CACC + AIA Charleston Lecture Series: Christopher Marcinkoski

Christopher Marcinkoski (AIA, ASLA (Hon.), FAAR

Christopher Marcinkoski (AIA, ASLA (Hon.), FAAR) is an Associate Professor (with tenure) in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design (PENN). He is also founding partner and creative director at PORT, an award-winning Philadelphia and Chicago-based public realm planning and design practice.

The author of The City That Never Was (Princeton Architectural Press, 2016) and the forthcoming The Political Economy of Public Space (2027), his research and writing critically explore the under-considered economic and political complexities shaping contemporary urban built environments. Christopher was editor of LA+ 16 “Speculation” (AR+D Publishing, 2022) and co-editor of Perspecta 38 “Architecture After All.” (MIT Press, 2006). In addition, his writing has been published in a range of academic and professional journals including Domus, Topos, LA+, New Geographies, The Architects Newspaper, NextCity, Constructs, MONU, A+T, and Taiwan Architect. He has also authored more than 15 chapters in invited or peer reviewed publications. In addition to lecturing widely, his research has been exhibited internationally including venues in Delft, Kuala Lumpur, Milan, Munich, and Shenzhen. An architect by education and license, Christopher was awarded the Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture from the American Academy in Rome for AY 2015-16. In 2025, he was awarded an honorary lifetime membership from the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Christopher’s practice, PORT, was awarded the 2020 Emerging Voices Prize from the Architectural League of New York; the 2022-23 J. Irwin and Xenia S Miller Prize from the Landmark Columbus Foundation; and is one of only twenty practices in total selected for a commission over the last decade through the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program sponsored by the Walton Family Foundation. In addition, PORT is the recipient of over 35 state and regional professional awards since 2017. These include commendations from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the American Institute of Architects, the American Planning Association, and the Urban Land Institute.

Current PORT projects include a new 50-acre urban park under construction along the Boise River in Boise, ID; a new 110-acre central park for Bentonville, AR supported by the Walton Family Foundation Design Excellence Program; multiple projects in and around Knoxville, TN including planning work that led to the securing of a $42.6M Reconnecting Communities implementation grant; planning for an 800-acre regional park along 7-miles of the Jordan River in Salt Lake County, UT; a new WheelSports Park and 4.5-mile long greenway in Greenville, SC; a two-block linear park in Kingston, NY; urban design and planning work for a 70-acre mixed-use district in Columbia, MD; a new 30-acre park along the headwaters of the Arkansas River in Colorado; and planning for the potential daylighting of urbanized portions of nearly 2-milesof the Bozeman Creek in Bozeman, MT.

Prior appointment at PENN and founding PORT, Christopher was a Senior Associate at James Corner Field Operations in New York, where he led transformative urban design and public space projects including Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, Public Square in Cleveland, and the Qian Hai Water City in Shenzhen, China among others.

• Lunch at 12:00 pm
• Lecture at 12:30 pm
• CEUs will only be given to AIA members attending in person. There will be a sign-in sheet at the door to receive credit

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Clemson Design Center Charleston