Strategic Hire Reaffirms Commitment to Growing Landscape Practice

Christopher Counts, an award-winning landscape and urban designer whose portfolio of high-profile projects includes Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City and Corktown Common in Toronto, has joined global architecture and design firm Perkins and Will as a principal. Based in the firm’s Miami studio, Counts represents a new generation of design leadership for the rapidly growing landscape architecture practice.

“As we double down on our commitment to landscape architecture as a core discipline, we’re delighted to welcome Christopher to our firm. Not only do his values of resilient, sustainable, and equitable design align with ours, but his extraordinary talent and skill level strengthen our ability to serve our clients, too,” says Leo Alvarez, who leads the landscape architecture practice at Perkins and Will.

A Laudable Career

Counts has a distinguished record of designing urban landscapes focused on the public realm. He served as project designer for such internationally acclaimed projects as the Lower Don Lands and Corktown Common in Toronto and the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Headquarters’ Green Roof in Washington, D.C. He also collaborated on the design of Teardrop Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City. Over the last 10 years, his Brooklyn-based firm  Counts Studio has won numerous awards and national and international design competitions, including the Beijing International Garden Expo in Beijing, China and Moore Square in Raleigh, North Carolina, which won a National ASLA Award. 

“I am thrilled with Chris joining because it strengthens our ability to deliver fully integrated design work across all of our practice areas: architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and planning,” says Lawrence Kline, managing director in the Miami studio of Perkins and Will. “We want all of those perspectives to inform our projects. Few firms in Florida can offer such a comprehensive approach.”

Commitment to Climate Change Action

Counts is known for addressing global challenges within urban environments through the design of more resilient, ecologically-productive cities. This is particularly important in Miami, where the city is already feeling the effects of climate change-related sea level rise.

“My passion is designing resilient, sustainable cities, so naturally, a big part of what drew me to Miami is the potential to make a positive impact here. It’s ground zero for climate change,” Counts says. “Frankly, we’re going to need major civic and infrastructure projects to help protect our city from the consequences of a rapidly changing environment.” 

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In addition to his design leadership role in Miami proper, Counts will be working on regional, national, and international projects.

Colleagues with a Longstanding Connection

It was in the 1990s, when Counts was a student studying under Alvarez at the University of Georgia, that he was inspired to commit to a lifelong career in landscape architecture. More than 20 years later, Alvarez would recruit Chris to Perkins and Will. 

“It’s very gratifying for me to have known Chris as a student, watch him go off to Harvard, see him achieve such great professional successes, and now to have him working alongside me and the team here to develop the next level of groundbreaking innovations in our industry,” Alvarez says. “He brings great talent, design and artistic capabilities to our practice.”

Counts is a fellow of the American Academy in Rome (FAAR), having won the Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture, and an accredited member of the ASLA. He has taught at the University of Virginia, Penn State University, Boston Architectural College, and Clemson University. He joins Perkins and Will with his business partner Maria Debije Counts, who will serve as a Knowledge Manager based out of the Miami studio.

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About Perkins and Will

Perkins and Will, an interdisciplinary, research-based architecture and design firm, was founded in 1935 on the belief that design has the power to transform lives. Guided by its core values—design excellence, diversity and inclusion, research, resilience, social purpose, sustainability, and well-being—the firm is committed to designing a better, more beautiful world. Fast Company named Perkins and Will one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in Architecture, and industry rankings consistently place Perkins and Will among the world’s top design practices. With an international team of more than 2,700 professionals, the firm has over 20 studios worldwide, providing services in architecture, interior design, branded environments, urban design, and landscape architecture. Partners include Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen; retail strategy and design consultancy Portland; sustainable transportation planning consultancy Nelson\Nygaard; healthcare technology planning firm Genesis; and luxury hospitality design firm Pierre-Yves Rochon (PYR). For more information, visitwww.perkinswill.com.