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Alexander Cooper
often credited as Alex Cooper (b. 1936 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American architect and urban designer.

Following graduation from Yale University School of Architecture, Alex worked for Philip Johnson and Edward Larrabee Barnes. In 1968 he entered public service with the John Lindsay administration in New York City. He began as a staff member at the New York City Department of City Planning and became Director of the Urban Design Group, guiding planning, design, and zoning issues city-wide. After serving as Director of Design for New York's Housing and Development Administration (now the New York City Department of Buildings) he was appointed Commissioner where he served with distinction for seven years. Cooper's private practice began in 1979, with the founding of Alexander Cooper & Associates in New York City which, since his partnership with Yale School of Architecture classmate Jaquelin T. Robertson in 1988 has become Cooper, Robertson & Partners.

Cooper has served as Director for the Graduate Urban Design Program at Columbia University, is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, is honored with the Seaside Prize from the Seaside Institute in 2002 and the AIA 2012 Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture.

Notable Urban Design and Campus Master Planning projects include Battery Park City, the Master Plan for the Central Delaware, New York City’s Westside Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, the 42nd Street Redevelopment Project the expansion of the Museum of Modern Art, the International Trade Center, Museum Park Miami,  Zuccotti Park, Yale University's Framework for Campus Planning and The Harvard-Alston Initiative.

Cooper has also designed numerous prominent buildings including the Ohio State University's Max M. Fisher College of Business, Columbia University's School of Social Work, Duke University Ambulatory Care Clinic, Stuyvesant High School in Lower Manhattan and the Ethical Cultural Fieldston School in Riverdale, New York. He also prepared and designed the first five newly constructed homeless shelters for HELP, USA in New York City.

In his piece for The New York Times,"Reinventing the City", Paul Goldberger wrote that Cooper "just might be the most influential architect in New York right now. 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."

Waterfronts

 * Baltimore Inner Harbor
 * Battery Park City
 * Boston Waterfront
 * Philadephia; Central Delaware Waterfront
 * Detroit Riverfront
 * Memphis Riverfront Development

Inner City

 * 42nd Street Redevelopment, New York, NY
 * Cityfront Center; Chicago, IL
 * Santa Fe Depot; San Diego, CA
 * Downtown Charlotte; Charlotte, NC
 * Downtown Glendale; Glendale, CA
 * Cityplace Master Plan, Dallas, TX

Universities

 * Yale University; New Haven, CT
 * Harvard in Allston; Boston, MA
 * Trinity College; Harford, CT
 * University of Chicago; Chicago, IL
 * University of Houston; Houston, TX
 * University of California Santa Cruz; Santa Cruz, CA
 * University of North Carolina; Charlotte, NC
 * UCLA; Los Angeles, CA
 * University of Miami; Miami, FL
 * Caltech; Pasadena, CA

Public Architecture

 * Battery Park City Esplanade; New York, NY
 * Zuccotti Park; New York, NY
 * First Union Plaza; Charlotte, NC
 * Lower Manhattan Streetscape; New York, NY
 * Museum Park Miami; Miami, FL
 * Pioneer Court; Chicago, IL
 * Fisher School of Business, The Ohio State University; Columbus, OH
 * HELP,USA Genesis I; New York, NY
 * Columbia Graduate School of Social Work; New York, NY

Architecture

 * The Boulevard Building, New York, NY
 * Calvin Klein Cosmetics Company, Mt. Olive, NJ
 * Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
 * Duke University Cancer Center, Durham, NC
 * Ethical Cultural Fieldston School, Riverdale, NY
 * Hope Children's Village, Thiruchirapalli, India
 * The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
 * MoMA QNS, Queens, NY
 * New York State Theatre at Lincoln Center, New York, NY
 * Stuyvesant High School; New York, NY

Offices

 * NYC Housing and Development Administration; Director of Design (1968-71)
 * NYC Planning Department: Director, Urban Design Group (1971-73)
 * Columbia University: Director, Urban Design Program (1973-79)

Positions

 * New York City Planning Commission: Commissioner (1973-79)
 * New York City Art Commission: Mayor's Representative (1971-73)
 * New York State Council of the Arts: Member (1971-73)
 * Municipal Arts Society: Officer (1974-1984)
 * Architectural League: Officer (1986- present)
 * Urban Land Institute: Member (1982- present)
 * Forum for Urban Design: Member (2004-present)
 * Storefront Architecture: Member (2004-present)

Honors

 * Institute for Architects: Fellow (1986)
 * Seaside Prize (2002)
 * American Institute of Architects Thomas Jefferson Award (2012)

Notable Project Awards

 * American Institute of Architects - 2012 Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design: Master Plan for the Central Delaware, Philadelphia, PA
 * American Institute of Architects - 2008 Honor Award: Zuccotti Park, New York, NY
 * American Institute of Architects - 2007 New York Chapter Merit Award: Zuccotti Park, New York, NY
 * American Institute of Architects - 2007 New York State Merit Award: Zuccotti Park, New York, NY
 * SCUP/AIA/CAE Merit Award - 2005 Planning for an Established Campus: Yale University - A Framework for Campus Planning, New Haven, CT
 * Boston Society of Architects / AIA New York Chapter 2005 Special Citation for a Bold and Integrative Concept: Memphis Riverfront Development Plan, Memphis, TN
 * Business Week / Architectural Record 2004 Award: MoMA QNS, New York, NY 2004
 * American Institute of Architects 2004 New York State Design Award for Excellence: MoMA, QNS, New York, NY
 * HELP, USA Corporation - 2002 Building Better Lives Award
 * Art Commission of the City of New York - 2000 Annual Art Commission Award for Excellence in Design: Lower Manhattan Streetscape Project, New York, New York
 * Boston Society of Architects - AIA New York Chapter 1999 Von Moltke Design Award: Botston Seaport Public Realm Plan, Boston, MA

External Links:
Cooper, Robertson & Partners

AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture

Reinventing the City by Paul Goldberger

An Icon of Urbanism, By Alex Cooper and Jaquelin T. Robertson

Familiar Figure Reclaims His Seat, and He's Not Moving By David W. Dunlap

Designers & Books