Dan Kinkead

Dan discovered his passion for architecture and cities applying for college as an undergraduate. After an exhausting day-long entrance exam, which included full-scale figure sketching, writing, and model making, it all clicked. It was a very rare moment of sublime clarity. That clarity, coupled with a desire to improve cities through his work, has fueled Dan’s drive to create urban places, complex mixed-use projects, and adaptive reuse efforts that realize new futures for buildings, districts, and cities. In each case, Dan is driven toward concepts, strategies, and programs that directly impact and benefit people’s lives. As co-leader of SmithGroup’s Urban Design Practice, Dan welcomes big – seemingly intractable – challenges that require broader socio-cultural, economic, and ecological thinking. His 24-year career has encompassed transformative projects for districts and cities across North America, Europe, and China. He like complexity, and working with an interdisciplinary team to develop inclusive, thoughtful, and clear responses. It’s difficult to maintain the breadth of his work at times, but it’s critical as they move to foster a shared, resilient, sustainable, and equitable future.