CONTINGENT ARCHITECTURE
"The action of the architect is here not about the implementation of generic solutions to particular problems. It is not about the architect as the detached polisher of form and technique, but as the person who gathers the conflicting voices of a given situation and makes the best possible social and spatial sense of them."
- Jeremy Till, Architecture Depends
Christopher Alker is a New York State Registered Architect with a focus on contingent architecture. He studied urban design and theory while attending the University of Texas at Austin, and immediately followed his studies with an apprenticeship to a master carpenter in the San Francisco Bay Area. He moved to New York City in 2004 to work for Handel Architects on large scale ground up residential and hospitality projects. He subsequently worked with 2plus3 Architects, Delson or Sherman, Atema Architecture, and Marmol Radziner on two coasts simultaneously before joining AKAM Associates, Inc. as their Director of Building Operations in 2020.
His experience includes the co-design and execution of several luxury single-family apartment and townhouse gut renovation/additions, both The Nature Conservancy & AKAM’s New York City’s corporate headquarters, Lucid Motors’ Miami & West Palm Beach showrooms, countless zoning feasibility & capital reserve studies, code compliance, life safety awareness, landmarks preservation consulting, project management, client relations, business development, staff training, and construction administration.
His interest in architecture includes design, theory, branding, detailing, construction, programming, maintenance, life-cycle assessment, adaptive reuse, and post-occupancy evaluation. He is committed to both the art and science of buildings from cradle to grave.
"The action of the architect is here not about the implementation of generic solutions to particular problems. It is not about the architect as the detached polisher of form and technique, but as the person who gathers the conflicting voices of a given situation and makes the best possible social and spatial sense of them."
- Jeremy Till, Architecture Depends
Christopher Alker is a New York State Registered Architect with a focus on contingent architecture. He studied urban design and theory while attending the University of Texas at Austin, and immediately followed his studies with an apprenticeship to a master carpenter in the San Francisco Bay Area. He moved to New York City in 2004 to work for Handel Architects on large scale ground up residential and hospitality projects. He subsequently worked with 2plus3 Architects, Delson or Sherman, Atema Architecture, and Marmol Radziner on two coasts simultaneously before joining AKAM Associates, Inc. as their Director of Building Operations in 2020.
His experience includes the co-design and execution of several luxury single-family apartment and townhouse gut renovation/additions, both The Nature Conservancy & AKAM’s New York City’s corporate headquarters, Lucid Motors’ Miami & West Palm Beach showrooms, countless zoning feasibility & capital reserve studies, code compliance, life safety awareness, landmarks preservation consulting, project management, client relations, business development, staff training, and construction administration.
His interest in architecture includes design, theory, branding, detailing, construction, programming, maintenance, life-cycle assessment, adaptive reuse, and post-occupancy evaluation. He is committed to both the art and science of buildings from cradle to grave.