KCAP Architects&Planners is celebrating its 20th anniversary today. Since its founding in 1989 by Kees Christiaanse, KCAP has grown to become an leading international office for architecture and urban design, with projects around the world.

“Scale is an important theme in our work. We’re not specialists, but we work on all scales – from the planning of the infrastructure to the details of the façade. And this multiplicity of scales is of benefit to the development and analysis of functional programmes and conceptional ideas,” says Christiaanse.

Key projects of KCAP’s portfolio are the residential building Kavel 25 in The Hague, which marks the starting point of KCAP’s career, the GWL site in Amsterdam as the first sustainable housing quarter in The Netherlands and, most recently, the residential tower, The Red Apple, in Rotterdam. Major urban projects are Stadionpark Rotterdam (NL), Olympic Legacy London (UK), Perm Strategic Masterplan (RU) and Hafencity Hamburg (DE), which is currently under construction.

Education and research has been a continual foundation of KCAP which has produced successful cross-fertilisations, generated various publications and has gained Kees Christiaanse the position of curator of the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) in 2009.

“We see our task as urban designers and architects as to observe and listen well and to use design as an instrument to create functional, aesthetic and inspiring environments for daily life”, says Kees Christiaanse. “In the past 20 years we have developed specific experiences and skills in creating urban breeding grounds that stimulate social interaction. With the challenges of the Urban Age increasing rather than decreasing we will keep developing this knowledge to provide answers for the future of cities."