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Alex Cooper

American architect

Alexander Cooper, FAIA, (born 1936) often credited as Alex Cooper, is an American architect and urban designer. In his 1987 piece on Cooper in The New York Times, Paul Goldberger wrote that Cooper "might be the most influential architect in New York right now.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Alex Cooper (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 1936.1

About

Surely, no architect is having as much impact, not only on the design of individual buildings, but on the shape of wide swaths of the city."

Cooper has worked in Chicago, Boston, Denver, and Baltimore, as well as campus plans and buildings at Yale University, Georgetown University, and University of California, Santa Cruz. He has worked most extensively in New York City, where he has designed and planned many of the city's major sites such as Battery Park City, the Times Square Theater District, redevelopment projects throughout the area, and Hudson Yards.

From Wikipedia’s article on Alex Cooper, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedYale School of Architecture3
  • Date not recordedYale College3

Career

Occupation: architect.5

After graduating from Yale University, Cooper got a Master of Architecture degree from Yale School of Architecture. After graduation, he worked with the architects Philip Johnson and Edward Larrabee Barnes. While working for Johnson, Cooper worked on Philips' Glass House in New Canaan.

Soon after, Cooper began work in the public sector for the City of New York, first as Director of Design for New York's Housing and Development Administration, then as Director of the Urban Design Group and the Mayor's Urban Design Council of the New York City Department of City Planning under John Lindsay's administration. His final position in the public sphere was as a member of the New York City Planning Commission.

While working at the Urban Design Group within the Department of City Planning, Cooper created a new section of the Zoning Resolution, "Housing Quality". This new section created a scoring system, which rewarded good practices that include corridors that provided daylight, and appropriate scale of buildings. This approach became an optional standard for all housing design within the city.

From Wikipedia’s article on Alex Cooper (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • Born1936, Pittsburgh6
  • CitizenshipUnited States7

Sources

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