[2] She received graduate degrees in architecture from first the Ecole National Supérieure des Beaux Arts in 1981 and later from Harvard University in 1985.
She received the award for “distinguished design practitioner or academic who has made a significant contribution to advance gender equity in the field of architecture, and whose work that emphasizes a commitment to sustainability and community,” according to a press release.
[9] KVA turned the house inside-out, in a way, making the couple's 48 foot pool and exercise area part of the living room.
She wonders how the surface of the wall, which she compares to skin, can itself become the "source for the transmission of light, heat, color, or information.
"[6] She has also taken a feminist critique to the "buts" of the house in a lecture she gave at the Bunting Institute in 1999 called "Electricity, the Fairy and the Hollow Wall: Rethinking the Spaces of Infrastructure in Architecture.
[4] The Soft House ironically uses solid wood for the structure, which creates a "hyper-insulated envelope" and then it has a fabric-like membrane of photovoltaic cells which are able to shade the building, harvest energy and provide privacy like a curtain.
[9] In 2001, Kennedy worked with DuPont, using solid-state technologies which integrated into translucent and transparent materials which could later be used as lighting.
[17] Kennedy has also written about the importance of designing new schools so that they can provide "21st century technological and physical infrastructure.
Kennedy is currently exploring "flat-to-form" technology and ideas and other creative ways to "deliver sunlight deep into a building.
[21] Also in 2014, she received the $100,000 Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize, which also includes a residence at the University of California, Berkeley College of Environmental Design (CED).