A Builder at Heart: Award-Winning UB Alum Reflects on His Architecture Journey

As he explored his options, he discovered that the UB School of Architecture and Planning offers a master of architecture program designed specifically for students without an undergraduate degree in the field. Plus, as part of the SUNY system, it was far more affordable than many other schools.

Once enrolled, Allen found himself particularly inspired by the School’s fabrication workshop, where his experience with making connected him to the work in a tangible way, and it validated his decision to enter the program. “Architecture can be made up of drawings and ideas, but for me, it always has to be built,” he explained. “Something has to come out of it where there’s materials and joinery.”  

He also thrived in the creative, communal studio culture, where students shared ideas, critiqued each other’s work, and developed strong relationships with faculty. It was during one of his grad school pinups that he first received a piece of feedback that still shapes his design philosophy today. When a reviewer suggested that his project “needed more,” Professor Annette Lecuyer countered that he was actually showing impressive restraint, particularly for a young designer. “I liked that word,” he recalled. “I see this pattern in my work too. I’m always trying to get to the essence of what the design is.”

After reviewing his portfolio, Professor Brian Carter, dean of the school at that time, encouraged Allen to apply to the renowned firm Steven Holl Architects in New York City. To this day, Allen appreciates that Carter saw something in him that made him confident in sending him to someone like Steven Holl. 

Working at Steven Holl Architects, Allen found himself immersed in a dynamic and creative environment. Holl—both an architect and an artist—regularly brought an interesting circle of colleagues into the office, from Thom Mayne to Lebbeus Woods to fellow Columbia University professors. Watching Holl work taught Allen the importance of trusting his artistic vision as well as defending the integrity of those design decisions.

After several years in New York, Allen began to set his sights overseas, inspired by a desire to see the world, a love of European architecture, and stories that he’d heard about favorable work cultures abroad. He chose Berlin, which he describes as sharing some of Buffalo's character, along with a particular appreciation for good design that really resonated with him. Working for several different firms, some more creative and some more corporate, gave him a broad view of the profession, and experiencing these contrasts helped him better understand what he wanted his own career to become. 

In 2014, he launched his own firm, ALLEN KAUFMANN Architekten (AKA), in partnership with Saskia Kaufmann. Their practice explores the fluid boundaries between architecture, art, and the built environment and investigates the transformative potential of spaces, objects, and installations. Their experiments with furniture making have led to a patent for a unique wood joinery system used in their Dado Objects series, with a Dovetail series now in development.

For Allen, furniture making is an ideal creative outlet for an architect. It offers the joy of building at a human scale—without the immense cost and time that’s required to construct a building. He traces his fascination with joinery back to a Saarinen-inspired tulip table from his childhood. He remembers looking underneath and noticing three holes/fasteners connecting the tabletop to the base. That early curiosity about how things fit together eventually sparked the question that inspired his patent: Could you make furniture using just wood?

Today, AKA organizes its work into three categories: Projects (architecture), Objects (furniture), and Subjects (artistic ventures). This structure reflects Allen’s instinct to take on all aspects of a project. When a client once received a €25,000 estimate for a custom chiseled wall, Allen offered to create it for €5,000. When the same client considered spending several thousand euros on designer lamps, Allen instead designed and fabricated custom fixtures for much less. This approach saved the client money, but more importantly it kept the interior coherent as a whole.

“At UB, sometimes a professor would have this crazy assignment where you could argue, what does this have to do with architecture at all?” he noted. “But that training gave me the confidence to say, ‘Hey, I can do this. You don't need to hire someone else.’

Allen believes this holistic approach may have contributed to the recognition of AKA’s design for the Signa Sports United High-Rise Tower, which won ArchDaily’s 2026 Building of the Year Award in the interior architecture category. The firm not only designed the 1,000-square-meter office interior but also designed custom furniture throughout. “It complicated the project tremendously to coordinate these two things, but I think that’s what makes it so unique,” he shared.

That project had begun with a physical model that ultimately helped AKA win the job. During an early meeting with the CEO and his team, the designers arrived carrying the model in a box—though it was so tall, the lid wouldn’t fully close. As AKA presented their slides, the Signa Sports United team kept glancing at the box, clearly intrigued. As soon as the presentation ended, they insisted on seeing what was inside.

“We opened it, showed, them, and we got the commission,” Allen recounted. “The model spoke an unspoken language. It shared a vision more strongly than drawings, words, or renderings. It gave the clients the inspiration that we were the right designers for them, and that confidence carried through.”

Now that he’s leading his own practice, Allen is grateful for the range of experiences that have shaped him—especially the leadership he observed at Steven Holl. Those lessons guide him as he interacts with clients and contractors, manages finances, and mentors his team. “If a client rejected something that Steven proposed, he would have an argument to justify why he wants this special glass ceiling, or whatever it was,” he recalled. This experience showed him to trust his design decisions and how to advocate for them when necessary.

Likewise, Allen encourages architecture students to explore widely. Knowing what you don’t like, he says, is just as valuable as knowing what you do. “You have to know so many things to earn an architecture degree, it makes it possible for you to do almost anything else. Because if you can build something, that means you can pretty much do anything.”

His final advice to students: make the most of the School’s public lecture series. He describes the talks he attended as inspiring and eye-opening, and he urges students not to miss out.

AKA will be participating in Berlin Design Week from May 28-31, presenting the public launch of ALLEN KAUFMANN Objects (AKO), featuring architect-design furniture built from flat solid-wood parts that lock together through dovetail joinery and Allen’s patented DADO joinery. For more information, visit the Design Week website.