Office Profile

Fish Design and Architecture is a Boston based architectural design practice established in 2011 by Myoungkeun Kim, and Hyeonjoo Park.

The rapid growth our portfolio from residential renovation projects to institutional projects reflects our willingness and commitment to explore new territories and our agility to manage projects with new challenges. We constantly reposition ourselves in the context of current building industry to achieve ever-changing project goals using the minimum resources available.

Our project experience uniquely ranges from the nation’s top general contractors such as Turner Construction, Moriarty to self-educated, carpenters turned local contractors and those projects take place simultaneously.

Our ultimate goal lies in “tweaking” our everyday practice, particularly in single- and two-family residential buildings. We strongly believe that even small changes in this typology can lead to quicker and more impactful results, given its share of the current building inventory. For this reason, these seemingly mundane residential structures often serve as the starting point of our projects. We learn from the cookie-cutter projects and they adapt them to meet new goals and needs. This is what we call Wild Architecture - like wild plants that grow and sustain themselves organically.

As a full architecture and interior design practice, we have been fortunate to build commercial and residential portfolios with design enthusiast home owners, established local businesses, ambitious developers, and local housing authorities.

Fish Design and Architecture is a Massachusetts certified Minority Owned Enterprise since 2013.

What we want to do

“Wild architecture” is a term we use to describe a kind of modern vernacular architecture — buildings shaped by common materials, familiar construction methods, and practical constraints. These buildings are often dismissed as “spec” construction or conventional building, terms that sometimes carry negative connotations. Yet these approaches were often thoughtful and effective responses to the economic, environmental, and social challenges of their time.

More importantly, they remain the most widely accepted and widely used ways of building. Because of that, their impact on the built environment is arguably greater than that of exceptional or highly customized projects. Lofty sustainability goals and architectural statements become more meaningful when they can work within common construction methods and accessible materials.

While only a limited number of projects may achieve certifications such as Passive House Institute US or U.S. Green Building Council LEED, small and practical ideas that are affordable, repeatable, and easy to adopt at a larger scale may ultimately have a greater impact on decarbonization and the health of our built environment.

In many ways, the average carpenter-built home is also wild architecture. Like wild plants, wild architecture is often resilient because it evolves through adaptation, repetition, and long-term use. Studying ordinary buildings, construction techniques, and materials is therefore not separate from our design process — it is the beginning of it.

The name FISH serves as a reminder of the core values that guide our work: Fun, Iterative, Simple, and Healthy.

“Iterative” is especially important to us. We believe good design rarely appears fully resolved at the beginning of a project. Design develops through testing ideas, listening, refining, comparing options, and remaining open to change. Establishing clear design parameters and generating multiple responses within those parameters is central to our process. Some ideas succeed immediately, while others reveal unexpected possibilities or clarify what should happen next. In that sense, iteration is not repetition for its own sake, but a way of learning through design.

We are passionate about studying buildings, materials, and construction methods to uncover possibilities that may not have been immediately visible at first glance.

Recognitions + Publications

2025 Journal of Architectural Education, “Reframing Infrastructure as Civic Space: Lessons from Five Architectural Design Studios”

2025 Boston Society of Architects Small Firms Awards Commendation - Arbor Ln House Addition

2025 Boston Society of Architects Small Firms Awards Merit Interior Architecture - Shinmio Tea

2013 Boston Society of Architects Biennial Exhibition Finalist

2011 MD AIA Design Award with Machado & Silvetti Associates

2011 NEAIA Design Award with Machado & Silvetti Associates

2011 Shift Boston Barge Design Competition Finalist

2011 Architizer Competition 2011 Honorable Mention

2008 BSA Future of Design Competition First Prize

Team

Hyeonjoo Park

Hyeonjoo Park is a partner at the firm with over 25 years of experience in both domestic and international projects. She is a registered architect in Massachusetts, Arizona, and Rhode Island. Her expertise spans a wide range of project types, from retail development to complex institutional projects in the healthcare and higher education sectors.

With a meticulous approach to design and problem-solving, Hyeonjoo enhances our process and ensures the success of each project she leads. As a managing principal, she oversees quality control and contract management for all projects and spearheads research efforts on specific design challenges as they arise.

She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering in Architecture from Korea University and a Master of Architecture from Georgia Tech. Her thesis, Movement in Time, was recognized with the prestigious SGF Prize.

Myoung (Keun) Kim

Myoung (Keun) Kim is a partner, registered architect, Passive House consultant, educator, and licensed builder with over 25 years of experience. In 2024, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Cummings School of Architecture at Roger Williams University, where he has been teaching design studios for over a decade.

Prior to founding Fish Design and Architecture in 2011, he worked with renowned architectural firms, including Goody Clancy, Gensler, Kyu Sung Woo Architects, and Machado Silvetti Architects, in various capacities. While at Kyu Sung Woo Architects, he served as one of the project architects for the Asian Cultural Complex, the winning entry of a UIA international competition. At Machado Silvetti Architects, he was Vice President and Project Manager for the award-winning Civic Building at Veterans Plaza in Silver Spring, MD.

In academia, Myoung explores the hidden places within our cities and towns—spaces that often go unnoticed or are simply passed by. Through his Hidden Place studio, he has led research on urban infrastructure, including water distribution systems, waste treatment facilities, tank terminals, and transitional housing. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering in Architecture from Korea University and a Master of Architecture from MIT.

Aidan Donaghey

Aidan Donaghey is a project manager and an architectural designer driven by a passion for helping communities and those seeking to improve the built environment. With an insatiable curiosity for the art and science of making, he is a dedicated researcher and collector of technical, regulatory, and building-related knowledge.

Aidan recently earned his Master of Architecture from Boston Architectural College and holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the Cummings School of Architecture at Roger Williams University. While at Roger Williams University, he received two Student Academic Showcase and Honors (SASH) awards, a prestigious distinction granted to students with outstanding achievements.

Our Process