flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Leo A Daly hires hospitality-design veteran to lead its Dallas office

Architects

Leo A Daly hires hospitality-design veteran to lead its Dallas office

Ken Martin views this sector as an incubator of innovation.


By John Caulfield, Senior Editor | September 13, 2017

The Marriott Downtown in Omaha, Neb.'s Capitol District is one of Leo A Daly's recent hospitality projects. Its new managing principal Ken Martin foresees hospitality seeping into the firm's other practices. Image: Courtesy Leo A Daly

Ken Martin, AIA, NCARB, has joined Leo A Daly to lead its Dallas office as Vice President and Managing Partner.

Most of Martin’s 25-plus-year career in design, planning, and management has focused on hospitality, which happens to be the Dallas office’s largest market. He joins Leo A Daly from DLR Group, where he was that firm’s hospitality and convention center expert. He reports to COO John Kraskiewicz.  

Martin assumes his new post at a time when Leo A Daly has several large-scale hospitality-design projects in the works or just completed. These include the five-star 285-room Hotel Talisa in Vail, Colo.; the 582-room Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes in Florida; and the 12-story 333-room Marriott Downtown Omaha in Nebraska, which opened last month as the first phase of that city’s entertainment Capitol District.

“Hospitality, I would argue, leads a lot of innovation,” says Martin in a video that Leo A Daly released to announce his hiring. “You cannot be reactive in this business.”

He praises his new employer as “one of the preeminent design firms in the hospitality industry,” and talks about the importance of sustainability and meeting guest expectations in hospitality design.

In a recent article he wrote for Hotel Business Review, Martin shared his thoughts about adaptive reuse as “a key piece of many [hotel] brands’ strategy,” and how authenticity in the redesign of existing buildings is “something of the Holy Grail.” On such projects, Martin said he asks the following questions to guide his teams’ designs: “What has that neighborhood been? Where is it going? Culturally, what are the drivers, and who are our local patrons going to be? What do they value? Who are the guests, why are they traveling to this city (or this neighborhood), and what are they looking for? That is to say: How do you integrate?”

 

Ken Martin was considering his professional legacy when, at 50, he switched firms. Image: Leo A Daly

Martin began his career as a museum exhibit designer for University of New Mexico, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture. He spent nearly 27 years with DLR Group, rising to the level of Principal and National Hospitality Leader. One of the projects he was working on for DLR before he left was the renovation of the 16-story, 250-room Laylow Hotel by Marriott Autograph in Waikiki, Hawaii.

The 50-year-old Martin tells BD+C that several factors drove his decision to switch firms. For one thing, he and his wife are recent empty nesters, which gave them flexibility to relocate.

Martin was also giving more thought to his professional legacy. “I know there are is a finite number of projects I’ll get to do. So you start to ask yourself—blue sky—how can I make the biggest impact?”

He became aware that Leo A Daly was looking for a managing principal as Patricia Miller, its corporate director of hospitality, was moving into a global practice leader role for the firm. During the interview process, Martin was impressed with the projects that Leo A Daly was working on “that hint at a new level of design for the firm. This is a place where I can do signature work.”

He says that he brings a different approach to architectural programming and design, having been on the front end of DLR’s large conference center/hotel projects.

Leo A Daly is strong in the civic market. And there are other specialties across its 30 offices “that are begging to be infused with hospitality design and energy,” says Martin. The convention center/hotel sector is one of these; global healthcare and aviation are two others.

“Enlisting the strength of our hospitality teams in those projects and pursuits is a great avenue to doing great work,” says Martin.  

Related Stories

High-rise Construction | Dec 7, 2022

SOM reveals its design for Singapore’s tallest skyscraper

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has revealed its design for 8 Shenton Way—a mixed-use tower that will stand 63 stories and 305 meters (1,000 feet) high, becoming Singapore’s tallest skyscraper. The design team also plans to make the building one of Asia’s most sustainable skyscrapers. The tower incorporates post-pandemic design features.

Office Buildings | Dec 7, 2022

Software giant SAP opens engineering academy for its global engineering workforce

Software giant SAP has opened its new SAP Academy for Engineering on the company’s San Ramon, Calif. campus. Designed by HGA, the Engineering Academy will provide professional development opportunities for SAP’s global engineering workforce. At the Engineering Academy, cohorts from SAP offices across the globe will come together for intensive, six-month training programs.

Multifamily Housing | Dec 7, 2022

Canada’s largest net-zero carbon residential community to include affordable units

The newly unveiled design for Canada’s largest net-zero carbon residential community includes two towers that will create a new destination within Ottawa and form a striking gateway into LeBreton Flats. The development will be transit-oriented, mixed-income, mixed-use, and include unprecedented sustainability targets. Dream LeBreton is a partnership between real estate companies Dream Asset Management, Dream Impact, and local non-profit MultiFaith Housing Initiative.

Student Housing | Dec 7, 2022

Cornell University builds massive student housing complex to accommodate planned enrollment growth

In Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University has completed its North Campus Residential Expansion (NCRE) project. Designed by ikon.5 architects, the 776,000-sf project provides 1,200 beds for first-year students and 800 beds for sophomore students. The NCRE project aimed to accommodate the university’s planned growth in student enrollment while meeting its green infrastructure standards. Cornell University plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035.

Office Buildings | Dec 6, 2022

‘Chicago’s healthiest office tower’ achieves LEED Gold, WELL Platinum, and WiredScore Platinum

Goettsch Partners (GP) recently completed 320 South Canal, billed as “Chicago’s healthiest office tower,” according to the architecture firm. Located across the street from Chicago Union Station and close to major expressways, the 51-story tower totals 1,740,000 sf. It includes a conference center, fitness center, restaurant, to-go market, branch bank, and a cocktail lounge in an adjacent structure, as well as parking for 324 cars/electric vehicles and 114 bicycles.

Multifamily Housing | Dec 6, 2022

Austin's new 80-story multifamily tower will be the tallest building in Texas

Recently announced plans for Wilson Tower, a high-rise multifamily building in downtown Austin, Texas, indicate that it will be the state’s tallest building when completed. The 80-floor structure will rise 1,035 feet in height at 410 East 5th Street, close to the 6th Street Entertainment District, Austin Convention Center, and a new downtown light rail station.

Geothermal Technology | Dec 6, 2022

Google spinoff uses pay-as-you-go business model to spur growth in geothermal systems

Dandelion Energy is turning to a pay-as-you-go plan similar to rooftop solar panel leasing to help property owners afford geothermal heat pump systems.

Contractors | Dec 6, 2022

Slow payments cost the construction industry $208 billion in 2022

The cost of floating payments for wages and invoices represents $208 billion in excess cost to the construction industry, a 53% increase from 2021, according to a survey by Rabbet, a provider of construction finance software.

Mixed-Use | Dec 6, 2022

Houston developer plans to convert Kevin Roche-designed ConocoPhillips HQ to mixed-use destination

Houston-based Midway, a real estate investment, development, and management firm, plans to redevelop the former ConocoPhillips corporate headquarters site into a mixed-use destination called Watermark District at Woodcreek.

Office Buildings | Dec 5, 2022

How to foster collaboration and inspiration for a workplace culture that does not exist (yet)

A building might not be able to “hack” innovation, but it can create the right conditions to foster connection and innovation, write GBBN's Chad Burke and Zachary Zettler.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category



Urban Planning

The magic of L.A.’s Melrose Mile

Great streets are generally not initially curated or willed into being. Rather, they emerge organically from unintentional synergies of commercial, business, cultural and economic drivers. L.A.’s Melrose Avenue is a prime example. 


Curtain Wall

7 steps to investigating curtain wall leaks

It is common for significant curtain wall leakage to involve multiple variables. Therefore, a comprehensive multi-faceted investigation is required to determine the origin of leakage, according to building enclosure consultants Richard Aeck and John A. Rudisill with Rimkus. 

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021