A Perkins Eastman City, more than a collection of buildings and spaces, fosters connections. These interactions happen exponentially across the city and throughout the day, minute by minute, hour by hour. One intentional meeting leads to one serendipitous exchange— or two or three or four. Fun, intense, transactional, frivolous, contentious, loving, kind, or felicitous, these connections energize the city, and the city is energized by them.
At the heart of these connections are people—parents, children, teachers, first responders, caregivers, executives, electricians, artists, retirees, paralegals, athletes, students, musicians, tourists, maintenance workers, curators, carpenters, housekeepers, doctors. Their ambitions, their memories, and their actions galvanize, sustain, and shepherd the creation and continuous reinvention of .
For more than 40 years . . .
PERKINS EASTMAN
Perkins Eastman has designed buildings, places, and spaces in cities from Manhattan to Mumbai, Dallas to Dubai, and Chicago to Shanghai. Enough, in fact, to create an entire metropolis with a little help from the firm’s specialty studios along the way. This revelation raises intriguing questions. What does such a place look like? What makes it vital? What is its sustaining ethos?
The imaginary city unfolds like this: On their original sites, each design harmonizes climate, context, form, interior, and purpose. Some buildings shape the skyline. Others serve as background players— understated, yet essential. Some public places are big and bustling. Others are intimately scaled and tucked away from the action. Woven together as one, the skyscrapers, schools, healthcare facilities, office buildings, public markets, libraries, senior living communities, transit stations, stadiums, residential buildings, performing arts venues, museums, research laboratories, plazas, waterfront esplanades, and green spaces become a dynamic metropolis.
Text by Jennica Deely
Drawing by Ling Zhong
Cover photo: The Wharf, Copyright Joseph Romeo/Courtesy Perkins Eastman
Interior photo: Buffalo Canalside, Copyright Joe Cascio/Canalside/Courtesy Perkins Eastman
. . . a
Perkins Eastman City. Imagine a City
As dawn breaks over the city, a man sweeps leaves from the transit station sidewalk. On the waterfront, a retired couple drinks coffee and reads the morning papers. In an apartment nearby, a young person opens their laptop to begin work.
Target Field Station Minneapolis, MN
Cleveland Park Library Washington, DC
Benjamin Banneker
Academic High School Washington, DC
Collection 14 Washington, DC 99 Hudson Jersey City, NJ
Before making his rounds, a senior-living caregiver makes a phone call to his partner from the quiet of the staff lounge. On a major boulevard, a throng of sign-carrying protesters marches and chants for climate action.
The David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at Memorial Sloan
Kettering Cancer Center New York, NY
MarinHealth Medical Center Greenbrae, CA
CalPoly Pomona Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies
Costa Mesa, CA
Everton Stadium Liverpool, UK
Empire Stores Brooklyn, NY
Across the river, tourists queue for show tickets, while others sit on the adjacent glass steps to plan their day. A college student grabs lunch in the student center before heading to class. During recess, a kindergarten teacher rearranges her classroom for afternoon lessons.
Rutgers University
School of Nursing & Science Building Camden, NJ
One Hotel
Brooklyn Bridge Brooklyn, NY
The Wharf Washington, DC
Woodside Place
Oakmont, PA
Jewish Children & Family Services Chicago Skokie, IL
TKTS New York, NY
Later in the day, a father and daughter walk hand-in-hand into the stadium to watch the evening soccer match. As daylight fades to dusk, commuters stream to mass transit and carpoolers cross the bridge, all heading home for dinner.
John Lewis
Memorial Bridge Seattle, WA
Thurgood Marshall US Courthouse New York, NY
Martin Luther King Jr. School Boston, MA
The Tenement Museum New York, NY
Aegis Madison Seattle, WA
Ashoka University
Sonipat, India
Gonzaga University
Myrtle Woldson
Performing Arts Center Spokane, WA
