OUR MASTERPLANNING TEAM LEADERS
John C. H. Kim
Philip Wilkinson
Erik Ho
Principal, Design Director, and Board of Directors
Principal and Design Director
Principal, Design Director
As a Design Director and Principal for master planning and hospitality, John delivers intensity and passion for the creative process. His ability to harness innovative and strategic thinking with the architectural design process transforms the built environment into an experiential masterpiece, a key for any destination development. He brings his design expertise to each of his projects, first crafting a visual story and then transforming clients’ opinions into tangible destinations.
Designing prominent mixed-use destinations around the world, Philip is one of the leading architects in retail-centered and large-scale master planning. He leads teams that design complex retail destinations that attract residents and visitors alike to engage, shop, and explore. Throughout Philip’s career, he has worked closely with developers to create highly desirable and profit-generating developments that deliver experiences like none other.
As Principal and Designer Di spearheads not only market development but also the hi for mixed-use and masterpla rewarding, highly engaging challenges from both a logist standpoint are where his skil He has proven himself essen award-winning, high-profile and internationally recognize sustainable design, exception leadership skills, which comp principles of AE7.
Throughout his career, John worked as a creative and design director for major architecture, exhibit design, and communication firms, providing architecture, design, advertising, marketing, and creative management experience solutions. John has a Bachelor of Architecture from the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University and has lived and worked in the US, Hong Kong, Australia, and Dubai. John believes that architecture is the perfect amalgamation of poetry and engineering. While a space must be functional, it also must be meaningful, visually stimulating, and provide for a better environment for the community. It must be programmatically sound and allow users to inhabit the space. John acts as the gatekeeper of the project vision and ensures that the final construction is a unified reflection of these characteristics. In his designs, John draws from client aspirations, the site context, nature, and even memories. His intuitive approach grants him the ability to recreate experiences for users of the space, utilizing colors and structures with carefully selected silhouettes that together evoke emotional responses. Seeing his projects come to life, impact communities, and architecturally create a story has garnered him international accolades and recognition.
Philip helps to evaluate the feasibility of the development by collaborating with developers from the conceptualization of the project. He proactively assesses the existing characteristics of the site and estimates its compatibility with the program, allowing investors to generate proforma and make decisions more efficiently. This further aids in financing and marketing efforts for the development. Philip has a strong understanding of consumer psychology and market trends. As the retail industry evolves and can no longer function as a standalone domain, Philip crafts solutions that are different and engaging – attracting shoppers to the development and enticing them to stay. He understands the advantages that ‘brick and mortar’ offers in contrast to the online shopping experience and capitalizes on those strengths to create well-performing retail destinations in the age when many proclaim that the malls are dying. Retail-centered mixed-use developments created by Philip and his team become destinations for the community as well as tourists.
With many of his projects lo Middle East, Erik has learned of transforming an otherwise a must-see destination, com overarching theme that draw landscape. He leverages thes baseline to initiate his intuiti considering the economics a the site. This balance betwee and budget/timeline restricti cultivated throughout his br
Erik’s inherent ability to listen and turn their vision into a re development is one he dem leads his design teams by ex team the responsibility and r designing spaces and places make memories and build co project grow from sketches space has motivated Erik thr turns innovative visions into equally excited and impresse
