Chris Cooper has worked on a wide variety of high-profile projects, primarily in New York City. His work is characterized by tectonic rigor with close attention to materials, and by an agenda to integrate architecture with art. With an emphasis on the individual user’s experience, Cooper brings a small-scale focus to the design of large-scale projects.

Between his first and current tenures at SOM, Cooper explored his interest in the arts community and intimately scaled projects as a principal for Cooper Joseph Studio. SOM’s design culture of integrated architecture and structure brought Cooper back and set him on a new course of innovation.

The primary focus of Cooper's work at SOM is high-rise commercial office, residential, and mixed-use projects. His experience with complex projects ranges from 7 World Trade Center—the first building to rise on the former World Trade Center site—to Time Warner Center, a transformative mixed-use project that created a new gateway for the Upper West Side.

Cooper has contributed his design approach to a number of large-scale residential developments across the city, embedding in each a distinct sense of place and connecting it within its neighborhood. His local work includes 101 Warren Street in TriBeCa, 11 West 61st Street on Manhattan's West Side, and a new residential development on the Brooklyn waterfront.

Cooper has also worked on a number of important projects overseas. His designs for supertall towers have produced notable achievements, including a ventilation patent for Seoul Light DMC and an original structural solution for Teardrop Tower, also in Seoul. He also has significant institutional design experience at John Jay College and Mount Sinai Hess Center for Science and Medicine.