[ Chapter 01 ]

Learning the trade

After graduating from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1995, Kevin started at KAI Design & Build — one of the region's few large Black-owned architecture firms. He didn't start at the drafting table. He cleaned warehouses, ran blueprints, and taught himself AutoCAD after hours. That foundation — understanding how buildings come together from the ground up — shaped everything that followed.

[ Chapter 02 ]

X3 and the Central West End

In the 2000s, Kevin co-founded X3 LLC, a tradesmen staffing company that did more than place workers — it built homes. On the 4300 block of Washington Avenue in the Central West End, X3 constructed several single-family infill homes on long-vacant lots.

The flagship project: 4357 Washington Avenue (2013), a $250,000 permit-value home that demonstrated what skilled minority tradespeople could deliver. NextSTL covered the work, documenting a model for community-based construction.

[ Chapter 03 ]

Launching Kaelo

In 2012, Kevin founded Kaelo Architecture LLC — a one-architect studio designed to stay small and stay hands-on. The name reflects a simple philosophy: architecture should serve the people who live with it, and the community it's built within.

From educational buildings to institutional projects to the McKinley Heights family home (Featured 2026), Kaelo operates as a hybrid practice — part design studio, part construction management, all rooted in St. Louis neighborhoods.

"Once you get that opportunity, you've got to set people up for success."

— Kevin Logan, on hiring minority tradespeople

[ Full Timeline ]

30+ years on St. Louis sites.

Pre-1991

St. Louis University High School. Summers spent working alongside his father, Lloyd Logan — a pharmacist, Air Force veteran (Scott AFB), and self-taught craftsman who taught electronics and woodworking to Kevin and neighborhood kids.

1995

Bachelor of Architecture, University of Kansas. Class of '95. Donated, with his fraternity brother Cal, a named seat in the KU architecture school auditorium.

Mid-1990s

Starts at KAI Design & Build, one of the region's few large Black-owned firms. Cleaned warehouses and ran blueprints before teaching himself AutoCAD and earning drafting work.

2000s

Stints at Team Four. Co-founds X3 LLC, a tradesmen staffing company that builds single-family homes on the 4300 block of Washington Avenue in the Central West End.

2012

Founds Kaelo Architecture LLC in St. Louis.

2013

X3 builds 4357 Washington Avenue, a single-family infill home on a vacant lot in the Central West End. Covered by NextSTL.

2026

St. Louis Post-Dispatch profiles his self-designed McKinley Heights family home — built almost entirely by minority tradespeople — and his career-long push for inclusive crews on St. Louis job sites.