John Cooney

partner

Licensed Architect, Oregon, Washington
M.Arch School of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania, 2000
Bachelors of Business Administration, University of Portland, 1988

Professor, Portland State University 2008-current

John Cooney is presently an Architectural Design Principal at Climate Architecture + Landscape, LLC.  He divides his time between practice and teaching Architectural Design at Portland State University.

John directs his private practice and his studio courses with the same intent. His philosophy simply revolves around a belief that architects are in a position to enrich the world around them. He is a proponent of hands on experimentation and research based architectural education. He encourages teammates and students to meld site driven and technical reality with poetic and philosophical ambition. In studio, John encourages students to clarify their goals and push the boundaries of visual architectural communication and in practice he uses the same strategies to reveal the underlying potential in projects to clients and community partners.  

The firm focuses its attention on high end single and multifamily residential projects and commercial projects. The Light-Living House, a sustainable row home project in Baltimore won the firm numerous awards including 2 AIA awards for its innovations with natural light and sustainable rehabilitation. 

Prior to starting Climate Architecture + Landscape, LLC, John lived in Manhattan and was an associate at Weiss/Manfredi Architects, WNBA and Studio Intamuros where he worked projects of various scales and architectural typologies. He has experience on large scale research institutions and transportation projects, high profile design competitions, and was able to design a landscape addition to a residential project by Louis Kahn (a significant honor for the proud University of Pennsylvania graduate).