Kwong Von Glinow is an award-winning architecture practice based in Chicago founded on the belief that architecture is meant to be enjoyed. The practice builds the thoroughly enjoyable from the slightly familiar. Their work translates forward-looking architectural concepts into playful designs with broad appeal. Taking an optimistic and explorative approach, KVG focuses on creating innovative living environments, places for cultural engagement, urban public space, and contemporary workspaces. The office was founded in 2017 by Lap Chi Kwong and Alison Von Glinow and has delivered projects ranging from single-family homes to multi-family residential buildings, public and cultural spaces, exhibitions, and designed objects.
Selected Teaching Appointments
2017–21 - Adjunct Faculty, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
2017 - Adjunct Faculty, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Spring 2022 - Visiting Faculty, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ
Spring 2023, Fall 2025 - Visiting Faculty, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA
Spring/Fall 2024 - Visiting Faculty, Rice University School of Architecture, Houston, TX
Spring 2026 - Visiting Faculty, University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, Philadelphia, PA
Select Practice Awards
2026 - Newcity Design 50: Architecture and the Built Environment
2025 - Top 50 Architects and Designers, AN Interior magazine (also 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
2024 - Wallpaper magazine, USA 400: Creative America
2022 - Rice University Spotlight Award from the Rice Design Alliance
2022 - Newcity Design 50: Architecture and the Built Environment
2020 - “Next Progressive” by Architect Magazine
2019 - Illinois Institute of Technology Artists in Residence
2018 - Graham Foundation Grantee, for project Smuggling Architecture
2017 - The Architectural League Prize of New York for Young Architects and Designers
2017 - Wallpaper magazine, Top 20 Emerging Practices
Select Project Awards and Recognition
2025 - AIA Houston, Design Excellence in Renovation/Restoration, Rice Architecture MD Anderson Hall renovation
2025 - Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design: Building Renovation—Education, Rice Architecture MD Anderson Hall renovation
2025 - AIA Chicago, Design Excellence in Architecture XS, Citation of Merit, Rice Architecture MD Anderson Hall renovation
2025 - AIA Chicago, Design Excellence in Interior Architecture S, Citation of Merit, School of the Art Institute of Chicago State Street Lobby
2024 - AIA Chicago Design Excellence, Honor Award, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Flaxman Library
2021 - AIA Illinois Award, Excellence in Interiors under 5,000 sq ft, Ardmore House
2021 - AIA Chicago, Small Project Honor Award, Ardmore House
2021 - AIA Chicago, Distinguished Building Award, Citation of Merit, Ardmore House
2021 - Architectural Record, House of the Month, Ardmore House
2021 - World Architect, Building of the Week, Ardmore House
2019 - 1st Prize, Inaugural Designing a Better Chicago, Give Me a Minute, Please! pavilion
2019 - Hong Kong Driven X Design Award, Towers within a Tower
2018 - Graham Foundation Grant to Individuals, Smuggling Architecture
2017 - AIA New York, People’s Choice Award, Table Top Apartments
2017 - 1st Prize, Hong Kong Housing Competition, Towers within a Tower
2017 - 1st Prize, New York Housing Competition, Table Top Apartments
2017 - 1st Prize, Chicago Prize, Chicago Architectural Club, Grand Lattices
Selected Exhibitions
September 2025 - Forget-Me-Not Pavilion, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago Cultural Center
March 2025 - Models Off-Site, MAS Context, Chicago, IL
September 2023 - There is Room, MAS Context Reading Room, Chicago, IL
November 2019 – September 2020 Smuggling Architecture, in Under the Radar exhibition, Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel, Switzerland
July 2018 - Objective Installation for Architecture League Prize of New York, featuring Table Top Apartments, Parsons New School of Design, New York, NY
Sept 2017 - Souvenirs: New New York Icons, featuring Pop-Up City, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, NY
March 2017 - On the Edge, Chicago Prize Exhibition, featuring Grand Lattices, Chicago Architectural Foundation, Chicago, IL
Selected Lectures
May 2026 - There is Room, Universidad Torcuato di Tella, School of Architecture and Urban Studies, Buenos Aires, Argentina
March 2026 - There is Room, University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, Philadelphia, PA
February 2026 - There is Room, University of Oregon, School of Architecture and Environment, Portland, OR
October 2025 - Forget-Me-Not Pavilion, Harvard Design Magazine No 53: Reuse and Repair, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA
October 2025 - Forget-Me-Not Pavilion, Chicago Architecture Biennial Pecha Kucha, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA
February 2025 - There is Room, SpaceCity, Seattle, WA
March 2024 - There is Room, University of Michigan, Taubman College, Ann Arbor, MI
Oct 2024 - There is Room, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO
Sept 2024 - There is Room, MAS Context Reading Room, Chicago, IL
Nov 2023 - There is Room, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL
Sept 2023 - There is Room, Virginia Tech School of Architecture, Blacksburg, VA
Jan 2023 - There is Room, Rice University School of Architecture, Houston, TX
Nov 2022 - Some of This, Some of That, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Feb 2022 - Some of This, Some of That, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Nov 2021 - Some of This, Some of That, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL
May 2021 - Enjoy Architecture, Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD), Geneva, Switzerland
May 2021 - Enjoy Architecture, Hong Kong AIA, China
Jan 2021 - Ardmore House, MAS Context, Chicago, IL
Oct 2020 - Admore House, LIGA
Oct 2020 - Ardmore House, Practice.Architecture.Talks
March 2019 - Enjoy Architecture, Nanjing Southeast University, Nanjing, China
July 2018 - Enjoy Architecture, Housing Futures, Sydney, Australia
July 2018 - Enjoy Architecture, Architectural League of New York, Parsons New School of Design, New York, NY
April 2018 - Enjoy Architecture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Aug 2017 - Enjoy Architecture, Chicago Architectural Club, AIA Chicago, Chicago, IL
Aug 2017 - New Iconicities, Storefront for Art and Architecture Spacebusters, Central Park, New York, NY
May 2017 - Enjoy Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design Alumni Chicago, Chicago, IL
Selected Writings by Kwong Von Glinow
2026 - There is Room: Kwong Von Glinow, Park Books
2026 - “The SHIFT Marathon,” in Florencia Rodriguez and Igo Kommers Wender et al. (Eds.), SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, Park Books, pp. 51-53.
2025 - “Finding Space In 1/2”=1’0” Models,” Sphere 2, Rice Architecture
2024 -“There is Room: Working with Embedded Tectonics in Standard Residential Construction in Chicago with a Case Study on Ardmore House,” in Gail Peter Borden and Michael Meredith (Eds.), Assembly: Material, Representation and Aggregated Systems in Architectural Production, Routledge
2021 - “Coming Back to Chicago,” in On the Trails of Friendship: Design of the Swiss
Consulate Chicago, Swiss Federation of Buildings, pp. 39-41.
2020 - “Sharing Architecture Perseveres,” A+U—Architecture, Hope, & Covid-19
