MKDA adds Klein as a managing director

Robert Klein, AIA, has joined space planning and interior design firm MKDA as managing director, strategic services. He will be responsible for strategic facilities planning and workplace strategies, a critical pre-design discipline. He holds a bachelor of science and masters in Architecture from University of Michigan and postgraduate diploma in Health Facility Planning from North London University in England. In addition, he studied at the Instituto di Architettura di Venezia in Venice, Italy and the University of Manchester in England. Klein is a licensed architect in both the U.S. and the U.K. with 30 years of experience in strategic facilities planning and programming services across corporate and institutional clientele. Most recently, Klein was principal at Swanke Hayden Connell Architects (SHCA) where he was a member of the core management team overseeing the architecture firm's New York operations and was responsible for leadership and management of its U.S.-based strategic facilities planning and workplace consulting discipline. Klein counts Burberry-US, Eli Tahari, Skanska-US, City University of New York (CUNY), Brown Brothers Harriman, and JPMorgan Chase Technology Center at Syracuse University, among his roster of clients while at the firm. Additionally, Klein has held leadership roles at a number of prestigious design firms, including HLW Strategies, Hillier and the legendary Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). In addition to spending five years working in the U.K., where he provided healthcare consulting and strategic facilities planning services for a variety of government and private clients, he has worked on projects for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), GlaxoSmithKline, General Motors Corporation, Aventis Pharmaceutical, The New York Times, Pfizer, Barnard College and the United Nations, among many others. An accomplished lecturer, Klein has led an executive education seminar at Harvard Graduate School of Design and presentations at International Facility Management Association's World Workplace Conferences, among others. "Companies are increasingly looking for tools that will position their organization for the future. Now, we can offer these businesses expertise that will assist them with strategic and timely real estate solutions that address long-term business objectives as well as immediate space needs, all with a focus on containing costs," said MKDA president Michael Kleinberg. "This ability to analyze and provide solutions that are in line with a company's overall business model before we even begin the design phase is the future of corporate space planning and design." "I'm thrilled to be joining the ranks of exceptional design professionals at MKDA and to be adding this new discipline to the firm's already well regarded practice," said Klein. "I look forward to helping the firm's clientele fulfill their business objectives through strategic pre-design analysis and planning that takes organizational development patterns into account in order to produce the best possible positioning for any company's future." MKDA is a leading corporate space planning and interior design firm with offices in N.Y.C. and Stamford, Conn. Since its inception in 1959, the firm has earned a reputation as one of N.Y.'s most respected and renowned interior architectural design firms. Its success is largely due to its intimate knowledge of the real estate market and long-running experience working with landlords and brokers throughout N.Y. Clients have included Silverstein Properties, Vornado Realty Trust, Capstone, Westbrook, Durst Organization, Rockefeller Philanthropy, Eze Castle, Heineken, GE Monogram, Harvest Partners, AICPA, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Lowenstein Sandler, and Wachovia, among many others. MKDA was named a 2008 Interior Design Giant by Interior Design magazine.