall at Tanglewood and Aronoff Center in Cincinnati,  Other projects include the San Jose Repertory Theater, Geary Theater Revolution in San Francisco, Novo Teatro Opera House in San Paulo, Calgary Center, New Amsterdam Theater Renovation, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and the Steppenwolf Theater, Goodman Theater and Shakespeare Theater in Chicago. 

Yasuhisa Toyota

Yasuhisa Toyota, company director and U.S. Representative of Nagata Acoustics of Tokyo, is the chief acoustician for our project. He's considered the leading proponent of the “world acoustics revolution,” and his sound design for the Walt Disney Concert Hall is receiving the highest praise.  Read Yasu's discussion about work he's done to assure excellent acoustics at the Kauffman Center.

A native of Japan and graduate of the Kyushu Institute of Design, Toyota has been chief acoustician on more than 50 projects worldwide. Some of his best known are Suntory Hall, Kyoto Concert Hall, Fukushima Concert Hall, Nagaoka Lyric Hall and Sapporo Concert Hall, all in Japan, and the Bard College Performing Arts Center in New York.

Toyota's prominent works in progress include the Shen-zhen Cultural Center Concert Hall for the People's Republic of China, Finland's Helsinki Music Center, the Danish Radio Concert Hall in Copenhagen and the long-anticipated renovation of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.