Keihly Moore

Architect at Studio G Architects, Inc. Boston, MA

Education:
Dual Master of Architecture and Master of Urban Design, UNC Charlotte (2013)

Keihly grew up in Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior. Horses and hiking kept her busy. She went to Iowa State University for her undergrad degree in Architecture and Environmental Studies. Freshly graduating in the 2009 recession, she found work at the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS), in Illinois, where she absorbed as much building science knowledge as possible. Here she also began long-distance biking, but realized that endless fields weren’t as comforting as other landscapes, so she headed to UNC-Charlotte. She was also excited about learning more about urban design as well as honing her design-self. Charlotte taught her many lessons about the power and impact of good (and bad) design. She won an AIA Traveling Fellowship in 2012 that allowed her to study stormwater management urban design measures across northern Europe for her thesis.  After working for an urban design firm for a couple years, Keihly took a chance and moved up to Boston in 2015. She landed in a large firm, which was a great way to meet people, but then settled at Studio G Architects, which is in her neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. She mostly works on high-performance affordable housing and k-12 schools. She loves to ride the commuter rail trains with her bike and go on long rides on the weekends.   

“UNC Charlotte allowed me to develop my design sense, my design self,” she reflects. “It was here I learned to look at cities differently, to pay attention to details and patterns of scale, texture, and depth. I learned about how space can make you feel differently, depending on how its designed. I learned to see how buildings and design can have an impact on place, both good and bad. UNC Charlotte gave me the ability to travel, explore, and process my own interests and design sensibilities. I feel its important to do that before you dive into work, where you are working for others’ interests and budgets. I carried the skills I learned here into all of my next jobs and projects, being able to see the bigger picture and more details, alike.” Check out a memory from her time at SoA below! 

I helped organized UNC Charlotte’s first Parking Day in 2012. We created a parklet out of a parking space next to what used to be a popular food truck spot in South End. We went on to organize Parking Day events in NoDa in 2013 and on Tryon in 2014. SoA taught me to see cities, and places, in new ways. How you shape space affects how people respond. An 8’x20′ space that held cars suddenly felt cozy and a place you wanted to be just by changing the ground/floor, adding a plant wall, and overhead features to make it feel inviting. (2012) 

Work Samples

E+ Highland Street
Date Completed: 12/21/2024 | Credit: Studio G Architects (with work by Keihly Moore)

Keihly has worked at Studio G Architects (SGA) since 2015. The City of Boston issued an RFP looking for projects that could produce more energy than they consume. SGA, with Rees-Larkin Development responded with a design and won the competition to build on a city owned parcel on Highland Street. The project is located in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. This building has 23 100% affordable units of housing (1,2,3 bedroom units) and a community gallery art workspace/gallery. The building will be energy positive and will be Passive House certified and International Living Future Institute’s (ILFI) Zero Energy Certified (one of New England’s first IFLI certified projects). The building will be set up as a cooperative ownership structure, ensuring affordability into the future. With high quality materials, continuous fresh air, great insulation and triple glazed windows, the building will be a resilient asset, and if the power goes out, residents will be able to stay warm in the winter or cool in the summer. The building has been designed to have low energy loads, using efficient mechanical systems, new domestic hot water technology, and a 126 kW Photovoltaic (PV) array will occupy the roof. Keihly has worked on design detailing, unit configuration, keeping Red List chemicals out of the materials specified and making sure the details will hold up to the rigorous Passive House quality standards. The building is slated to begin construction Fall 2022.

Atlantis Charter School
Date Completed: 3/1/2018 | Credit: Studio G Architects

Atlantis Charter School is an all-new campus for a K-12 program on a 65-acre former industrial site overlooking a scenic reservoir in Fall River, MA.  The 94,000 SF school is divided into three wings, a Lower School for Grades K-6, an Upper School for Grades 7-12, and a Gymnasium wing shared by all students, with a total population of 1,400 students. The two schools share a central, landscaped courtyard, as well as regulation-sized athletic fields and track.  Flexibly designed cafeterias double for eating and recreation. In the Lower School, the wall between the cafeteria and music room opens to create a performance venue. The two-story volume of the Upper School cafeteria is set up for presentations with a designated projection wall. Stadium stairs alongside the cafeteria are used for informal student gatherings. Benches in halls provide a “cool down” spot and serve informal student/teacher interactions. 

The Lower School includes a playground with separate areas for older and younger children, as well as Art and Music Rooms. The Upper School features an innovative ‘Career Academy’ with dedicated resource rooms for 5 vocational tracks: Med/Tech, STEM, Business and Entrepreneurship, Teacher Training, and Art/Culture/Design. Each student samples all five tracks, and develops expertise in a chosen track their senior year. The 5 Career Academy Rooms and Cafeteria are the centerpiece of the Upper School, with storefront windows and views to the entrance and the courtyard. The architectural vocabulary of the complex derives from the rocky site and ledge outcroppings, and is clad with gray ground-face concrete blocks in patterns reminiscent of geological strata, with colorful metal accents.

Thesis: Saturating East Boulevard: the Fusion of Water and Public Space
Date Completed: 4/26/2013 | Credit: Keihly Moore

It is critical to think about water management because of the increased vulnerability of our cities. More intense weather extremes cause flooding to our homes and streets. Our infrastructure is aging. Climates are changing, causing more intense storms and weather patterns. Cities need more resilient design by developing systems and places that are able to adapt and embrace change. Infrastructure is designed for protection, acting 10 percent of the time. Fusing it with public space is a value-added function for the remaining 90 percent of the time the infrastructure sits idle. Many components of our cities – streets, parking lots, and plazas – are designed for a single use. What would our cities look like if these public spaces shared integrated functions, performing stormwater management tasks when storms hit? Let’s think beyond technical engineered efficiencies, towards more comprehensive approaches. Rethinking infrastructure and placemaking, this fusion of protection and public space can create more meaningful places, providing simultaneous social benefits.