I am an architect and educator. Inspired by my background in visual and performing arts, my architectural approach emphasizes experiential design, particularly the multisensory experience of movement. My ongoing research investigates relationships between philosophy, dance, architectural representation, art, historic preservation, and architecture. As an educator, I encourage all my students to develop their unique passions through their research and design work, as they deliberately find connections between architecture and their personal interests. I believe this leads to students feeling a greater sense of investment in the work, and at the same time incrementally advances the body of knowledge as students create new relationships between the built environment and ideas outside of architecture – in other words, as they create their own architectural theories.

Inspired by the great joy I have experienced teaching, mentoring, and sharing my appreciation of architecture with others, in Winter 2024 I took a sabbatical to shift my career focus full-time to architectural education, research, and experimental design work, working as an Adjunct Professor at Endicott College. Since Spring 2024, I have combined my passions for teaching and designing, continuing to be a professor while also working on residential architecture projects.

As a Designer in Sasaki’s multidisciplinary Boston office from Summer 2021 to Winter 2024, I expanded my knowledge of construction, detailing, and project management in interior, building, and landscape projects. The majority of my time was dedicated to a complex commercial adaptive reuse project surrounded by a sophisticated multi-level landscape, which I worked on as a member of the Architect of Record team from schematic design through construction administration. I also had the opportunity to briefly contribute to other projects, including conceptual design for park visitor centers, campus interiors, and a residential design competition.

From Autumn 2018 until Spring 2021, I was engaged in learning to bridge between the worlds of ideas and practice while working on institutional projects (schools, university buildings, and pharmaceutical office and research facilities) as a Designer/Intern Architect at NFOE Architecture in Montreal. I worked on projects of a variety of scales, both new construction and historic rehabilitation, from conceptual design through construction documentation.

I started my professional career in Los Angeles as a Designer for WET, the world’s premiere fountain and experience design firm and creators of the Fountains of Bellagio, the Dubai Fountain, and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Fountain. While at WET, I was involved in projects large and small, ranging from interactive fountains, to landscape designs, to large musical performing fountains, located in Asia, the Middle East, and North America. I had the privilege of serving as Lead Designer on several prestigious projects, and I gained some experience choreographing fountain shows.

I hold a Post-Professional Master’s of Architecture in Architectural History and Theory from McGill University, where I studied under renowned architectural historian Alberto Pérez-Gómez. The program increased my understanding of the historical roots of phenomenological thinking in architecture, and broadened my awareness of the many relationships between architecture, philosophy and theology in the Western tradition. I hold a professional 5-year Bachelor of Architecture degree, with Honors, from Carnegie Mellon University, where I graduated second in my class. In 2013, I was the recipient of the Burdett Assistantship, a design prize which enabled me to travel to Europe researching transportation architecture and live performances of dance companies known for drawing relationships between dance and architecture. I am a licensed architect in New Hampshire.

Sasaki:
sasaki.com

NFOE:
nfoe.com

WET:
wetdesign.com

My Photography:
alexandrekinneyphotography.wordpress.com
instagram.com/alexandrekinney