Karim Rashid launches Kurv Architecture, a new design and investment firm

Never one to bore, Karim Rashid has announced that he’s formed a new vertically-integrated firm that will incorporate architecture, investment, and development of new projects across New York City. Rashid has teamed up with his namesake firm’s director of interior design, Alex Loyer Hughes, to form Kurv Architecture D.P.C. Per Kurv’s website, the firm will branch beyond design and architecture to also handle zoning analysis, four-dimensional modeling, the means to raise and secure capital for projects, and turn-key deliveries, among other services.

Some existing projects and conceptual designs from Rashid’s namesake firm appear on Kurv’s website, like the hotly-debated Day-Glo balcony building at 329 Pleasant Avenue and the cut-out window building at 665 West 187th Street, both now under construction. Other projects that make an appearance include the futuristic building planned for 30 Thompson Street, the shelved ‘crazy diamond building’ at 1655 Madison Avenue, and an alternate design for 215 West 28th Street. Although there’s overlap between Rashid’s namesake firm and Kurv at the moment, Kurv will focus more on ground-up production rather than design alone.

The new firm operates around a central question: “We've all heard that a good building is more than a sum of it's individual parts, but what happens when everything from the development process itself down to the door handles you touch are individually well designed parts collectively working together for the bigger picture?” We’ll have to wait and see.

• Kurv Architecture [official]
• Karim Rashid wants you to realize how poorly designed everything you own is [Curbed]
• Plans for Karim Rashid's Futuristic Soho Building Have Been Filed [Curbed]