Chris Connell

Principal, Los Angeles

Whether it’s an airport or a healthcare campus, a performance arena or a museum, design excellence is Chris’s hallmark. And after 30 years in the profession, it’s already his living legacy.

Chris is a prolific architect and creative provocateur with more than 100 projects to his name—many of them award-winning. These include iconic global venues like the Hydro Arena in Glasgow, Scotland; high-profile lifestyle destinations like 100 East 53rd Street in New York City; and complex multipurpose facilities like Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic’s Health Education Campus. The most successfully designed places, he says, are timeless, yet of their time; polished, yet approachable; flexible, yet robust.

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Chris has lived in major hubs like London and Los Angeles, as well as revitalized industrial cities like Glasgow and Cleveland. He has delivered numerous landmark projects, working across multiple scales and in nearly two dozen countries. Formerly the Chief Design Officer for Cleveland Clinic—one of the highest-ranking healthcare systems in the world—Chris is also an indispensable resource to clients for his comprehensive understanding of their business and organizational needs.

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Say hello to Chris
Fun Fact
A lifelong learner who strives for continuous improvement, Chris finds creative inspiration from surprising sources: bicycles and yachts, for their influential technologies; race cars and aircraft, for their functional elegance and engineering rigor; and people in non-design industries, for their differing perspectives.
This sketch captures a pavilion Chris designed in Gloucestershire, England.

“I want to be able to build something meaningful, to go on a journey with our clients and project teams toward a collective goal. I enjoy design as problem-solving, from small everyday challenges to society’s most pressing crises. Each solution enriches the other.”

Chris Connell on Delivering Complex Projects
Fun Fact
Chris loves working while listening to music. Among the selections on his playlist: Lana del Ray, Miles Davis, and Foo Fighters.
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