Business
Spotlight
Discover the People Behind the Wellness Movement
At HealthyHOME Media, we believe everyone deserves to live in a home — and a body — that supports their well-being. That’s why we’re building a network of forward-thinking real estate agents and wellness professionals who care about more than just transactions. They care about people.
This Business Spotlight Series is our way of shining a light on the practitioners, product creators, and healthy home experts who are making a real difference — so agents can connect with trusted partners, and more families can live in spaces that support their health and happiness.
We’re proud to share their stories with you. Because the more we know, the more we can grow — together.
Featuring:
Lastowiecki
Kacper Lastowiecki Practice of Architecture (KLPOA)
Architect, 0401021311
Serving Residents in
Washington DC
Virginia, Washington DC
WELL AP
(771) 777-4997
Healthy Home Professional
Indoor Air Quality Specialist, Non-Toxic Design, Holistic Health, Movement, Mold Specialist
An Interview with
Kacper
Q1 - Hey! Thanks for taking the time to be here. Can you start by sharing a little bit about yourself and your business?
Sure, and thanks for having me!
I'm Kacper Lastowiecki, and I'm the architect behind KLPOA which is a boutique, wellness-centered, residential architecture firm based in the Washington, DC area. I work with homeowners across DC and Northern Virginia on whole-house renovations and new builds, but with a wellness focus: everything we design is centered on health and wellness.
This means we're not just designing beautiful homes that work with your lifestyle, but we're thinking hard about the air you breathe, the light you live under, the materials touching your skin all day: the things that impact how you feel in your home.
I'm a licensed architect, but I'm also a WELL Accredited Professional, which basically means I'm formally trained in the science of how buildings affect the people inside them. This means that all our design choices and recommendations are science-based and evidence-backed, giving you peace of mind during the design process.
Q2 - Everyone has a creation story to share. What was the inspiration or reason you decided to do what you do?
Oh, this one's personal for me.
I've been fascinated by buildings for as long as I can remember. Like many architects I was the kid obsessed with Legos and construction sites, and I still remember visiting downtown Chicago growing up and just marveling at the skyscrapers. That curiosity is what pulled me into architecture.
But the wellness side comes from somewhere deeper. I grew up in a family full of doctors, both my parents actually. As you can imagine, many of our dinner-table conversations were about health, prevention, taking care of yourself. When I became an architect, I started noticing how much the choices we made in the studio affected our clients' actual wellbeing, and it struck me that I could carry that family healthcare mindset into my own field.
Then a family member was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and suddenly all of it came into sharp focus. I began to see how every part of our environment can either support our health or actually be a detriment. Wellness-centered design became my way of bringing together the two worlds I grew up between: architecture and healthcare.
Q3 - What services do you offer? And why did you choose to offer those particular services?
At the heart of it all, KLPOA is a full-service architectural design firm for high-end residential renovations and new custom homes.
I work closely with homeowners from first concept sketches, through interior design, material specifications, and all the way through construction to make sure the home matches their lifestyle, vision, and health needs.
What sets it apart is the wellness layer woven through all of it: indoor air quality, low-VOC and non-toxic materials, circadian lighting that supports your natural sleep-wake rhythm, and thermal and acoustic comfort. I chose to work this way because I think it's genuinely the future of good design. A home should be beautiful, yes, but it should also be actively good for the people living in it. Doing both is the only kind of work that excites me.
I also built a free tool on my website called the Healthy Home Audit. This is a great tool where homeowners can answer a few questions and receive a free Wellness Score with tailored recommendations across six categories. This is a great way to start thinking about your new home or renovation.
Q4 - Can you recall a challenging client or situation that you were able to fix or overcome? How did you fix it?
One challenge that can happen when designing a large renovation or new home with an architect is that a client falls completely in love with a vision — the healthy materials, the big light-filled spaces, all of it — and then the construction estimate comes back higher than they were hoping. Ouch!
My process is designed to ensure that we're always designing within our budgetary constraints so we never have these difficult surprises. What this means is that during the design process we're always honest and truly collaborative. I get independent cost estimates as the design takes shape, walk through the numbers openly with clients, and together we figure out what actually matters most.
Doing things this way, (instead of waiting until the end of the design and having severe sticker-shock) we find that we can protect the things that affect their health and daily comfort. We're consistently able to land somewhere clients are genuinely happy with, without gutting the heart of the project or stripping out wellness features that made the design special in the first place.
Q5 - What have you learned about yourself and your business over the years? How has your business changed to adapt to changing consumer needs?
The biggest thing I've learned is that great design is really about trust and relationships as much as it's about drawings.
People are inviting you into one of the most personal, expensive, and stressful decisions of their lives. I take that as a big honor, to guide people through this process. Moreover, I've leaned all the way into being a principal-led, no-handoff practice, so you're never getting passed off to a junior person you've never met... and when you call the office, I'm the one taking your calls!
On the client side, I've watched demand for healthy homes grow a lot, which is really encouraging! A few years ago I'd have to explain why air quality mattered, and now clients are walking in already asking about it. So the practice has shifted from "convincing people this matters" to "helping people who already get it do it right."
Q6 - Running a business is not always easy. If you could go back in time what advice would you give yourself?
I've enjoyed running my business immensely! I get to design beautiful homes, help people build their dreams, and make a real difference in their health and the health of their families!
It really is a true honor to get to do what I do.
This being said, my one piece of advice to others, would be: Building a reputation as the person for a specific thing doesn't happen overnight, but it's worth far more than a quick win. Design with integrity.
Q7- We've all had amazing clients or stories to share that make it all worth it. Can you share a story about a teammate, vendor or client that really impacted you and touched your heart?
I have had a number of clients that came to me with older, out-dated homes that they thought were beyond-repair. From bad layouts, to mold and termite concerns, to lack of space and storage, you name it. In all these cases we were able to work together to figure out what their lifestyle needs were and design around how they actually lived, realizing enormous potential in their existing home.
Some of my favorite moments are when clients finally see their home nearing the end of construction, especially when we've done a large reconfiguration, and they cannot believe how much extra space they have!
Q8 - If a potential client were reading this article, what would you tell them about you, your team or your business that would convince them to choose you?
First of all, I bring something most residential architects simply don't have: formal training in healthy-building science through my WELL accreditation. So you're not just getting a beautiful home, you're getting a home designed to genuinely support your health and how you feel every single day.
But as I mentioned previously, the design process is a journey, and its one where trust and relationships are critically important. Whoever you choose to work with is going to be a part of your life for months on end, so its important to have a good relationship and genuinely enjoy working with them.
When you hire me, you actually get me. Not a logo, or a rotating cast of associates. From our first conversation to the day you move in, you're working directly with me, and if you have any questions or need clarification, I'm the one who will be there to walk you through things.
I take on a small number of projects on purpose, because that focus is exactly what lets me pour myself into each one. If you want a home that's as good for you as it is good-looking, I'm probably your person.
Q9 - Fun fact about yourself that people may not know.
There's a funny thing that I've learned about architects which is that many of us really enjoy swimming as a form of exercise. I'm certainly a big fan of swimming as well and I often do my best thinking about design in the pool. Many breakthrough design concepts have come to me while underwater!
Q10 - Where do you see your business going in the next 5 to 10 years?
Bigger picture, my goal is for KLPOA to be the name people in the DC and Northern Virginia area think of when they want a home designed around their health. I'd like to become the go-to wellness architect for the region, from the Shenandoah to the Eastern Shore!
I'd also love to publish a series of healthy-home case studies that help more people understand what's actually possible. Five to ten years from now, I want healthy design to feel less like a luxury and more like the obvious way to build a home.
We enjoyed learning so much about you and your business. How can people learn more or get in touch with you?
I'd love to hear from you!
You can find me at KLPOA.com, email me anytime at KL@KLPOA.COM, or give me a call at (771) 777-4997.
And if you're curious how healthy your own home is, go take my free Healthy Home Audit at klpoa.com/healthyhome
It's a quick, eye-opening place to start and often the start of a great conversation!
Thank you so much for being a part of the HealthyHOME™ Business Spotlight!
Absolutely, thank you so much for having me!
