Chris Couse

Chris Couse (FRAIC) is a founding principal of KPMB Architects. He has played a critical leadership role since the formation of the firm, and has made fundamental and influential contributions to KPMB’s ability to consistently design and deliver architectural excellence. Chris offers over 40 years of proven, successful experience in the design, management, and delivery of projects distinguished for their integration of high-quality design and sustainability.

Among Chris’s notable achievements are his projects in the realm of culture, specifically art and performing arts. Performing arts projects throughout North America include Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis; the Young Centre for Performing Arts in Toronto’s Distillery District; the Arthur Miller/Walgreen Drama Center at the University of Michigan; the Goodman Theatre in Chicago; the Adams Center; Sprague Hall at Yale University; the expansion of the Jenny Belzberg Theatre for tne Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; and the renovation and expansion of Toronto’s historic Massey Hall. This work has received awards for design excellence and innovation, including Architectural Record’s “Good Design is Good Business” Award for both Orchestra Hall in Minnesota and the Young Centre in Toronto, and a Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Massey Hall.

In parallel to the cultural projects, Chris also has deep expertise in the design of state-of-the-art tall buildings. This work includes the LEED Gold NC certified 18 York Street (PwC Tower) and Bremner Tower as part of the Southcore Financial Centre in Toronto, as well as 180 Queen West, which included the Federal Judicial Centre fit-up, the first Canadian project to receive a LEED CI certification.

Currently, he is working on both the expansion and modernization of the Werklund Centre (formerly Arts Commons) in Calgary and the adaptive reuse and transformation of the city’s Centennial Planetarium into the Contemporary Calgary Art Gallery.