History and Intentions of the Firm
     HKP Architects was founded as the Henry Klein Partnership in 1952 as the first full service architectural firm in Skagit County. Founder Henry Klein, a native of Europe, was educated in Switzerland and Cornell University in New York. He came to Mount Vernon after several years in the Portland, Oregon office of Pietro Belluschi (a formative architect of Northwest architecture).

     In 1978 Henry Klein and Associates became The Henry Klein Partnership with Henry Klein, David Hall, and Lowell Larsen as partners. In 1998, HKP named Julie Blazek and Brian Poppe as associates. Henry Klein formally retired in 2004 after 52 years of local practice. In 2006, the firm officially changed its name to HKP architects. Julie Blazek was named Partner and Brian Poppe promoted to Senior Associate.

     The firm has a varied practice with the major portion being Public Structures including University academic buildings, public schools, government buildings, senior centers, churches, museums, libraries, museums and private residences.

     The design work of the firm over the years has been marked by the use of building materials appropriate to their purpose, their attention to programmatic use, circulation and light in the building. Remarks of the jury that presented the 1981 Louis Sullivan Award to The Henry Klein Partnership noted the firm's work as full of "visual delight . . . that is not an applied frosting; it grows integrally from plan, from section, each thoughtfully and imaginatively servant to the program . . . serving the community well, doing without theatrics what buildings ought to do." The emphasis is in providing long-term value for the client. Even a small commission is treated as important and elevated in its own community.

    

     Sustainable design principles have always been at the heart of most of our design decisions, particularly when it comes to natural ventilation, passive solar strategies, light, views and material expression in the Pacific Northwest. HKP architects actively incorporates sustainable design principles in all of our work and we attempt to help clients understand the long-term benefits both to our environment and to their operation and maintenance costs.

     Many of the firm's public buildings also contribute to the larger community by means of siting them in relationship to the surrounding context. In the imagination of HKP, a building can become more than the sum of its program, budget, and square footage, thus providing inherent value not only to the client but to the community.

     Being rooted in a small, mostly rural community has called HKP Architects to account for every building it designs. Awareness over time of its impacts and successes makes HKP sensitive and very capable. Even when the firm has taken on large commissions further away, such as the Todd Hall Addition and Renovation at Washington State University, the Kent Library, or Stadium High School Renovations and Additions in Tacoma, HKP architects has emphasized care for each commission. The firm has developed long-standing relationships with its clients, whether public or private. With this attention to local responsibility and concern for personal connections HKP architects has gained regional and national recognition for its design work.