Christopher Kroner
Principal
Poughkeepsie, NY, USA
Christopher Kroner believes design is for everyone. Viewing architecture and urban design as an ongoing act of outreach, he pioneers transformative engagement approaches that center community wisdom to regenerate cities, restore human connection, and build a more equitable public realm.
Upon joining MASS in 2017, Christopher established the Hudson Valley Design Lab in Poughkeepsie to work directly alongside local partners. Operating from this pilot office, he co-founded the Fringe City Design Lab, which helps identify and craft catalytic visions for cities grappling with legacy investments such as Urban Renewal. He collaborates directly with municipalities to bring multidisciplinary expertise to uplift communities in need. Most recently, he serves as a core team member guiding a Choice Neighborhood Initiative transformation plan and leads the Fall Kill Blueway Design Guidelines, an initiative creating a series of connected public parks along an urban creek flowing into the Hudson River.
Alongside managing community outreach and planning frameworks, Christopher leads major design projects as a Principal at MASS. His completed work includes a USGBC LEED Certified Office and Farm Shop Maintenance Building for the Hudson Valley Farm Hub in Kingston, NY, a new entry lobby addition for the Family Partnership Center in Poughkeepsie, NY, and an AIANY award-winning city gateway project at the Champions Walk at Corey Ingram Circle in Poughkeepsie, NY. He guides numerous youth empowerment projects, including the design of the Youth Opportunity Union in Poughkeepsie, NY, a grassroots study on chronic absenteeism for schools in Pittsburgh, PA, and a concept design for a downtown teen center in Pittsburgh.
Christopher’s urban design portfolio has earned significant national recognition. He has twice served as a resource team member for the Mayor's Institute on City Design (MICD), first in Columbus, IN in 2019 and again for its upcoming session. In 2026, he led MASS’s bronze medalist entry for the Resilient Campus Competition at the University at Buffalo. Previously, his team’s proposal for the redesign and neighborhood connectivity of Olmsted's historic Franklin Park in Boston, MA, earned the 2023 Boston Society of Landscape Architects Award in Analysis and Planning, praised as both thoughtful and poetic. In 2021, the Canadian LGBTQ2+ National Monument in Ottawa, ON, designed under his leadership with artist Stephen Andrews, was shortlisted by the Department of Canadian Heritage. He also directed the master plan for the redevelopment of a hospital site into a reimagined neighborhood vision for Cleveland’s Central Neighborhood alongside a multi-organizational oversight committee.
Beyond his work at MASS, Christopher serves as a design consultant for the Poughkeepsie Planning Board and volunteers with several regional coalitions. He teaches architectural and urban design at institutions worldwide, including Columbia University, New York Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute, and the University of Virginia. He lectures frequently and serves as a guest juror, with recent appearances at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cornell University, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining MASS, Christopher spent ten years as an associate partner at Dean/Wolf Architects, directing award-winning projects across all phases of design and construction. His project Emergency Medical Station 50 at Queens Hospital earned the American Architecture Prize Gold Medal in Institutional Architecture in 2016 and was featured in Architectural Record in March 2017. Additionally, Ephemeral Edge House, a rural retreat south of Albany, won a Progressive Architecture Award in 2012 and a New York City AIA Honor Award in 2019.
Christopher holds a Master of Architecture from Columbia University, where he received the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia, where he received the Sean Steele Nicholson Memorial Award.
