Philosophy

Cooper Carry creates environments that connect people and places, making communities more valuable. Our work engages all the design professions. We call it connective design.

In practice our philosophy works very simply. When a project arrives, we determine what disciplines and what specialties it requires, and then we draw talent from those studios to create the team. Our work is guided by a distinct set of principles:

We believe that a high quality of design can create a high quality of life. We seek to enhance people's lives and shape them in positive, enriching and practical ways. For us, improving quality of life is a holistic endeavor, and our work embraces all the important elements of design, including planning, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and graphic design. This marriage of disciplines informs all of our projects to harmoniously and beautifully integrate living, working, learning and leisure space into an environmentally friendly and hard-working whole: our capacity to create this mixed use style of building is a feature that distinguishes us from other design firms.

We balance creative passion and client service. We are passionate about the creative side of the business and we believe clients are an essential part of the creative process. We are continually curious, and always work to expand our understanding of every client's vision—and creatively translate that vision through our designs, bringing added value to every project.

We foster a work environment where professionals can challenge themselves creatively. We value everyone's input and challenge our people to deliver a steady flow of new ideas. We are also receptive to change. We expect creativity from our administrative staff as well—expecting them to explore and create better ways to channel and manage flows of information. We encourage growth through workshops and professional development opportunities. We believe diversity is essential to achieving a competitive advantage in the marketplace and in developing a highly effective workplace.

We are a steward of the environment both natural and man-made. We have adopted sustainable design methodologies as a routine part of our practice. We are also involved in our home and project communities and seek to return a portion of what we receive through contributions of time, professional services and funding.

We know that excellence in design emerges from the people and culture of a particular place. We design for context in all its complexity and sophistication. We engage key project stakeholders in a collaborative process that builds consensus for design. We seek to work side-by-side with clients both on-site and on the drawing board.