New York, N.Y. (March 16, 2021) Perkins Eastman and Pfeiffer Partners Architects have announced their pending merger.
Perkins Eastman, a global architecture and design firm with more than 1,000 employees, has worked on projects on five continents in 60 countries. Its portfolio reflects expertise in multiple practice areas: healthcare, senior living, large scale mixed-use, higher education, K-12, hospitality, and workplace design as well as planning, urban design, and strategic consulting.
Pfeiffer Principals will lead key practice areas in the arts, libraries, and renovation/preservation, complementing Perkins Eastman's work in higher education, science & technology, healthcare, senior living, large scale mixed-use, K-12, hospitality, and workplace design.
Pfeiffer, a successor firm of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates based in Los Angeles and New York City, is known for its depth of experience in the arts, libraries, historic preservation, renovations, adaptive reuse, and interior design.
The merger provides a platform for collaboration across disciplines and offices, combining the opportunity to draw on the market credibility, resources, and geographic reach that Perkins Eastman provides with the design expertise in programming, planning, architecture, and interior design that Pfeiffer offers. The two firms share a strong commitment to client service, mentoring, research, and design innovation.
'AN IMPORTANT MILESTONE IN OUR LONG-TERM PLANS'
“This merger is an important milestone in our long-term plans to build a firm that can offer the breadth of design and thought leadership our clients are seeking,” says Bradford Perkins, FAIA, Chairman of Perkins Eastman. “Pfeiffer brings internationally recognized experience and skills in key areas—all of which complement Perkins Eastman’s established capabilities.”
“Joining forces with Perkins Eastman will allow Pfeiffer to continue to focus on our core areas while expanding our geographic and typological reach,” says William Murray, FAIA, a Founding Principal of Pfeiffer. “For some time, our principals have discussed how best to grow our practice on both coasts as well as internationally, while retaining our identity and commitment to design excellence.
"When Brad approached us about a potential merger, the idea very much aligned with our long-term goals," said Murray. "Perkins Eastman, like Pfeiffer, offers a broad range of architectural solutions; not choosing to practice a particular architectural style but instead creating dynamic new environments that respond to the physical, cultural, and social context in which they’re located. The firm is also committed to a process of collaboration, client service, and professional growth of its staff. They are the perfect fit for us."
Pfeiffer, now known as Pfeiffer—A Perkins Eastman Studio, will lead key practice areas in the combined firm, including in the arts, libraries, and renovation/preservation/
ABOUT PERKINS EASTMAN
Perkins Eastman is a global design firm founded on the belief that design can have a direct and positive impact on people’s lives. The firm’s award-winning practice draws on its 1,000 professionals networked across 19 studios worldwide. By keeping the user’s needs foremost in the design process, the firm enhances the human experience across the spectrum of the built environment.
Since November 2019, the firm has completed three state-of-the-art healthcare facilities, Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, CA, The David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Center in New York, NY, and MarinHealth Medical Center in Greenbrae, CA. Perkins Eastman’s Chicago studio was recently named the first project in Illinois, 1 of only 6 in the U.S., and 1 of only 35 worldwide to become WELL certified at the Platinum level under WELL v2 pilot. For more information: www.perkinseastman.com.
MORE ABOUT PFEIFFER
Pfeiffer is a U.S. design firm whose projects for cultural and educational clients marry smart planning with unusually effective client and team engagement for imaginative architectural solutions. Pfeiffer’s professionals—architects, planners, and interior designers, have been drawn together by a shared philosophy regarding the built environment. The firm is about Architecture, Planning, and Interior Design realized in a cross-disciplinary process to design human experience in places that bring people together.
Strong in library projects, Pfeiffer designed one of the nation’s first net-zero 24/7 academic libraries, Colorado College’s Tutt Library—an innovative renovation and expansion recognized with several awards, among them the 2019 AIA/LA Library Building Award. The firm has recently completed the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Warner IMIG Music Building Addition and the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center at Gonzaga University.
Related Stories
| Feb 11, 2011
Texas megachurch inspired by yesteryear’s materials, today’s design vocabulary
The third phase of The First Baptist Church of Pasadena, Texas, involves construction of a new 115,000-sf worship center addition. Currently in design by Zeigler Cooper, the project will include a 2,500-seat worship center (with circular layout and space for a 50-person orchestra and 200-person choir), a 500-seat chapel (for weddings, funerals, and special events), and a prayer room. The addition will connect to the existing church and create a Christian Commons for education, administration, music, and fellowship. The church asked for a modern design that uses traditional materials, such as stone, brick, and stained glass. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
| Feb 11, 2011
Apartment complex caters to University of Minnesota students
Twin Cities firm Elness Swenson Graham Architects designed the new Stadium Village Flats, in the University of Minnesota’s East Bank Campus, with students in mind. The $30 million, six-story residential/retail complex will include 120 furnished apartments with fitness rooms and lounges on each floor. More than 5,000 sf of first-floor retail space and two levels of below-ground parking will complete the complex. Opus AE Group Inc., based in Minneapolis, will provide structural engineering services.
| Feb 11, 2011
Four-story library at Salem State will hold half a million—get this—books!
Salem State University in Massachusetts broke ground on a new library and learning center in December. The new four-story library will include instructional labs, group study rooms, and a testing center. The modern, 124,000-sf design by Boston-based Shepley Bulfinch includes space for 500,000 books and study space for up to a thousand students. Sustainable features include geothermal heating and cooling, rainwater harvesting, and low-flow plumbing fixtures.
| Feb 11, 2011
Green design, white snow at Egyptian desert retail complex
The Mall of Egypt will be a 135,000-sm retail and entertainment complex in Cairo’s modern 6th of October district. The two-story center is divided into three themed zones—The City, which is arranged as a series of streets lined with retail and public spaces; The Desert Valley, which contains upscale department stores, international retailers, and a central courtyard for music and other cultural events; and The Crystal, which will include leisure and entertainment venues, including a cinema and indoor snow park. RTKL is designing the massive complex to LEED Silver standards.
| Feb 10, 2011
7 Things to Know About Impact Glazing and Fire-rated Glass
Back-to-basics answers to seven common questions about impact glazing and fire-rated glass.
| Feb 10, 2011
Medical Data Center Sets High Bar for BIM Design Team
The construction of a new data center becomes a test case for BIM’s ability to enhance project delivery across an entire medical campus.
| Feb 10, 2011
Zero Energy Buildings: When Do They Pay Off in a Hot and Humid Climate?
There’s lots of talk about zero energy as the next big milestone in green building. Realistically, how close are we to this ambitious goal? At this point, the strategies required to get to zero energy are relatively expensive. Only a few buildings, most of them 6,000 sf or less, mostly located in California and similar moderate climates, have hit the mark. What about larger buildings, commercial buildings, more problematic climates? Given the constraints of current technology and the comfort demands of building users, is zero energy a worthwhile investment for buildings in, for example, a warm, humid climate?
| Feb 9, 2011
Hospital Construction in the Age of Obamacare
The recession has hurt even the usually vibrant healthcare segment. Nearly three out of four hospital systems have put the brakes on capital projects. We asked five capital expenditure insiders for their advice on how Building Teams can still succeed in this highly competitive sector.
| Feb 9, 2011
Businesses make bigger, bolder sustainability commitments
In 2010, U.S. corporations continued to enhance their sustainable business efforts by making bigger, bolder, longer-term sustainability commitments. GreenBiz issued its 4th annual State of Green Business report, a free downloadable report that measures the progress of U.S. business and the economy from an environmental perspective, and highlights key trends in corporate culture in regard to the environment.
| Feb 8, 2011
AIA names 104 members to College of Fellows
The Fellowship program was developed to elevate those architects who have made a significant contribution to architecture and society and who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession. Election to fellowship not only recognizes the achievements of architects as individuals, but also their significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level.
